Both Li Bing and Wu Mingkong started out as justice-seeking idealists and both nearly died as a result of their attempts at standing up for others (Li Bing almost got sold to the Turks), yet they ended up as polar opposites.
I think a key factor is whether or not they had a safety net in their formative years. Li Bing had Qiu Shenji, who was clearly very dear to him and a positive influence, but Wu Mingkong had absolutely no one to lean on as far as we know. Add to this being a girl in a deeply patriarchal society and the picture turns even bleaker. Her father was a violent pos, so no wonder she descended into darkness so quickly. The lack of proper role models can also partially explain why she treats her children with such cruelty (tho it doesn’t justify her) and continues the cycle of parental abuse, on top of continuing the cycle of violence against people in general. She’s been alone for her entire life (unless we count Emperor Gaozong I guess? but he doesn’t seem that enthusiastic about her conquering the empire in that relationship chart, plus he’s dead), while Li Bing’s anchor after Qiu Shenji was forced to leave has been his found family and esp Chen Shi, whose support in the latest arc prevents him from succumbing to his feral side and becoming a monster like the Empress. As a side note, all villain officials in WCL seem to be like Wu Mingkong, alone and emotionally detached from others, with no real close relationships.
Yi Zhihua in my opinion is in a middle ground situation. He’s attached to Golden Mask, the only tie to his humanity, and while their relationship has been turbulent it has the potential to play a big role in the finale. Wu Mingkong is bound to be overthrown and lose her immortality sooner or later, right? I can see Golden Mask giving a helping hand to the protagonist team, since he’s in the capital and has already met Alibaba.
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