Time for a ZZZ hot take? This time situated in the character specific position.
Some talks I had in the dms really began opened my light on this, primarily a heavy contention part to season 2. So! I wanna break it outright before making the dive in.
Ye Shunguang was the key that could've wove all of part 2 together considerably higher. In kind, it also would've gave the Yunkui summit the central theme/struggle it teased in the Yixuan trailers, and at large with it's entire sect as it battled on the nature of hypocrisy and the nature of duty itself.
To keep it sweet and simple. Yixuan and Ye Shunguang were two characters who were supposed to have a story as a package type of deal the more I looked onto it. The other companion to this piece being Ye Shiyuan, Shunguang's brother as they'd encapsulize the entire struggle on the road this sect has gone down. I'm in the camp that the readiness to both sell Shunguang, and the ill decision and not letting her integrate into the story from onset is what did the damage that permeated. How we ONLY had her brother, who took the dangerous but well intentioned road to sacrifice and struggle on her befalf, and not more people she could build relations with.
Yunkui summit had a lot of misgivings that were moreso set under the rug by the storywriters, as they'd technically not exist without Shunguang's involvement, and it bottoms down to both the obsession and nature of their ways involving the Qingming's sword, the history of their wielders and how despite being mystics, and to a degree ascetics, we never seen this challenged either because the core piece that made them ready to defy or break from the road were these Qingming wielders.
Yixuan's mindset (and thus shared as a whole with the summit) in the perspective of boxing Shunguang away, which lead to the aforementioned's rebellion streak, without even really realizing her role in the entirety, just that the limit of what she does can lead to death was NOT meant to be squeezed in one season. This needed feedback from multiple situations, the deterioration of Failume heights as a whole in order for this to be appropriate fed into.
We never got the sides of the wielders until the 'Sword Seeker Chronicles' event that literally came right after. A balance of this would've opened the door to those who found the Qingming's ways to be too cruel, to where it would be infighting, and a direction for Shunguang's stage to take the reins of her life. And in kind, watch how past protectors/teachers of these people used duty duplicitously, a way to steer away the old pain they would've experienced with those they lost. In this case, like Yixuan and her sister. The image of Yunkui summit would have to be thrown into genuine question by the disciples that recognize this, and actually dare to challenge it because they give a fuck about its future, about their brothers and sisters of the craft.
The characters to actually tell this story is good but the way they've decided the pace from the writers felt like it lacked that central direction to execute it. Not to mention, there was the 'gacha tax' that Shunguang paid HEAVY for.
Honestly? I feel like they've realized this as well as Roscaelifer did not hesitate to get one of the central players; Remielle Dan, upon the forefront as a character that follows through with the proxies in all the events. In kind, we also see that their demons from Helios are in hot pursuit too, that way there's a bonding link with all the other characters in between that will expand on the nature of the land, it's Hollows and the dangerous scenarios that will have to be deal with.