#if he felt there was an imminent threat to his life he could've killed him way sooner

[poorlittleyaoyao]

People portray NHS as having A Defined Plan all along as soon as he found out but wwx's deductions seems to think he was adapting on the fly and winging at least some of it even as he put pieces in motion and that using mo xuanyu was a relatively late decision. of course this is just wwx's thoughts since nhs being behind things is technically never confirmed in the novel

Yeah, I... find myself in disagreement with many commonly-held NHS headcanons, this being one of them! There is no way that NHS could possibly have Meticulously Lined Up The Pieces Just So because there is just too much variability. In novelverse, he couldn't have anticipated WWX's initial interaction with JL, WN's reappearance (how? did he instantaneously transport himself? from Jinlintai? to Dafan Mountain?), WWX being recognized by LWJ, Wangxian's continued partnership, or JGY arranging the kidnapping of a bunch of teens to lure every single sect leader to the Burial Mounds to murder them. The Wangxian stuff--the core component of the WHOLE STORY!--is only previously known to LWJ! Not even LXC knows about the song! He figures some stuff out on his own, maybe facilitates one hell of an inciting incident in the form of convincing MXY to resurrect WWX, and then exploits the ensuing chaos like a motherfucker.

Honestly, I kind of like it better if MXY Just Did That and NHS gleefully seized the unexpected opportunities that presented. Like, maybe he released the arm hoping that the Twin Jades would be the ones to investigate, accurately predicting that LXC would recognize NMJ and would be willing to keep the discovery secret from JGY if his didi insisted on it. And then surprise! WWX has entered the chat and he's got some unresolved personal drama that NHS can work with!

In CQL, however... okay, so TECHNICALLY he doesn't need WWX for anything NMJ-related, especially since For Legal Reasons There Are No Zombies. But in that canon, JGY is WWX's final curse mark. By having MXY summon WWX in that canon, it ensures both Maximum Chaos For JGY To Deal With and guarantees that JGY must die. Not only die, but die in a way for which WWX is at least indirectly responsible! WWX is curse-bound to lay the groundwork there, which is kind of a fucked-up task to delegate to your friend! Also, NHS in CQL canon can reasonably expect Wangxian to become allies since they were known to be besties (NHS third-wheeled their Yin Iron fetch quest himself!) and LWJ tried to save WWX from falling off that cliff in full view of everybody. In fact, there's a line in Episode 2 where WWX speculates that the Fairy Statue simulacrum they fought (the ACTUAL statue having been sealed during the aforementioned fetch quest in front of NHS) was created deliberately to lure them there by the same person who released the blade spirit. CQL's NHS could be a mastermind... just a very slow-acting one, because. 16 years. Nothing whatsoever about that plan needed 16 years.