IDK if its a controversial take or not but after so many months of reading tgcf and thinking on the story of JW and XL and HC. The parallels and anti parallels, and what was the point of XL 's story , I have decided that some of my opinions from the first reactions have changed a bit.
As much as I would like to dismiss what XL did and how reacted in book 2 and 4 as understandable mistakes of a God against too great of a force, which I still do too, I also now think, it would be acting like BWX was some outside entity complete outside the laws of nature or cycle of destiny.
BWX aka Jun Wu is not some uncontrollable entity. He is part of the same destiny which binds HC and XL and the terrible fates they were both born into along with their formidable talents. If the Mt Tonglu eruption that destroyed the country of Wuyong was the fate that wiped Jun Wu's original character then Jun Wu himself is the Mt Tonglu to Xie Lian. He is his tribulation made flesh.
As per what XL wanted to become- a savior of common people, he ...truly wasn't trained for it. Not of his own violation mind you, after all how was he supposed to know he is preparing himself wrong when his own elders do not? Nobody thought he needs to be anything more than a martial God to save the common people and be a God at the same time. This is why I like to think Yushi Huang's story exists. There is a reason she is such a prominent fixture in this story despite the fact we never met her face to face before book 3( and narrative timeline wise literally in the Act III)
She is the God that Xie Lian wanted to be since day one but was not prepared for.
Unlike XL, she was trained to cultivate like a common person. Despite being a princess, she was made to work hard and live among the common people. When the tribulation of her life came in form of another future God like Pei Ming, she sacrificed herself in such a way that did save her common people in the Kingdom . XL was on the other hand was trained as a martial god a skill that failed him to save his common people. Being the best swordsman with strongest ability meant nothing when trying to face drought, plague, and revolt. He needed to be medically inclined, socially intelligent and a King all at once and he couldn't be. He is not a King who can make harder decisions one over the other, he is a Cultivator. He hasn't done much thought on understanding unnatural plagues but saber forms. His understanding and empathy has not been tested with worldly experience at all.
So when every God, including YSH knew where to look and what went wrong with Xianle Kingdom, XL himself was clueless because he didn't even knew where he should have looked on his own and not wait for Goushi or his father or his cousin or any out of touch nobles should be telling him at his prayers for 3 years.
Nobody trained him to be that. He only had one year worth of independent travel experience among common people and as much empathy he has for people, no matter the class or region they are from, its still at the end limited. Hence why he got disillusioned so badly in Book 4, whereas Yushi Huang was never in doubt that his father would get her killed to save his own hide and that of his favorite children.
It took 800 years for XL to understand the fundamentals that YSH understood since day one. But he eventually got there. This is why he was better equipped to deal with the problems he faced 800 years ago, like how to deal with many-faced-disease without resorting to mass slaughter or understanding one cannot save everyone or those who do not want to save themselves( that is how he dealt better with Lang Ying[jr]'s betrayal)
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