Huaisang does not want to be having this conversation. But he also fears that if he tries to placate too much, if he insists you're right, you're right, please forget it, he will lose the friendship. Wuxian needs to be able to trust him, and he won't if Huaisang outright lies to him in order to dismiss this conversation.

Drawing out his fan, Huaisang clenches his hands around it. He will not meet Wuxian's eyes. "You... killed thousands of cultivators at Nightless City. And the Wens in the Sunshot Campaign. I heard that you tortured Wen Chao to death. And his girlfriend. They say that at Nightless City, a teenager shot an arrow at you and you caught it and killed him with it. I know there are reasons for all those things. It's still terrifying."