once more I am thinking about Jiang Cheng, purple dye, the weird things Han purple pigment does under certain circumstances, and how that would possibly affect cultivation

(you will pry my "Jiang Sect is the richest of all" headcanon from my cold dead harpy claws)

"the weird things Han purple pigment does" = "lose an entire dimension, in case anyone was wondering

which means there is probably a MDZS/Three-Body Problem AU in here somewhere, if you want to wrangle the physics into place

yellow/gold dyes are FAR EASIER to create than purple (which are often pigments as opposed to dyes). depending on what you feed your silkworms, you can get them to produce a yellow-toned silk fiber. you can also use onion peel to get a yellow dye.

on the other hand, historical purple pigments and dyes (Tyrian purple, Han purple) were not only labor-intensive to produce, but also costly in terms of resources. Tyrian purple, for example, required the secretions of tens of thousands of sea snails to produce an ounce of dye

Han purple is a pigment, which means it's harder to set than a dye; it also fades quickly - pigment production, use, and care would be a vast industry! you wouldn't just need access to the pigment source, but to materials that could set it successfully, for long-term use

what I am saying, therefore, is that Jiang Cheng's wardrobe is potentially the biggest power move in a world where people can fly, cultivate to immortality, and also control corpses

I headcanon that during the search for WWX, JC and LWJ once were told in no uncertain terms that an inn did NOT accept gold or silver, and while LWJ was preparing to sleep outside, JC sighed and pulled out a bag of fabric dye/pigment

innkeeper: the rooms are yours!

LWJ: