#literally just spat this out onto the keyboard so not particularly tidy but the more I thought about it the more instances cropped up

[muninnhuginn]

I'm probably forgetting some instances here and my chronology may be muddled because this is mostly off the top of my head (edit: okay nvm I rewatched the specific bits), but I really love how white is used in Wen Kexing's wardrobe in association with "Zhen Yan". And in some ways with turning points of his overall character arc throughout the series.

I'm going to go through this in the order these events happened to wkx rather than in series order just to follow through the chara better. Mentioning beforehand as well though I'm guessing most people reading this will already know that white tends to symbolise stuff like purity/innocence and, most importantly to this, death in Chinese culture.

Okay, so when we first meet wkx as a child as a disciple with zzs, he's wearing white robes. He's a fairly innocent kid at this stage and he was allowed to have a pretty happy childhood overall (even if he later regretted not studying more) until Zhao Jing came into the picture and everything else happened. For much of the series, wkx views his Zhen Yan identity as functionally dead (which he literally spells out in his mini confrontation with Shen Shen) and so there's almost a veil of mourning around these flashbacks for both wkx and the audience.

Then we come to the flashback where his parents are killed (ep 24). Wkx is dreaming as he remembers so obviously in white underrobes (is there an actual term for this? I feel weird calling them pyjamas) so the association is there even though Zhen Yan himself isn't wearing full white, just white robes beneath his outer robes. The flashback ends with Tragicomic Ghost giving him Meng Po soup and him forgetting Zhao Jing's part in this whole business (this basically draws the line between Zhen Yan and Wen Kexing). The deaths in these scenes are both literal (his parents) and that of himself in him giving up his memories. (Wkx then awakens and has his conversation with zzs about the latter's past, but I'm not sure that really fits the pattern here.)

Ep 23, we see wkx being "taught" by the valley king of the time that the only way to survive in ghost valley is to kill. He's wearing a white shirt here and is referred to as "ah xing" confirming he's now killed the Zhen Yan part of his identity as part of his own survival. The valley king makes sure to punctuate his "lesson" with violence.

Which leads onto the next chronological instance (ep 21), where wkx uses violence himself to topple the former valley king. This scene was actually the one which first made me think there was an association because his choice to wear white in this scene is just... questionable, but this scene is coming on the heels of the Four Seasons childhood scenes and so there's that connection there. Anyway, he is wearing white, but it's marred a bit by, well, the blood. This is where he becomes the ghost valley king. The death here works similarly to with his parents where there's both the literal death of the king as well as wkx's identity prior to taking on the ghost valley kind title (and we do get hints with the entire "Auntie Luo" thing with Tragicomic Ghost that things did change as he took on this persona.)

Now, unless I'm forgetting something, wkx doesn't really wear white again after this point (excluding obviously his night clothes) until his confrontation with Zhao Jing. We get to see his development away from all the murk of the ghost valley back towards him being a "human". This scene is almost immediately after he's faked his death which within the plot is something you kind of have to peer at quizzically in hopes it'll make more sense next you look, but in context of his character evolution lets you have a little death/rebirth narrative. He confronts Zhao Jing not as Wen Kexing the Ghost Valley King but as Zhen Yan of Healer Valley. And he wears white as a contrast to everything else he's worn as ghost valley king to reclaim his Zhen Yan identity from the dead. It's definitely a big leap for his character even though he hasn't cut his ties with ghost valley entirely.

Finally - and I wasn't going to include this bit at first because it's not his clothes - you get to his very last appearance/s with his white hair. I know the drama ending is fairly controversial and the white hair stuff is a pretty common trope regardless, but I'd like to think that in this case it's a continuation of where wkx was at during his confrontation with Zhao Jing and hey, he gains the white hair after yet another "death/rebirth". White hair isn't something like clothes that can just be easily swapped; it's something that's part of him now. Essentially, he has made peace with himself and his history. Sure, he can hardly be called "innocent" again at this stage, but he's reconciled the Zhen Yan parts of himself with the Wen Kexing and the Ghost Valley King parts of himself.

#literally just spat this out onto the keyboard so not particularly tidy but the more I thought about it the more instances cropped up #word of honor #word of honor spoilers #meta #attempted at least #hopefully someone else can figure out how to actually explain this better than me #I left the ep numbers for the stuff I checked anyway #otherwise you just have me like 'okay I know everyone hates the white hair and fake death but if you look at it under a kaleidoscope-- #bonus round: which undead chara wears white throughout the series? if you said yby you'd be correct