#meanwhile jgy isn't an ambiguous character

[songofclarity]

Nie HuaiSang shouting "Brother XiChen, behind you!!!" is similar to someone shouting "Fire!" in a crowded room. Both actions can be dangerous if spoken in false alarm, but Nie HuaiSang insisted he did see the smoke because he did see Jin GuangYao did move.

Jin GuangYao never refuted that claim. Instead, his complaint was that he hadn't acted, that he hadn't attacked. Yet.

Because when it comes to Jin GuangYao, where there is smoke, there is fire. Nie HuaiSang knows it best.

And if Jin GuangYao had already moved, should Nie HuaiSang have then waited a moment longer until he saw Jin GuangYao actually hold a weapon?

Remember Nie MingJue? Who felt threatened by Jin GuangYao until he didn't, because Jin GuangYao manipulated and lied to him by pretending to be nice and gentle and docile, because Jin GuangYao insisted he now saw the light and would do the right thing and do as he promised and also that he was here to help play some healing tunes like a good little brother, and then slowly poisoned Nie MingJue to death instead?

Jin GuangYao acting docile and gentle and defeated at Guanyin Temple should raise a whole bunch of red flags. Jin GuangYao at his most pitiful is when he is the most dangerous. If he is underestimated, that means he will have the upper hand. People die when he has the upper hand.

Remember Wen RuoHan? Incredibly powerful, fast-as-lightning Wen RuoHan who was killed with ease by Meng Yao? Jin GuangYao has had far more training than Meng Yao. Over fifteen years more training and well over fifteen years more experience in killing people and getting away with it.

If Jin GuangYao drew his weapon, either Lan XiChen or Nie HuaiSang would be dead if that meant Jin GuangYao could escape alive. After having tried to kill off the whole cultivation world and the evidence of all the innocent commonfolk he ordered murdered literally coming out of the framework of Guanyin Temple, he will be executed for sure. The murder of that one Jin cultivator in front of Nie MingJue looks like a joke compared to this hot mess of a situation with its half dozen witnesses.

Nie HuaiSang states with persistence that he saw Jin GuangYao move. He saw the smoke.

Jin GuangYao never claimed Nie HuaiSang saw wrong. He moved. What he throws back at Lan XiChen, who had said he would show no mercy if Jin GuangYao acted again, by asking, "But did I act?"

Because while Jin GuangYao had moved, he hadn't acted yet. He hadn't attacked yet.

But Nie HuaiSang knows Jin GuangYao. If Nie HuaiSang waited until he saw the fire, it would already have been too late for him to speak.

Which is why Jin GuangYao speaks with loathing, "How unexpected for me to fall in your hands like this..." Because the oriole caught the mantis mid-jump. Nie HuaiSang yelled, "Fire!" when he only saw the smoke. Nie HuaiSang cried, "Brother XiChen, behind you!!!" when he only saw Jin GuangYao move.

And Jin GuangYao, for the first time, lost his chance to act on his upper hand. Of course he's pissed and angry at Nie HuaiSang.

But that doesn't make Nie HuaiSang wrong, much less evil, for doing it.