What if the reason JC hunted demonic cultivators is not out of hatred for WWX per se, but because he blamed it for taking WWX away from him? What if it was "the WWX who did all those bad things that I can't forgive wasn't the real WWX, demonic cultivation took away the real WWX"? https://twitter.com/jiangchengwife/status/1390625053625049088

I think JC's torturing of demonic cultivators is not something I personally like to see in a positive light, but to me it's also a manifestation of his extremely conflicted relationship with the memory and ghost of WWX.

Honestly, a lot of JC's most questionable actions post WWX's death just screams "cognitive dissonance" to me.

Like in the villainous friends extra when JGY mentions that JC had "gone mad" after WWX's death, that he was keeping Chenqing close and insisting to everyone that WWX isn't dead, that he's coming back, and that when he comes back, JC is going to kill him again.

I feel that it's the crushing dissonance of "he's dead" and "I killed him" and most of all, "I regret it" that's caused this mix of "HE'S NOT DEAD" but also "I don't FUCKING regret my actions— how dare you?! If he comes back, I'd kill him all over again."

So on some level I personally see the hatred of demonic cultivation as another cognitive dissonance thing. Except this time it's trying to reconcile the bad things WWX's done that JC can't forgive him for, with the fact that deep down inside where he tries to deny and hide it

(because if not how the hell is he going to deal with the fact that WWX is dead and JC killed him) HE STILL LOVES WWX.

In that way, separating WWX's actions from the WWX he once loved can be done if he just blames it all on demonic cultivation.

In some way, he can even justify that the person he killed wasn't "the real WWX", only a shell of his brother, that demonic cultivation was what killed his brother first. He didn't kill WWX. Demonic cultivation killed WWX long before JC did.

Demonic cultivation thus becomes the thing he can pin all his anger, grief, pain, and loss onto. It's almost WWX's scapegoat in his head.

Demonic cultivation killed his sister, and his brother in law.

Demonic cultivation took his brother away from him.

Demonic cultivation took away EVERYTHING he had left.

His grief magnifies his hatred of demonic cultivation into something monstrous, and demonic cultivators (who are the bodied forms of demonic cultivation) become what he takes out all his grief and anger onto.

IMO, all the messed up and frankly unhinged things that JC does after WWX dies is a sign of how much fucking dissonance, guilt, and grief is going on in there. It's a manifestation of his agony. His capturing and torturing of demonic cultivators IS unhinged behavior to me.

But in a lot of ways, his messed up and unhinged behaviours are what makes him compelling and sympathetic to me as a character. It only makes me feel more pity and sadness on his behalf. It only makes me appreciate him more.

In a lot of ways, MDZS is so compelling to me BECAUSE it paints characters who have done bad things in a way that makes it clear that they are human. They are just like you and me. They are people whose stories you can sympathize with and actions you can understand.

In this way, it forces us to confront the fact that it is human to do bad things, and most of all, it also forces us to confront the fact that WE are also capable of doing bad things.

(That said, I also agree with OP on demonic cultivation. JC's messed up psyche aside, it IS still bad. I also find it strange that some characters are villainized more than others when they have all done bad things.) https://twitter.com/asideoftrashpl1/status/1390707681543921666?s=19

OKAY HERE IS A LONG META THREAD TO HAMMER IN THE POINT THAT DEMONIC CULTIVATION IS BAD. It's not just orthodoxy. It's not just bad because other people say it's bad. It's ACTUALLY unethical and unhealthy, and it canonically ruined WWX's and JC's life. https://twitter.com/asideoftrashpl1/status/1390733424747372549?s=19