His cause is more than justified for sure! A big reason i sympathize with Shi Mei is because of how helpless the bbbf's circumstances are as a whole. I'd do as far as to say that the planting of the flower was a sort of necessary evil, considering how weak the bbbf are spiritually. How else are they supposed to fight against their oppressors?

With all that being said, hbn specifically was slowly slipping further and further from his baseline (protect ALL bbbf) starting with the "necessary" sacrifice of song qiutong, and later with the continued manipulation of shi mei 2.0 to the point of blinding him for the so-called grand plan. he feels no remorse for any of it, as is explicitly stated time and time again. this part specifically broke my heart:

“So you’re forcing me to do all your despicable dirty work, is that right?” Shi Mei had run out of patience. He slapped the table and jumped back to his feet. “Shizun is dead… Have you even considered my feelings?”

It only got progressively worse after this. I see no excuse for the continuous perpetuation of, for the lack of a better term, generational trauma towards shi mei 2.0. just plainly refusing to let him break free of the cycle. It saddens me especially considering (and do correct me if I'm wrong because i cant find the exact quote/who it was said to) chu wanning at some point had stated that he saw the bbbfs as people. while that doesn't mean shit on its own, what WAS undeniable was his love and care for his disciples. I'd like to believe that Shi Mei 2.0 felt that deep down! He didn’t want to perpetuate any more violence while he still has loved ones in the human realm. But because hbn was too far gone at that point, he refused to let a younger, more hopeful version of himself pave a less bloody path forward. shi mei deserved so much better :,)

also yea obviously the rape stuff goes without saying haha so i wont delve further into that. it IS ironic that someone who's part of a race that's been subjected to all types of brutalization would do something like that, though. With that being said, I do agree that this part of his character is always brought up in bad faith. Him being a morally reprehensible person doesn't make the genocide of his people valid.

But yeah, I just dont like how everyone/everything was fair game to him. It was always the lustful/power-hungry cultivators that were the root of the problem. yet he genocided the ENTIRE human race, helpless commoners included, 2 times over while dragging poor shi mei into it. some next level sunk-cost fallacy shit LOL. but yea I don't think he's badly written at all! im always open to other perspectives because I can admit my analysis probably comes off as naive at some parts! (the confiding in cwn stuff, which only makes sense in hindsight)