Can you give us a rundown on the variation in JC adaptions?
I can't do a full one right now because I've only completed the novel and the show, which is why I asked for others to weigh in! In terms of broad strokes, in the novel his last appearance is this:
After a moment of silence, Jiang Cheng shook his head, “There’s nothing to say.”
That, back then, I wasn’t caught by the Wen Sect because I wanted to go back to Lotus Pier to retrieve my parents’ corpses. That, at the town we passed on our way, when you were buying food, a group of Wen Sect cultivators caught up. That, I discovered them early and left where I sat, hiding at the corner of the street and didn’t get caught, but they were patrolling the streets and would soon run into you outside.
That this was why I ran out and distracted them.
But just like how the past Wei WuXian couldn’t tell him the truth of giving him his golden core, the current Jiang Cheng wasn’t able to say anything either.
Chapter 110, Exiled Rebels Translation
And his adapted endings are in order:
1. Wang Zhuocheng trembling smile crying a single perfect tear as he whispers Take Care to WWX's retreating back, with a postcanon extra two years later of LWJ writing a letter to WWX, grumbling fondly about how noisy it is in the Cloud Recesses now that he and JC have reconciled and JC keeps coming over to cause a ruckus.
2. Donghua!Jiang Cheng finds out about the core transfer after Guanyin Temple amd has a breakdown about it so bad he swaps endings with Lan Xichen and goes into seclusion, leaving Jin Ling to fend for himself.
3. Manhua!Jiang Cheng has a brief awkward conversation about flute ownership and watches WWX leave kind of looking like he wants to say something, but doesn't even think about it meaning that Jiang Cheng's sacrifice technically isn't manhua canon and he really may have gotten caught going back for his parents' bodies.
These are some BUCKWILD shifts, particularly if Jiang Cheng's sacrifice really isn't supposed to be canon in the manhua. I am actually reasonably pro adaptational changes but these are three completely different men? I'd have to watch the donghua in depth and read the full manhua to really do any kind of analysis, which I actually do want to! The donghua ending kind of killed my interest for awhile although I started getting slowly getting it back a couple months ago, but the manhua ending has me almost weirdly pumped. Like I'm ready to sit down and go through this making notes so that I might Understand, and come back with my completed thesis to get my PhD in Jiang Cheng Studies.