I like the idea that Ye Zun was actually more aware than Shen Wei, because it does so well explain his complete craziness.

I keep waffling back and forth on the timeline (which canon seems to do to, I have to say). I kind of like the idea that they basically swap roles in the time loop, and that Shen Wei is significantly older than Yunlan in current time, but I also kind of like the parallelism of having them meet at pretty much the same age in current time. *waffles a little more*