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That's funny because all of the xianxia stuff I've read has been pure male story-telling. Intricate power systems, plot focused, progression fantasy, lots of fighting and tactics, struggle for power and status, accumulation of beautiful girls, open sexism and homophobia.
I guess it's the fanfiction.org vs AO3 divide all over again: https://www.themotte.org/post/877/culture-war-roundup-for-the-week/187490?context=8#context
Dudes being dudes in on eachother is like bait for women, they love that stuff.
Men care about this kind of thing platonically, in the 'who would win' sense where it's pure love of the game... Women just like how it looks and what it signals. Idk, maybe it's how women put all this effort and brainpower into looking good, they know all these sewing techniques, foundation and makeup:
Or married. I have a wife who explained that to me. Several times, since of course I forgot such useless information to make room for more gun stuff each time.
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Fictional but likely realizable conversation between me and my friends:
Me: can Harry with the Elder Wand take on Mangekyo Sharingan Sasuke.
Guys: autistically calculate power levels and how to resolve conflicting magic systems and Prep Time
Girls: Sasuke takes Harry because he is more Seme than Harry unless Harry is an Alpha and Natuto made Sasuke his omega
Sasuke stomps. Harry doesn't actually have many good combat feats throughout the series; he mostly dodges behind objects and throws out weaksauce spells like Expelliarmus. He wins the final battle of each book due to a dues ex machina power or artifact or a powerful ally (power of love, sword of Gryffindor + Fawkes, Time-Turner, Prior Incantato, Dumbledore, Elder Wand + wand loyalty). The Elder Wand changes little; in canon, it's just a more powerful wand than normal, not some kind of superweapon. Harry's most powerful offensive spell is Sectumsempra, which he wouldn't use unless bloodlusted (the only time he cast it he did not know what it did, and immediately regretted it), and that's basically just a long-ranged sword. His most powerful defensive spell is Protego (not counting the Patronus charm, which is useless against humans). Harry doesn't have the speed or reflexes to use these effectively against Sasuke.
Now, if it was Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres versus Sasuke, that would be more interesting. HJPEV can't lose as long as he is fighting with the Elder Wand, and that gives him a ton of options, even without prep time. Most obvious is to use his Time-Turner to go back in time and plant high explosives where Sasuke is going to be, but Sasuke has survived an attack like that before. HJPEV's best bet might be to talk to Sasuke to find out his motivations and then tell him that in the glorious transhumanist future he can make reconstructive uploads of his clan if he agrees to surrender.
(Actually, it's kind of weird that nobody in Naruto realizes that Impure World Reincarnation + White Zetsu Clones = Free Immortality For Everyone. I guess that's muggle plots for you).
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My girl friends must be much more autistic than normal, while not all of them would be interested in 1, I can't imagine them discussing 2 seriously.
To be fair I've only seen this discussion ONCE in real life. Most of my uncovering of the inner goblins of my college educated lit-minded peers was in one-on-one settings where I express surprise at something like 'I didn't understand the first scene of Sherlock season 2 where they made Sherlock and Moriarty kiss' or 'God Sakura is so annoying the series would be much cooler if they got another girl in the team' and seeing the goblin glint in the girls eye. It only happens with girls who both trust you AND have zero intention of fucking you, which is a sadly rare combination in the current day and age.
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