#WRH lost the war because he had no patience

[thepurplewombat]

Why was WRH so stupid?

I've been thinking about this for a while and like, WRH's actions were deeply stupid in a way that turned the whole cultivation world against him in self-defence when, with a bit more patience, he could have wiped out all the Great Clans within five or so years and set himself up as a petty-Emperor of the cultivation world.

If I was WRH, this is how I would do it.

A ten-step plan for world domination.

Step 1: don't attack Cloud Recesses. The pretext was dumb and nobody bought it. Send a polite invitation to a Wen Study Term just like Cloud Recesses'. A POLITE ONE! The clans will acquiesce because nobody wants to rock the boat.

2: now you have to decide whether you want to go after the Jiang, the Lan, or both. I would recommend choosing one - both is too ambitious. The Nie are not an option for reasons that will become clear. I would recommend the Jiang.

3: kill Wen Chao. He's useless anyway, but he's still the son of the sect leader.

4: frame Jiang Cheng (not WWX - WWX can be disavowed, but Jiang Cheng is the sect heir, his actions are, to an extent, the actions of the Jiang Sect) for the death of Wen Chao. It doesn't have to be murder, although it would be best if WC could pick a bunch of fights with JC beforehand so that whatever 'night hunting accident' he dies in can be spun as JC deliberately getting him killed out if rage. (now we see why the Nie are not an option. Nobody would believe that NHS murdered Wen Chao, and if WC got killed on a night hunt because of NHS' incompetence, the Nie can easily say that the Wen knew that Second Young Master Nie is not suited to night hunting so why was he there in the first place? Not that NMJ would do that because the loss of face would probably send him into qi deviation, but best not let it come up)

4a: Massacre the Jiang. Nobody is going to object - and if they do, they won't do it loudly. The loss of a son and heir - because WC is still in the succession, I believe? - is sufficient pretext that nobody is going to object too loudly. If you want to be super practical you can just kill the Jiang inner Disciples and take the sect for yourself, but I feel like WRH does have the manpower to take Lotus Pier and keep industry flowing with civilian labor. No need to risk hostile cultivators at his back.

5: we are now one Great Sect down, and no war. Everyone is kind of 👀 about it because they never thought their own tactics would be turned against a Great Sect like this, but there is sufficient precedent that nobody wants to object too loudly.

6: now you wait. Move too soon and you could scare the Lan and the Nie into uniting against you, and you don't want that. While you're waiting, you consolidate your hold on Yunmeng, bringing the smaller sects in the region under your banner. Nothing to see here, just doing what sects do. Make sure your relations with the Jin remain good. Jin Guangshan won't cause any trouble for you if you don't cause any trouble for him.

7: choose whether to go after the Lan or the Nie next. I recommend the Lan, because the Unclean Realm is a tough nut to crack.

8: attack the Lan. Kill everyone - but most especially you want to kill everyone in the line of succession. You don't want Lan Xichen or Lan Wangji rallying people against you later on. A pretext would be useful for this, but at this point is not entirely necessary. Don't burn the library, you idiot.

9: you are now left with the Nie and the Jin among the great clans. This is good because they don't get along, and also Jin Guangshan is useless. Besiege the Unclean Realm. You don't have to go frontal assault, just keep them bottled up in their nice little fortress where you can pick them off at your leisure. This may take a few years, but once they are sufficiently weakened you can take them out.

10: CONGRATULATIONS!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Important things must be said three times! World domination is now yours! The Jin are the only Great Sect left, and they won't dare move against you and can't unite the smaller clans (whom I hope you have been treating well as you unite them under the Wen. You have been treating them well, right?) . At some point later, you can take them out if you wanted, but it's not necessary. I'd recommend taking care of Jin Zixuan, who is likely to bear a grudge and is an honorable idiot who won't take well to having a Wen boot on his neck. Jin Zixun will be much more amenable.

There are some people who might see your plan and derail it - primarily NHS and Meng Yao. NHS is unlikely to be able to do much since nobody will listen to him, although if both he and Meng Yao are in the Unclean Realm they might be able to convince NMJ to take action before the attack on the Lan can happen. I would recommend convincing JGS that a spare heir is never a bad idea (if this works you can always get Meng Yao installed as head of the Jin later - if he knows you're the one who convinced JGS to take him on he will be loyal to you, and if JGS and Co treat him as they did in canon he will not object overmuch if you kill him, and might even do it for you). If that doesn't work, kill him.

[righteousinadversity]

Can we please remember that Wei Wuxian was a Genius? Like. No. Really, Can I please list his accomplishments?

He is the master of the six arts, a prodigy of cultivation.

He is the son of a servant, an orphan with nothing to his name and the fourth most eligible bachelor. Like, everyone else on the list is literal sect heirs.

He creates a whole new form of cultivation. Can we remember the circumstances he was in? He lost his entire home, ripped his golden core out to save his suicidal sworn-brother/sect-leader/complicated martial relation/whatever Jiang Cheng is to him, and then gets thrown into what is literally hell on earth in-universe. Like, Wen Chao was afraid that he was going to return as a fierce corpse if he just killed him; that's why he threw him in there. And this Guy just waltzes out, three months later, leading the fucking corpses.

He creates the Stygian Tiger Seal, which is practically why they won the war. Like. He changed the entire tide of the war. Because fuck limitations.

He does all this while dealing with severe trauma.

He makes the burial mounds livable. like, the cultivation sects couldn't purify this place for centuries, even the Wen Sect could only seal it, and he's like, hold my Emperor's Smile.

The only thing that could kill WWX is himself. This is canonical and I take no argument.

Also, Let's be clear. Fuck the "Wei Wuxian's canonical self-esteem issues" tag. He is confident, bordering often on arrogance. He gives no fucks. He does not help others because "oh I am expendable and not worthy of life" oh fuck no. No. This Amazing man does it purely and only because it is the right fucking thing to do. He is a morally righteous man who protects the innocent at great risk to himself. He doesn't let others walk all over him. He fights back and has no patience for morons.

Honestly, the fact that he won't hurt the innocent is probably why the cultivation world didn't burn. Like, can you imagine JC or JGY or XY or WRH in his position, with his power, putting up with that shit? WWX's morality is the vice the cultivation society had against him, and the jins use it perfectly.

Like. he realises the danger of the seal and destroys it. He pays for his mistakes and accepts the consequences. He realises the seal is a dangerous mistake and sets about to correct it, even at the cost of his life.

WWX also always, always looks into the future and lives in the present, and even when he thinks of the past he tries to remember only the good things. He doesn't think of what could have been and lives without regret in his actions. He regrets the consequences of those actions, but he accepts that those actions were what he'd inevitably do in situations like that.

In conclusion, WWX is a BAMF genius who does the hard thing because it is the right thing, and I hope all the 'oblivious WWX' 'WWX's self-esteem issues' tags burn in hell.