In tgcf (spoilers for the entire novel to be safe), this manifests as a lot of people seeing the basic structure of a fallen god who re-ascends and then extrapolate that this must be a redemption narrative for a protagonist who learns from some past mistake or flaw and grows from it and is then rewarded by the narrative, and this idea goes on to inform their reading. This is why you see so many people viewing Xie Lian as a naive, privileged protagonist who needed humbling, or even reading what happened to his kingdom as his fault directly for daring to interfere.

In the climax of his confrontation with Jun Wu, what does Xie Lian say? “EVEN IF IT HURTS, I WON’T CHANGE! EVEN IF I DIE, I WON’T CHANGE! I WILL NEVER CHANGE!”

That’s it right there. This is why he was always right. This is why he defeats Jun Wu. This is why Hua Cheng loves and respects him so completely with undying devotion!!!!! Xie Lian gets back the love and devotion he gives. He was right all along. I really think the reason this notion that he was wrong and needed to learn is because this IS a a very common story to tell, and a common character arc to explore. But that is NOT tgcf, and it’s not Xie Lian.