liu qingge is actually so underrated. imagine growing up and being told this is how a proper man acts. this is how good men speak, and walk, and carry themselves. good men don't go to brothels, don't curse. you're told demons are evil. you're told that cultivators are good people who kill the evil demons. you're told to do good, you have to get strong enough to kill demons, and to get strong, you have to work hard.
you are raised with almost no hardship. your sister is cool. your face card is lethal but nobody judges you based off it. you are given a proper education and the opportunity to begin cultivating at the optimal age. you have money and status and a fit body.
and then you meet shen jiu. who is the culmination of everything you've been raised to hate. weak, lazy, lecherous, manipulative, vain, clearly not fit for the scholar's peak, clearly wormed his way into his spot through connections, never grateful toward the sect leader, despite all he's done for him, and fights dirty - an improper man.
and then he saves your life, and everything changes in one day.
i think, as readers, we severely underappreciate this part of lqg. think about it. he could have done anything in response to the ling xi caves - could've let it go, avoided thinking about the shame of losing to his worst enemy. but he just isn't that sort of person. liu qingge is a man who, when he notices something is off, will dive headfirst, will seek the truth and what's right with sincere determination, will repay a debt no matter what, will call things what they are even if he doesn't like it, even if it's gone against every principle he's been raised upon.
do you know how difficult it is for people to change? to say sorry? shen yuan ran from the guilt of the abyss before considering a proper conversation and apology; shang qinghua runs from a lot of things; yue qingyuan might just be the biggest example - letting shen jiu live miserably over telling the truth. liu qingge is a character that changes, that consistently breaks his own rules -- he hates shen jiu until he doesn't. he hates taking on personal disciples until he doesn't. he hates demons until he doesn't.
even though shen yuan comes from the modern world, a way more progressive and accepting of minorities world, and liu qingge was raised on nothing but prejudice, they both are pretty equal in terms of accepting gayness and demon hood