Thinking about that “Jiang Cheng bursts into the scene!” part of Guanyin Temple and how it just shows what a failure of a person he is. He’s very clearly only there because he feels like he has to repay his debt to Wei Wuxian, but also what’s funny about that is 1) he notoriously does not repay debts, 2) he keeps the debts that he owes others secret so that it does not reflect poorly on him that he does not repay his debts, and 3) he is the reason anyone knows he owes a debt to wwx for his golden core.
Think about it: when Jin Guangyao reveals that he knows jc owes his golden core to wwx, he doesn’t mention Wen Ning’s reveal in the ancestral hall. Instead, he talks about how jc ran all across Lotus Pier, screaming and crying and having people attempt to pull Suibian from its scabbard, which could very easily lead anyone to come to the conclusion that (at the very least) jc’s golden core is linked to wwx.
So back to Guanyin Temple where jc—probably because he let 13 years of unearned praise get to his head—decides to finally take the initiative on this one thing which is “rescue wwx to repay debt,” only to fail spectacularly because jc cannot succeed at anything unless someone is directing his actions. He is a follower at heart, and he only got as far as he did because he was physically and politically powerful purely from his status as a sect leader, which netted him a powerful core. And now he has to live with it being public knowledge that his position and achievements are all due to the man that he personally claimed credit for murdering, with nobody to bail him out. And it’s his fault anyone even knows this.
