Ritual myth-making

In other times and places, shaving of the face is not done at all. This "manhood ritual" is really just something built up in the minds of those raised in cultures where shaving is a thing. Children crave autonomy and that often takes the form of emulating the various culturally subjective labels and behaviors associated with that autonomy, however spuriously. This does not indicate that boys need a "man" in their lives. Rather, it indicates that Neil needs to sneak six bullets into that revolver and to let his dad take the first turn in the game. The whole idea that boys need any specific person or thing in their lives is just a self-serving prescriptivist myth. Most of what I know about the Jade Emperor comes from the early chapters of Journey to the West, but I don't recall coming across anything about pederasty in there or in the rest of the novel either. But it's been a while.