#3zun and JC in particular all take their duties very seriously

[poorlittleyaoyao]

I think the problem I really have with the end of MDZS is that WWX and LWJ have torn down the top of the cultivation world but they didn’t really do anything to fix it. The people who were trying to change society are either dead and discredited (JGY and XXC) or unable to influence things anymore (LXC and SL). The only great sect still standing strong are the Jiang and as far as we know if anything happens to JC there’s no one who could succeed him. The old fuddies who let people like WRH and JGS come to power are still around and in charge. WWX changed things yes but not for the better and he didn’t even have the nerve to stick around to fix things. And it shouldn’t all be on his shoulders, true, but when people are going around preaching his goodness and morality it really stings that he didn’t actually fix anything.

I generally ignore the concept of an imperial government existing somewhere in this universe (I know it's an assumed genre convention, but since in this case there's no evidence or mention of any government apparatus despite the repeated wars with thousands upon thousands of casualties spilling outside the sects, what am I even gonna do with that information?), but this is a situation where I REALLY HOPE THIS ABSENTEE EMPEROR IS OUT THERE. If the average person is carrying on business as usual and the country itself is still functioning just fine, then who cares if those weirdo cultivation sects are going through it? The actual government might even be able to intervene and stabilize things. Or, more likely, diminish whatever sway the sects had, which is valid given 2/3 of the previous Chief Cultivators actively made things worse for the world at large.

But if the cultivation sects are all there is, and the important ones function almost like feudal lords in charge of general administration in their region, then things aren't looking great! There is one hell of a power vacuum happening there! The whole thing should collapse maybe, if nobody can hold onto their power via sheer force or public support. Given that JGY's watchtower project was considered this revolutionary above-and-beyond work of public service and not a common-sense piece of infrastructure, the cultivation sects aren't even reliably providing protection, so who is this system even for?

#this is not a House of the Dragon situation where ppl demand absolute power but chafe at even the bare minimum of responsibilities thank god #3zun and JC in particular all take their duties very seriously #and even NHS in his flop era goes to events and talks to people! he just does it poorly #but yeah the only leader with real experience governing at the story's end is JC and it's unfair to make him bootstrap the whole jianghu #though JC gives off intense 'does all the work in the group project rather than risk it being done poorly' energy so he probably will anywa