With Jiang Cheng weak and frail, Jiang Yanli is also trained to assume the mantle of Jiang sect leadership - just in case - and when Lotus Pier is destroyed, the petals of the youngest lotus flower tear and wilt, sinking into the river like a beautiful, tragic Ophelia.

Wei Wuxian bears the slender form of his shidi to Jiang Yanli and they bury him together, the only two remnants of YunMeng Jiang, a sect so cruelly annihilated and their delicate Young Master slipping away with how desperately he clung to life in his youth.

Wei Wuxian never invents demonic cultivation, but fights the war with desperation and guilt and love for the late members of the Jiang family, and Jiang Yanli, eyes red and back bowed in grief, ascends to leadership. Lan Xichen's heart shatters upon hearing of the passing of

his first love, and seeks out musical scores to play an inquiry into a soul lost too young, begging for his eternal rest and peace.

(ok that's love curse jc dying tragically young there we go i needed to sate my dramatic instinct)