Unpopular opinion, but I don't think that the Ruo and MC power difference is actually that bad. Ruo has a money/training/resources advantage compared to Wu heir who comes from a pretty much fallen clan, and doesn't train (or at least not shown to train) half as much, so that's going to create a massive difference. Now, do I believe that Nikki is nerfing the MC too much? Oh yeah, definitely. But sometimes the anti-Ruo circlejerk gets as bad as his fans. Ruo's power scaling isn't the problem, the problem is that MC's power scaling is inconsistent on top of there being a lack of reflection of their feats in the story. Wu heir goes from powerful to a bum depending on how Nikki wants the fight to turn out, and the storyline and game still treats the MC like we just entered the sect. It's been years, MC has some impressive feats + being trained by a master as a Core Disciple. Why are we still stuck at Houtian when the plot has obviously past that point. I believe the cultivator fest is supposed to fix that issue by making potential enemies stronger, so MC doesn't out power all their opponents, but in reality, it just made the situation worse. Ruo is actually scaling with the plot, which makes it more jarring. MC is supposed to be stronger than Ruo, but obviously less skilled, using their strength to overpower opponents rather than outsmarting them. But as I said, MC is still being handled with Houtian gloves when the plot has obviously past that point, so Ruo who is scaling in line with the plot seems to be OP when in reality he's not, it's just bad writing.
There's also the problem of how the game pretty much has one sole viable route and the storyline sometimes feels like it's punishing you for not going that route, but that's a whole rant I have when it comes to POMA as a female MC player, especially with this recent update.
