more he xuan ramblings (spoilers for tgcf vol. 4-6)
I know one of the most popular interpretations of He Xuan in fanon is that he had known all along that Shi Qingxuan had received his fate, but a part of me wonders why so little posts, discussions, fics etc explore the other possibility - the one provided in the book, according to which although He Xuan had been keeping tabs on Shi Wudu and trying to figure out what exactly happened, he did not know the full extent of the truth until the information was deliberately leaked to him by Jun Wu in order to trigger the Black Water arc and get rid of Shi Wudu.
i'm not trying to invalidate the other theory, because when it comes to He Xuan there is so much we don't know that we can only speculate and that just makes his character more intriguing and fun to analyse. But I guess it's a little odd to me that the fandom seems to have accepted just one interpretation, as if it's canon and not simply one of the theories. I went back to the novel countless times to find evidence of that being true (cuz I was like... did I miss something when I was reading lol), and we actually do not learn anything that would suggest that He Xuan somehow absorbed all of the Reverend of Empty Words' memories upon defeating and consuming him, it's just a popular fanon assumption. I guess it makes sense that He Xuan would have been smart enough to figure it all out even without Jun Wu's tip. And perhaps he really did. But... why is the alternative never explored, even though it's the most obvious explanation and one offered by Hua Cheng, who is typically a reliable source of information throughout the novel?
Usually whenever Hua Cheng comes up with a theory, it is meant to point us towards the truth. Xie Lian's POV is misleading at times, but Hua Cheng's deductions are usually pretty trustworthy. Why did the fandom collectively choose to dismiss it as obviously incorrect...? What if it is what really happened?
I hope this doesn't come across as an attack, because ultimately we don't know what exactly happened behind the scenes, but after reading hundreds of fics and posts I'm surprised at the fact that only one interpretation has cemented itself as some objective truth about He Xuan and his motivation (e.g. all the popular memes about how he knew all along he had to take his revenge on Shi Qingxuan but waited and waited for one reason or another). We don't know that! There is so much we don't know for certain. And I think it would be super interesting to explore a scenario in which He Xuan doubted Shi Wudu and collected dirt on him, but did not know for sure whether Shi Qingxuan was involved - they seemed innocent enough, they cared about justice and fairness and never seemed undeserving of their divine status. We also don't know if Shi Qingxuan had ever shared their past with 'Ming Yi', close friends or not, my personal take on that would be that they were instructed to keep their mouth shut about that and never mention it to a soul, otherwise Shi Wudu would've had a stroke. Well, we don't know this for sure.
Another thing that confuses me a lot is the popular misconception that He Xuan became a ghost for revenge against Shi Wudu and Shi Qingxuan specifically. We know that at the moment of his death he saw Shi Wudu and found his presence deeply suspicious, which led to him returning as a ghost to investigate the matter. Even as he became a Supreme, he still knew nothing since it was prior to him infiltrating heavens. Years before he even met Shi Qingxuan or was aware of their existence (probably). Yes, he returned for the truth and for revenge, but it had nothing to do with Shi Qingxuan (yet).
