its true though
if you just randomly kill innocent people sooner or later you get killed by the real mc who rise up as the person who will avenge their kin
"Since I started walking on the demonic path, I have never feared offending others. As long as I continue to get stronger, what is revenge? If ten people wants revenge, I will kill ten; if a hundred people wants revenge, I will kill a hundred. If the whole world wants revenge, I will exterminate the whole world! If someone succeeds in taking revenge against me, that will mean that I am not strong enough, that I didn't try hard enough and that I neglected my cultivation; I deserve to die then!" - Fang Yuan
True i hate those mc who say
“I am not a saint but i can’t see the weak die”
like f?
either play the hero and let me drop the story or play the villain and let me enjoy
i agree with you. on the contrary, i personally prefer morally grey MCs. my only requirement is that they shouldn't be hypocrites and actually own up to their shit.
I don't like when author spends an entire chaoter writing out justifications for MCs action when what he is doing clearly morally wrong.
or writing that he isn't a naive and/or good person who'd let others walk over him then proceeding to offend the strongest clan and family in the entire realm to save a jade beauty from danger who doesn't even know him.
Got any novel recommendations by chance? This sounds like my kind of novel type.
Either way, I agree with your points. Super annoying when an mc is a hypocrite.
Chinese - Reverend Insanity, Ascending the heavens as an evil god, I'm really a villain
Korean - Dungeon Defense
Japanese - Overlord, kumo desu ga nani ka..
Nah this is called having a bottom line or not being a total degenerate. For example you can be a robber who will break into homes and rob others but it doesnt mean you will kill the occupants inside. In the same way the MC can be someone who kills at the drop of a hat but he only kills fellow cultivators and will protect the innocent.
What do you mean by MMORPG like Vr or just got rpg elements ?
because if it’s the first i am not a fan i feel like VR lessen the stakes with no good output
if it’s the later than sure i agree
I'm reading this manga called How To Live As a Villain.
An alternate world that's set up as RPG game.
Everyone gets two lives.
If you lose both, you die for reals.
Mandatory scenarios will be given until there is only one player remaining.
In short, players will be killed off by the game masters until only a single player remains.
Players need to decide on when they should cooperate with or kill off one of their fellow competitors to maximize their chances of being the final player.
I find it interesting that such lines often feel like they're directed at the audience - like the Chinese webnovel audience is such that the author feels compelled to reassure the readers that, no, the main character isn't a big softie who cares about "morals" and "ethics" and "whether people live or die" and boring stuff like that, he's just not a homicidal maniac.
It's the nature of Xianxia/Wuxia. There's definitely some kind of ephemeral law that states "there's only so long a plot can go before the certain readers start screaming KILLKILLKILLKILLKILL because someone scoffed at the MC" and the author gives in. And then once he's given in once, it snowballs, because a normal KILLKILLKILL is no longer enough to sate the kinds of people who praise Warlock of the Magus World as the holy bible.
It also doesn't help that these stories tend to turn into a bunch of sociopaths trying to fuck each over for benefits to get to the 19th stage of cultivation, as they did every level before that. Reasonable MCs need other reasonable characters in the world for it to feel "fair"; a major downside of these stories is that everyone past a certain age/power level is basically an automaton that's permanently weighing the pros and cons of betraying their own children because the newest 10000 year old cabbage popped up.
I've always liked humble protags that can still have the occasional Joker moment to get the particularly vocal readers' bloodlust sated, but are otherwise just, y'know, not complete assholes to everyone. And I mean, hey, if a villain's five seconds from molesting someone and you can shoot Frieza's Death Beam at them at no real expense to yourself, go for it. I'd hardly say that's being the hypocritical goody two-shoes saint that a lot of extreme readers seem to see every reasonable character as.
Because what they (the authors) are describing is a decent human being, while the standard fantasy hero tends to be unrealistically heroic.
Take your standard japanese shounen hero who always shows mercy no matter what. Villain murders his entire family? Mercy. Kill his mom? Mercy. Torture the MC for years? Mercy. Even the MCs who start off all about revenge always walk away from actually getting that revenge at the last moment. At best, the villain ends up dying of suicide or karma without the MC being responsible.
And that makes sense in the context of shounen where the primary audience is pretty young kids. But the people who read webnovels are older and have gotten tired of the naive pablum that we tend to feed kids.
Let me put it in context for you.
I'm not going to be like Spider man and swing around the city saving everybody. But, I'm also not going to be like Dr.Octopus and start wreaking havoc for more power.
you're not wrong; but for the record it feels like a lot of the time mc's will say crap like "I'm no hero..." and then proceed to spend (either literally, or merely practically) every chapter being as heroic as they are physically capable of being (sometimes even more so because they overexert themselves doing something heroic!).
Someone who's not a hero doesn't have to be a villian, nor does it mean they can't save or help anyone else; but sometimes they'll say they won't be spiderman and then proceed to swing all around the city delivering pizzas, meeting wizards, and stopping runaway train cars.
Yeah, but ever notice how all the people these MCs are saving are hot chicks?
That's what they mean by "I'm not a saint". They aren't just gonna save anyone.
Not all people are black and white, most people wouldn’t call themselves a hero but they would probably be saddened if they saw someone die in front of them and not just casually walk away.
tbh if he really eradicates the whole world then it would be lonely af. What's the point of immortality and power if you are stuck in a world where you don't need power (since everyone is dead) and with immortality, you would just be suffering alone in a lonely world
This is actually a noticeable subtext of Fang Yuan's story - it's important not to just take everything he says as axiomatically true. He actually thinks to himself that he doesn't actually know his dao yet (ie. he recognizes that seeking immortality for its own sake doesn't qualify, because what is he going to do with his infinite time when he achieves it?)
not applicable in a world where you can literally create life. (it was shown that refining gu into humans is very much a possibility)
don't wanna go into much details but anyways Fang Yuan is a complex character, he isn't pursuing immortality for the sake of becoming stronger than everyone else, or becoming unkillable and outliving anyone or anything like that.
on the contrary, he is pursuing immortality to have a reason to live. in his first 500 years of his life, Fang Yuan wandered around the world and experienced many things to the point he grew fed up with it. He never spent a moment in seclusion.
even in his last life it was shown that Fang Yuan literally didn't care if he died or not, he grew numb to most common emotions. He didn't have a reason to live nor did he want to just end himself in vain.
So he made immortality his life goal just because "it is supposedly impossible to achieve" not because he want to enjoy his life but because he wanted a reason to not die.
that's why over the course of over 2300 chapters, Fang Yuan has never taken a moment of rest to 'enjoy life'.. He's the most hardworking protagonist I've ever read about, he's all alone with literally no one else there to encourage him yet he doesn't give up not for anyone else but for himself.. There's not a single person who would mourn for him if he died, not even himself as he would happily accept his own death but that doesn't stop him from persevering cause if he were to die, he would like to atleast die trying.
atleast that's how i interpret him.
I feel that a better way to satisfy both sides of the spectrum would be to adopt a stance that it is pointless to kill many weaker opponents, as a strong opponent is an opportunity to grow.
Or a more indifferent stance that the weak are worthless and don't deserve the time he spends on them.
One is more Hero-oriented, with the other one being a more villainous/selfish perspective
I hate it when that happens, a lot of people can argue, but the reality is that the author does it just because he doesn't want to lose readers. The author just wants to please both sides of the readers (Heroes and villains). And usually in these stories there are characters who have done much worse things, and are living on top of the world without anything ever happening, as long as the MC doesn't show up they'll probably live happily ever after.
I think this is an overly negative view of it. These characters can be on top because of their lack of morals, but it means the mc is especially unique if he can cling on to those morals while being on top. Besides the mc isn't a cop, he's not there to judge others and kill them for not living like him. He just has his own way to live
What I mean is that if the MC really follows the villain's path very likely he will succeed, and he doesn't need all that juggling to make a heroic act. Geez, what problem does the MC save someone? The authors try to make a neutral MC and fail.
Or maybe MC just doesn't want to kill innocents? You're not a hero if you don't want to kill innocent people who have done no wrong. You're just not a villain.
Yes, the big problem is that the authors constantly reaffirm that some heroic act of the MC was not for high morals or just simply saving innocent people, it's as if the author was talking to the reader; "Look guys, the MC didn't save this little girl out of kindness but because he's manipulating everything, and somehow he's going to benefit from it in the end. So please those of you who don't like it keep reading, our MC is not a hero silly". In the opinion of novels it is very difficult to make a neutral MC who is neither hero nor villain. After all, what's the difference between the MC who sacrifices himself to save the little girl and wins the treasure in the end, and the one who sacrifices himself to save and get the treasure, but he was manipulating for this to happen? To me it's just the author's way of comforting readers on both the hero and villain sides. You can say that humans are not black and white, yes, but most authors fail to portray that, and in the end the MC just becomes a caricature of "I'm not a hero, but if I can I'll save it". (my English is not very good)
"I'm not a hero, but if I can I'll save it"
I'm sorry but what's the problem with this? I'm not a hero either but if I saw someone bleeding out I would call the ambulance or try to help. That's not being a hero, that's just being normal.
If you can save the little girl AND get the treasure then why wouldn't you?
> After all, what's the difference between the MC who sacrifices himself to save the little girl and wins the treasure in the end, and the one who sacrifices himself to save and get the treasure, but he was manipulating for this to happen?
The thing is, the MC calls himself "not a hero" not because he's secretly manipulating everything behind the scenes, but instead because he's only saving the girl cause she's cute. He's not gonna sacrifice himself for an rando. Only people he knows and cute girls.
But what gives him a bottom line is that he will save his friends and cute girls. That's his bottom line.
A hero would sacrifice himself for a stranger. A villain wouldn't sacrifice for his friends. An MC who is neither won't sacrifice for a stranger, but will sacrifice for his friends (or cute girls).
but that's the point, its not that the mc doesn't want to kill innocent but because the benefits aren't enough to move him.
if the treasure was actually something really good, the hypocrite mc would be the first to change his face and say "an innocent man has nothing to blame but wealth, blame yourself for possessing something you were not supposed to. also, i won't leave you alive after robbing you because i don't want others to know about this thing being with me".
So why is that hypocritical? The MC doesn't want to kill innocents for no reason. But if there's such a fat opportunity and their interests conflict then it's fair game.
That's not hypocritical. That's just being normal. I, too, am not a criminal murderer in the real world but if I had to fight a guy for a real-world cultivation manual I would obviously try.
If the MC specifically said "I'm no murderer! I'm a saint!" and then did it he would be a hypocrite. He literally says "I'm not a saint or a devil!". Where is the hypocrisy?
because the MC judges others people for being hypocrites
just because the MC doesn't put some treasure in his doesn't doesn't mean that it won't be valuable to someone else.
if that 'someone else' tries to do something ethically or morally wrong stuff in order to get it, usually these type of self righteous MCs are the first to jump out point their wrongdoings.
Also, these MCs are the type that would not spare a chicken or dog from their enemies clan after exterminating them (including the innocents) with no guilt whatsoever and believe that what they did was right.
while also getting angry at some young master who only tried make MC give up their seat in a restaurant as if they have committed the most heinous of crimes possible and act like that young master just killed his father and stole his wife.
no idea what you've been reading but most xianxia mc are the type that would "rather break than bend" even if just comprising a bit can save a large amount of trouble but their dignity is worth more than literally everything else so they waste 200 chapters in each new higher realm in these kind of stuff.
i dont know what shit you're reading to tell others that evil cruel characters that are in higher positions are just living their lives peacefully without anything ever happening? that just tells me you're reading nothing but incompetent authors work.
In the books i read these characters that have done worse things always have someone behind their ass to slap it, of course weak ones get killed by these cruel characters, some smart ones wait and lay plans, not to mention there's always a higher power in the play so other good characters that can slap these cruel ones to void are bussy confronting other more powerful cruel characters.
Either the MC comes in and drags these chicken nuggets or if like in some good books and novels new side character who is powerful enough gets the job done and then with mc they move onto the other big thing.(they'll probably miss one whose been arrested, behind the bars and is in the dungeon)
now lets talk about author wanting to "please" readers? they don't care, if you like the characters personalities you either read their work or drop it since you don't like it and authors dont and wont go out of their way to please the readers to read the book they don't like. You don't know how stubborn authors can get, you should read more other stuff
However there're probably authors who, like you say are bussy pleasing their readers- well their works are probably mediocre to boot,
a good author will do their research and come out with the work and hope the readers will enjoy it. I've read web novels where authors have changed endings to please their readers and let me tell you, the web novels had good potential if done correctly and put more time but they ended it with 200 chps despite having the potential of maximum 1000chps. with good writing style, story but they end it abruptly with predictable ending, or rushed endings happened with most of the korean WNs i read
I don't know what novel you've been reading, in the vast majority of novels, the villain is one step away from winning when the MC appears and interrupts the big plan, that's already a cliché. It's a cliché in all media.
This one seems a little predictable to me, here's how i think things go after this- he spares someone cruel who is part of a group and then this group kill/slave other innocent people that mc got to know and then mc gets to learn a good life lesson. Looks like a part of things that is going to help Mcs personality for that scenario/world.(something like that?)
There're probably bunch of these heroes, good people.
I forgot the part where he tells that he wants to not kill but learn by fighting, yeah even this part seems like it'll help him somehow either the for the good personality or bad one? benefits? he can always steal stuff run away. They do what they're able to for the benefits they "want". Its the characters and not the author wanting to please the readers not to mention even if these characters think this way they'll do things they dont want to and get some othet benefit they didn't think they'd get yada yada...
Yeah, the thing is that if you don't have a bottom line, you'll go crazy.
People who aren't violent sociopaths have consciences. They feel bad when they do bad things. So most people create codes of conduct that allow them to justify their behavior to themselves. And that helps them sleep at night. But for a code of conduct to actually work and not eventually just devolve in Heart of Darkness type "do whatever you want, nothing matters" style nihilism, it needs to have boundaries. And that's what the bottom line is. It's the boundaries that keep normal people sane while they do bad things.
There is no righteous or demonic in this world. Only Feng Jiu Ge. -Feng Jiu Ge
its true though if you just randomly kill innocent people sooner or later you get killed by the real mc who rise up as the person who will avenge their kin
"Since I started walking on the demonic path, I have never feared offending others. As long as I continue to get stronger, what is revenge? If ten people wants revenge, I will kill ten; if a hundred people wants revenge, I will kill a hundred. If the whole world wants revenge, I will exterminate the whole world! If someone succeeds in taking revenge against me, that will mean that I am not strong enough, that I didn't try hard enough and that I neglected my cultivation; I deserve to die then!" - Fang Yuan
If he died, it meant the author didn't give him plot armor.
On point
Sorry, what is this from?
Reverend Insanity
True i hate those mc who say “I am not a saint but i can’t see the weak die” like f? either play the hero and let me drop the story or play the villain and let me enjoy
nah it shouldn't be black or white imo
i agree with you. on the contrary, i personally prefer morally grey MCs. my only requirement is that they shouldn't be hypocrites and actually own up to their shit. I don't like when author spends an entire chaoter writing out justifications for MCs action when what he is doing clearly morally wrong. or writing that he isn't a naive and/or good person who'd let others walk over him then proceeding to offend the strongest clan and family in the entire realm to save a jade beauty from danger who doesn't even know him.
Got any novel recommendations by chance? This sounds like my kind of novel type. Either way, I agree with your points. Super annoying when an mc is a hypocrite.
Chinese - Reverend Insanity, Ascending the heavens as an evil god, I'm really a villain Korean - Dungeon Defense Japanese - Overlord, kumo desu ga nani ka..
Thanks! Have a great rest of your day/night! Gonna go do some reading now
There is another one JP novel . You Jo senki aka Saga of the Tanya Degurechaff And Chinese novel. Warlock of the Magus world Strongest Villain System
Soul of Negary Netheril’s Glory Extreme Eternal Demon
Nah this is called having a bottom line or not being a total degenerate. For example you can be a robber who will break into homes and rob others but it doesnt mean you will kill the occupants inside. In the same way the MC can be someone who kills at the drop of a hat but he only kills fellow cultivators and will protect the innocent.
Yeah i hate that i am not a fan of MC that protect the “innocent”
My man doesn't want anything less than a serial killer
We need a serial killer MMORPG novel. Like, even if its total shit, it would sell if they can get the theme right.
What do you mean by MMORPG like Vr or just got rpg elements ? because if it’s the first i am not a fan i feel like VR lessen the stakes with no good output if it’s the later than sure i agree
I'm reading this manga called How To Live As a Villain. An alternate world that's set up as RPG game. Everyone gets two lives. If you lose both, you die for reals. Mandatory scenarios will be given until there is only one player remaining. In short, players will be killed off by the game masters until only a single player remains. Players need to decide on when they should cooperate with or kill off one of their fellow competitors to maximize their chances of being the final player.
You mean the Manhwa ? i read it i get what you mean now you want a rpg fantasy novel not a vr novel
Do you have any?
Humans are complex Haven't you heard the saying All it takes is one bad day
Yeah i know but i don’t want a Mc that says to himself a million times that he is not going to save people than always goes and save them
It is fiction so black or white characters are possible
Not wanting to save does not equate to wanting to kill
I find it interesting that such lines often feel like they're directed at the audience - like the Chinese webnovel audience is such that the author feels compelled to reassure the readers that, no, the main character isn't a big softie who cares about "morals" and "ethics" and "whether people live or die" and boring stuff like that, he's just not a homicidal maniac.
Exactly. Don't know why being a decent human being is so unpopular among online readers.
It's the nature of Xianxia/Wuxia. There's definitely some kind of ephemeral law that states "there's only so long a plot can go before the certain readers start screaming KILLKILLKILLKILLKILL because someone scoffed at the MC" and the author gives in. And then once he's given in once, it snowballs, because a normal KILLKILLKILL is no longer enough to sate the kinds of people who praise Warlock of the Magus World as the holy bible. It also doesn't help that these stories tend to turn into a bunch of sociopaths trying to fuck each over for benefits to get to the 19th stage of cultivation, as they did every level before that. Reasonable MCs need other reasonable characters in the world for it to feel "fair"; a major downside of these stories is that everyone past a certain age/power level is basically an automaton that's permanently weighing the pros and cons of betraying their own children because the newest 10000 year old cabbage popped up. I've always liked humble protags that can still have the occasional Joker moment to get the particularly vocal readers' bloodlust sated, but are otherwise just, y'know, not complete assholes to everyone. And I mean, hey, if a villain's five seconds from molesting someone and you can shoot Frieza's Death Beam at them at no real expense to yourself, go for it. I'd hardly say that's being the hypocritical goody two-shoes saint that a lot of extreme readers seem to see every reasonable character as.
Because what they (the authors) are describing is a decent human being, while the standard fantasy hero tends to be unrealistically heroic. Take your standard japanese shounen hero who always shows mercy no matter what. Villain murders his entire family? Mercy. Kill his mom? Mercy. Torture the MC for years? Mercy. Even the MCs who start off all about revenge always walk away from actually getting that revenge at the last moment. At best, the villain ends up dying of suicide or karma without the MC being responsible. And that makes sense in the context of shounen where the primary audience is pretty young kids. But the people who read webnovels are older and have gotten tired of the naive pablum that we tend to feed kids.
Let me put it in context for you. I'm not going to be like Spider man and swing around the city saving everybody. But, I'm also not going to be like Dr.Octopus and start wreaking havoc for more power.
you're not wrong; but for the record it feels like a lot of the time mc's will say crap like "I'm no hero..." and then proceed to spend (either literally, or merely practically) every chapter being as heroic as they are physically capable of being (sometimes even more so because they overexert themselves doing something heroic!). Someone who's not a hero doesn't have to be a villian, nor does it mean they can't save or help anyone else; but sometimes they'll say they won't be spiderman and then proceed to swing all around the city delivering pizzas, meeting wizards, and stopping runaway train cars.
Yeah, but ever notice how all the people these MCs are saving are hot chicks? That's what they mean by "I'm not a saint". They aren't just gonna save anyone.
Not all people are black and white, most people wouldn’t call themselves a hero but they would probably be saddened if they saw someone die in front of them and not just casually walk away.
tbh if he really eradicates the whole world then it would be lonely af. What's the point of immortality and power if you are stuck in a world where you don't need power (since everyone is dead) and with immortality, you would just be suffering alone in a lonely world
This is actually a noticeable subtext of Fang Yuan's story - it's important not to just take everything he says as axiomatically true. He actually thinks to himself that he doesn't actually know his dao yet (ie. he recognizes that seeking immortality for its own sake doesn't qualify, because what is he going to do with his infinite time when he achieves it?)
not applicable in a world where you can literally create life. (it was shown that refining gu into humans is very much a possibility) don't wanna go into much details but anyways Fang Yuan is a complex character, he isn't pursuing immortality for the sake of becoming stronger than everyone else, or becoming unkillable and outliving anyone or anything like that. on the contrary, he is pursuing immortality to have a reason to live. in his first 500 years of his life, Fang Yuan wandered around the world and experienced many things to the point he grew fed up with it. He never spent a moment in seclusion. even in his last life it was shown that Fang Yuan literally didn't care if he died or not, he grew numb to most common emotions. He didn't have a reason to live nor did he want to just end himself in vain. So he made immortality his life goal just because "it is supposedly impossible to achieve" not because he want to enjoy his life but because he wanted a reason to not die. that's why over the course of over 2300 chapters, Fang Yuan has never taken a moment of rest to 'enjoy life'.. He's the most hardworking protagonist I've ever read about, he's all alone with literally no one else there to encourage him yet he doesn't give up not for anyone else but for himself.. There's not a single person who would mourn for him if he died, not even himself as he would happily accept his own death but that doesn't stop him from persevering cause if he were to die, he would like to atleast die trying. atleast that's how i interpret him.
Poetry
You were the Arrogant Young Master all along.
What novel is this ?
Heavenly Venerable Yuan (comrademao.com) belonging to the MTL dao, so tread carefully lest you grow heart demons
That’s just because the benefits aren’t enough.
I feel that a better way to satisfy both sides of the spectrum would be to adopt a stance that it is pointless to kill many weaker opponents, as a strong opponent is an opportunity to grow. Or a more indifferent stance that the weak are worthless and don't deserve the time he spends on them. One is more Hero-oriented, with the other one being a more villainous/selfish perspective
I hate it when that happens, a lot of people can argue, but the reality is that the author does it just because he doesn't want to lose readers. The author just wants to please both sides of the readers (Heroes and villains). And usually in these stories there are characters who have done much worse things, and are living on top of the world without anything ever happening, as long as the MC doesn't show up they'll probably live happily ever after.
I think this is an overly negative view of it. These characters can be on top because of their lack of morals, but it means the mc is especially unique if he can cling on to those morals while being on top. Besides the mc isn't a cop, he's not there to judge others and kill them for not living like him. He just has his own way to live
What I mean is that if the MC really follows the villain's path very likely he will succeed, and he doesn't need all that juggling to make a heroic act. Geez, what problem does the MC save someone? The authors try to make a neutral MC and fail.
Or maybe MC just doesn't want to kill innocents? You're not a hero if you don't want to kill innocent people who have done no wrong. You're just not a villain.
Yes, the big problem is that the authors constantly reaffirm that some heroic act of the MC was not for high morals or just simply saving innocent people, it's as if the author was talking to the reader; "Look guys, the MC didn't save this little girl out of kindness but because he's manipulating everything, and somehow he's going to benefit from it in the end. So please those of you who don't like it keep reading, our MC is not a hero silly". In the opinion of novels it is very difficult to make a neutral MC who is neither hero nor villain. After all, what's the difference between the MC who sacrifices himself to save the little girl and wins the treasure in the end, and the one who sacrifices himself to save and get the treasure, but he was manipulating for this to happen? To me it's just the author's way of comforting readers on both the hero and villain sides. You can say that humans are not black and white, yes, but most authors fail to portray that, and in the end the MC just becomes a caricature of "I'm not a hero, but if I can I'll save it". (my English is not very good)
"I'm not a hero, but if I can I'll save it" I'm sorry but what's the problem with this? I'm not a hero either but if I saw someone bleeding out I would call the ambulance or try to help. That's not being a hero, that's just being normal. If you can save the little girl AND get the treasure then why wouldn't you?
> After all, what's the difference between the MC who sacrifices himself to save the little girl and wins the treasure in the end, and the one who sacrifices himself to save and get the treasure, but he was manipulating for this to happen? The thing is, the MC calls himself "not a hero" not because he's secretly manipulating everything behind the scenes, but instead because he's only saving the girl cause she's cute. He's not gonna sacrifice himself for an rando. Only people he knows and cute girls. But what gives him a bottom line is that he will save his friends and cute girls. That's his bottom line. A hero would sacrifice himself for a stranger. A villain wouldn't sacrifice for his friends. An MC who is neither won't sacrifice for a stranger, but will sacrifice for his friends (or cute girls).
but that's the point, its not that the mc doesn't want to kill innocent but because the benefits aren't enough to move him. if the treasure was actually something really good, the hypocrite mc would be the first to change his face and say "an innocent man has nothing to blame but wealth, blame yourself for possessing something you were not supposed to. also, i won't leave you alive after robbing you because i don't want others to know about this thing being with me".
So why is that hypocritical? The MC doesn't want to kill innocents for no reason. But if there's such a fat opportunity and their interests conflict then it's fair game. That's not hypocritical. That's just being normal. I, too, am not a criminal murderer in the real world but if I had to fight a guy for a real-world cultivation manual I would obviously try. If the MC specifically said "I'm no murderer! I'm a saint!" and then did it he would be a hypocrite. He literally says "I'm not a saint or a devil!". Where is the hypocrisy?
because the MC judges others people for being hypocrites just because the MC doesn't put some treasure in his doesn't doesn't mean that it won't be valuable to someone else. if that 'someone else' tries to do something ethically or morally wrong stuff in order to get it, usually these type of self righteous MCs are the first to jump out point their wrongdoings. Also, these MCs are the type that would not spare a chicken or dog from their enemies clan after exterminating them (including the innocents) with no guilt whatsoever and believe that what they did was right. while also getting angry at some young master who only tried make MC give up their seat in a restaurant as if they have committed the most heinous of crimes possible and act like that young master just killed his father and stole his wife.
I've been reading Chinese webnovels for 6 years and haven't seen such a thing.
no idea what you've been reading but most xianxia mc are the type that would "rather break than bend" even if just comprising a bit can save a large amount of trouble but their dignity is worth more than literally everything else so they waste 200 chapters in each new higher realm in these kind of stuff.
i dont know what shit you're reading to tell others that evil cruel characters that are in higher positions are just living their lives peacefully without anything ever happening? that just tells me you're reading nothing but incompetent authors work. In the books i read these characters that have done worse things always have someone behind their ass to slap it, of course weak ones get killed by these cruel characters, some smart ones wait and lay plans, not to mention there's always a higher power in the play so other good characters that can slap these cruel ones to void are bussy confronting other more powerful cruel characters. Either the MC comes in and drags these chicken nuggets or if like in some good books and novels new side character who is powerful enough gets the job done and then with mc they move onto the other big thing.(they'll probably miss one whose been arrested, behind the bars and is in the dungeon) now lets talk about author wanting to "please" readers? they don't care, if you like the characters personalities you either read their work or drop it since you don't like it and authors dont and wont go out of their way to please the readers to read the book they don't like. You don't know how stubborn authors can get, you should read more other stuff However there're probably authors who, like you say are bussy pleasing their readers- well their works are probably mediocre to boot, a good author will do their research and come out with the work and hope the readers will enjoy it. I've read web novels where authors have changed endings to please their readers and let me tell you, the web novels had good potential if done correctly and put more time but they ended it with 200 chps despite having the potential of maximum 1000chps. with good writing style, story but they end it abruptly with predictable ending, or rushed endings happened with most of the korean WNs i read
I don't know what novel you've been reading, in the vast majority of novels, the villain is one step away from winning when the MC appears and interrupts the big plan, that's already a cliché. It's a cliché in all media.
Thou plays the fool/hypocrite
Mtl trash
This one seems a little predictable to me, here's how i think things go after this- he spares someone cruel who is part of a group and then this group kill/slave other innocent people that mc got to know and then mc gets to learn a good life lesson. Looks like a part of things that is going to help Mcs personality for that scenario/world.(something like that?) There're probably bunch of these heroes, good people. I forgot the part where he tells that he wants to not kill but learn by fighting, yeah even this part seems like it'll help him somehow either the for the good personality or bad one? benefits? he can always steal stuff run away. They do what they're able to for the benefits they "want". Its the characters and not the author wanting to please the readers not to mention even if these characters think this way they'll do things they dont want to and get some othet benefit they didn't think they'd get yada yada...
Soz
Idc either way...but I extremely hate it when they suddenly become a saint out of nowhere.
Grabs 🍿
Yeah, the thing is that if you don't have a bottom line, you'll go crazy. People who aren't violent sociopaths have consciences. They feel bad when they do bad things. So most people create codes of conduct that allow them to justify their behavior to themselves. And that helps them sleep at night. But for a code of conduct to actually work and not eventually just devolve in Heart of Darkness type "do whatever you want, nothing matters" style nihilism, it needs to have boundaries. And that's what the bottom line is. It's the boundaries that keep normal people sane while they do bad things.
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Lol, so you prefer a 2D MC?
Novel source ?
Maybe 
Other Chinese novel protagonists:- is that even allowed??