Comment on Ghostbusting Economics: The Great Cultivator Labor Shortage

  1. Okay, now I'm imagining Jiang Cheng scowling in Victorian ruffles, and it's great.

    And yeah, totally! With both JGY and XY, MDZS really hammers home the tragedy that if only their talents had been recognized and trained properly, they might have been huge assets to the cultivation world instead of ending up as villains. (Same goes for Su She, tbh: maybe he would have been less of a snake if he didn't have reasons to resent the way outer clan disciples are treated.) The very rigid class structure among cultivators is absolutely the villain of the story.

    (And totally agreed on the Xue Chonghai move! Let WWX And Xue Yang Be Self-made Geniuses, Dammit)

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    1. Gold metal Chinese Zodiac Ox charm.

      Okay, now I'm imagining Jiang Cheng scowling in Victorian ruffles, and it's great.

      Umm...different period entirely, and different English Queen entirely; Victoria’s impact on marriage politics (1) was diametrically opposite: marry early, breed like a royal rabbit, and find some pretext to crown and intermarry your relatives (which is how hemophilia spread through European royalty.)

      (1) Although not entirely her intent: Victoria was unfortunately downright repelled by children—but she had dynastic obligations and was passionately in love with Prince Albert. (He, at least, enjoyed fathering.)

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      1. Ah, yep, of course! I was dashing off a pretty quick reply and my history brain was offline for a sec. 😅

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        1. Gold metal Chinese Zodiac Ox charm.

          I hope I won’t be derailing your work by recommending a fic that addresses the socioeconomics of MDZS’s cultivational world, with in-story callouts of cultivator privilege?

          Myopia, by rustycol (https://archiveofourown.info/works/17797466/chapters/41988365), is unfortunately incomplete and abandoned, but it has WWX, WQ, and WN as fugitives, living incognito as nomads with some minor characters from the Water Margin. (WQ had previously saved Zhang Qing’s life with a successful high-risk trepanning, described within period- and culture-accurate terminology.) A couple observations:

          1. rustycol has Shown Their Work, establishing a sense of place and time; for example, WQ has been corresponding with Arabic physicians, and is drawing parallels between yin/yang theory and the Western Four Humors. (WQ and WWX the Science Siblings are very much on display here.)

          2. Almost none of the Mountain Brothers are outright cultivators; even coreless and having to keep his modao under wraps, WWX’s inventiveness and mundane martial skills make him still an apex predator in a Wuxia-level adventure.

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          1. Sounds interesting! Idk if I’ll read it (not always up for getting my heart broken by things I know are abandoned), but thanks for the rec!

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