The story of Ne Zhe covers only three of the 100 chapters of the book Investiture of the Gods; a book that is arguably more familiar to Chinese children than the New Testimate Bible is to American children. You can see the entire book Investiture of the Gods on the Internet Archive.
Below is a copy of the text that covers the three chapters devoted to Ne Zha. It’s short enough that you can read it in the theater during the movie trailers before watching Na Zhe 2.
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The Birth of Nezha
Present at Chentang Pass was none other than the renowned military commander Li Jing, who possessed the rare ability to travel through ground, metal, wood, or fire as taught by Superior man Woe Evading Sage. Currently with two sons — Muzha and Jinzha — and his wife, Madam Yin, Li Jing was in a strange situation: his wife was seemingly pregnant for over three years and sixth months, but never progressed into labor.
However, as Yin had a strange dream one night, she suddenly gave birth to this strange child the following morning. With maidens rushing about saying that a demon was present in Yin’s chambers, Li Jing immediately rushed forth into her room and cleaved in two a strange fleshy ball that rolled to and fro across the floor. Within the ball emerged a small young child with hair as white as snow with a gleaming golden bracelet on his right wrist. Taking the young child into his arms, Li Jing and his wife were both very delighted at the sight of their new son.
As Fairy Primordial arrived shortly, and was happily welcomed into their territory, the former took hold of the child and declared his name to be ‘Nezha’. After containing consent that Primordial could adopt the child as his own disciple, Li Jing continued to train his soldiers fervently throughout the following seven years of time. As Nezha ventured outside of the pass one day with a guard after his seven-year nurturing under Fairy Primordial, Nezha arrived before the Nine Bed River which sparkled with the light of the sun. Determined to take a bath in this stream as an escape from the great heat of summer, Nezha immediately took his clothes off and used the Sky Budding Damask around his neck to wipe his body. Little did he know that each time this scarf touched the water the surface turned red when it swished about, and the ground beneath shook violently.
Ao Guang, the dragon king of the East Sea, thus ordered his yaksha 6 scout, Li Gan, to find out the cause to each consistent tremors. After realizing Nezha to be the source of such tremors, Li Gan lashed his axe violently at the former in great rage — but only ended up losing his life shortly by Nezha’s Universal Ring.
As Ao Guang was informed of his scout’s death, Ao Bing eased his father Ao Guang with word that he would find out the reason for such an action. Experiencing great ridicule and arrogance upon the meeting of Nezha, Third Prince Ao Bing lashed forward his great renowned lance of jade. However, using both of his legendary items with synchronized ability, Nezha managed to strike the former dead — who thus returned to his original form, a silver dragon.
Being informed by Ao Bing’s soldiers that his third son lost his life in addition, Ao Guang’s rage pierced the very heavens as he transformed himself into a scholar to immediately see Li Jing on the issue. After angrily elaborating the issue to Li Jing, Ao Guang demanded to see Nezha in person without any moment to waste.
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When Nezha appeared before Ao Guang and apologetically handed him his third son’s tendon that was previously ripped out, the former flew into greater contempt declaring fully that he would personally see the Jade Emperor to ensure there punishment.
Feeling fully responsible for the great agony and frustration that his mother and father were now going through, Nezha declared that would see his master, Fairy Primordial, to see how he should deal with Ao Guang to ensure his family’s safety. Using a dust cloud to move with great speed through the air, Nezha arrived shortly before his master’s residence at Qianyuan Mountain.
Knowing fully that the minor actions of the past were destined to occur, and such a matter was not worthy to be placed before the Jade Emperor himself, Fairy Primordial first drew invisibility charms on Nezha and then sent him to the Virtue Gate of the Celestial Palace with his set instructions.
Arriving in moderate time before the Virtue Gate, Nezha gazed in great admiration at the beauty and elegance that revolved around him; such a sight truly was far too great to ever be present within earth. As Ao Guang eventually arrived through the gate, he rode swiftly towards the South Celestial Gate — determined indeed to see the Jade Emperor at once.
Yet realizing that such a gate was closed, a large pain suddenly erupted forth in his back as Nezha’s Universal Ring landed a crucial blow to the former. Falling to the ground with Nezha grabbing hold of his neck, Ao Guang was truly in a difficult situation.
Combat between two Fairies
As Nezha toppled about the dragon king and began beating him violently with his fist, the latter became even more infuriated. Determined to force Ao Guang to give up and return with him to the Chentang Pass, Nezha tore apart each individual scale upon his sides — effectively forcing the king to give in to such detriment. After Ao Guang had been ordered to take the form of a small lizard lest he attempted to escape, Nezha returned immediately to Chentang Pass in mere moments.
Upon his return before Li Jing, Ao Guang resumed his original form, stamped his foot in unparalleled rage, and vowed to gather the dragon kings of each of the four seas in his next attempt to see the Jade Emperor. With Li Jing in a state of rejuvenated frustration, Nezha effectively calmed his father down by stating that he had decreed existence upon the Red Dust by the Jade Emptiness Palace; and if any trouble was to be presented before the Jade Emperor in the future, his master, Fairy Primordial, would take care of the situation with precise accuracy.
As Nezha thus calmly walked off to his parent’s garden after placing confidence in his father, he soon became rather bored and decided to climb the neighboring pass’s watchtower to enjoy the afternoon breeze. After gazing forth at the great view before him, Nezha picked up a bow equipped with a set of three arrows that sat at the edge of this large tower. Deciding to better his archery technique, he shot one of three arrows — which glistened with brilliant crimson — into the southwest.
Truly Nezha little did realize that this bow was wielded by none other than Emperor Xuanyuan within the past — for only one of immortal ability could have the strength to wield it. With even greater misfortunate, this arrow happened to pierce the throat of Blue Cloud Lad of White Bone Cave on Skeleton Mountain.
As such an incident was immediately informed to Lady Rock, the mistress of the cave, the latter vowed to attain revenge against Li Jing, the conjectured criminal of such an incident. Following Lady Rock’s immediate arrival before Chentang Pass, she wrapped up Li Jing with her yellow-scarved genie without a moment of hesitation. After thus returning to her mountain with the latter, Li Jing told Lady Rock that he would immediately find out who the true murderer was upon his inspection of the sacred arrow.
As Li Jing called for Nezha and shortly realized that he was indeed the criminal behind this new incident, the former led Nezha to Skeleton Mountain atop a dust cloud. Once Pretty Cloud Lad, the secondary disciple under Lady Rock, approached Nezha to call him in to the cavern, Nezha determined this to be the perfect chance to knock the former out cold due to the calamity that should befall him in very short time anyways. Seeing her disciple near death on the ground, Lady Rock began to lash her sword at the latter in even greater rage.
Unfortunately for Nezha, his legendary items were absorbed into the former’s sleeves with ease when he attempted to unleash them — and he thus had no choice but to flee immediately to his master at Qianyuan Mountain. Hiding in the peach garden immediately upon his arrival, Fairy Primordial left his domain to confront Lady Rock as she pursued the former. After yelling profusely at Fairy Primordial in her desire to confront Nezha, the latter retorted by saying that Nezha was destined to perform such calamities — and such an incident was only minor and of no real significance compared to his true future performance.
Realizing that his words were unfeatured, and her only method to get past his resolve would be to approach his master at the Jade Emptiness Palace; the former decided to duel Fairy Primordial to prove her skill as being greater. Even with her magical item — the Dragon Beard Handkerchief — she proved inferior as the latter evaded and negated her every blow like the flow of water. Thus trapping her easily inside his great Nine Dragon Divine Fire Coverlet, Fairy Primordial glanced down at Nezha — who peered outside the cave — to head immediately to his family’s residence due to the Jade Emperor’s consensus of Ao Guang’s request.
Thus telling Nezha what he should do during his arrival, Fairy Primordial clapped his hands to put the irrational Lady Rock to her rest in a pit of flames. Approaching the four dragon kings, who arrived shortly at his house, Nezha began to break his bones, gouge out his intestines, and slit his belly as a representation of the punishment that he deserves — and the innocence that was deserving of his parents. Seeing Nezha dead in a large pool of blood, Ao Guang and the other dragon kings consented to his sacrifice — and declared his parent’s as innocent and free of any form of punishment.
Reincarnation with Lotus Flowers
The soul of Nezha appeared before Fairy Primordial recently after his death. The fairy latter told Nezha to approach his mother in a dream and tell her to construct a temple on Jade Screen Mountain that was to be worshiped with incense and candles for over three years of time. Following the three years, Nezha would be able to reincarnate into his original human form once again. Thus continuously pleading to his mother for the construction of his temple so that he could rest in peace, she finally ordered her attendants to do as such — resulting in the temple’s completion following the passage of ten months.
As Li Jing was naturally not informed of such a construction lest he attempted to tear it down in the future, many people soon gathered to worship before the beautifully articulated temple due to the seemingly good fortune that resulted in such worship. Descending one day from the Wild Horse Mountain after thoroughly drilling his troops, Li Jing noticed many individuals gathering around a neighboring temple that was supposedly dedicated to “God Nezha”. Burning the temple down shortly and calming the people with the truth, Li Jing returned immediately to see his wife and reprimand her for such one-sided thinking.
As Nezha heard what happened through his temple secretaries, he headed to see his master at Qianyuan Mountain to explain the current situation. Realizing that Nezha was to be reincarnated as soon as possible without a single moment of delay, Fairy Primordial ordered his attendant, Golden Haze Lad, to retrieve two lotus flowers and three lotus leaves from the lotus pond immediately. Performing a special process with his lotus leaves and flowers shortly after being received, Nezha suddenly leapt forth in a new human body without the slightest defect following a puff of smoke. Bowing in unparalleled gratitude before his master, Nezha was trained immediately with the Fire-Tip Lance combined with his new Wind-Fire Wheels, and ended up mastering such an art in very short time.
Before leaving Qianyuan to attain revenge against Li Jing, Fairy Primordial handed the former his original legendary items — after being retrieved off of Lady Rock’s corpse — along with a golden brick that could change its mass at the user’s will. Riding upon his flaming wheels with quick pace, and arriving before Li Jing’s residence shortly, several guards reported the former’s arrival — and Li Jing had little choice but to see if what they said was really true. Appearing before Nezha in great shock due to his miraculous return, Li Jing slashed his lance upon the former — but only ended up fleeing to the southeast after experiencing the celestial renown that Nezha now possessed.
Pursuing the latter with great ease with his Wind-Fire Wheels, Li Jing knew that his life was to end shortly and thus fled for his life at the fastest speed he could muster. As Li Jing happened to fortunately run into his second son, Muzha, along the way, he immediately explained the situation with quick words while hiding behind the former. Appearing before Muzha, Nezha soon learned that the person standing before him was his second brother — and he thus told the latter his reason for such an action. Without any hesitation for sympathy on Nezha’s part due to unfilial behavior, Muzha lashed his sword forth at the former — but only
ended up being knocked in the stomach by Nezha’s golden brick after leaving an opening. Falling to the ground in moderate unconsciousness after receiving such a heavy blow, Nezha seized this chance to pursue Li Jing further in his amusement. Resolved that he would only end up with further calamity if such shamefulness continued, Li Jing prostrated himself on the ground in preparation for his ritual suicide. Just before such could be performed, Master of Outstanding Culture 7 suddenly appeared to stop the former with immediate pace.
With a large revolving lotus within his palm, the Taoist immediately ordered Li Jing to hide in his neighboring cavern while he personally confronts the pursuer. As Nezha thus arrived before Master of Outstanding Culture, and realized that the former was hiding Li Jing in his cave, Nezha boasted that he would slash him to pieces with his lance if he was to continue to shelter his father without understanding the true situation at hand. After telling Master of Outstanding Culture his name, and the respective master that he had trained under, Nezha began to lunge forward at the Taoist master knowing it probably wasn’t the best choice.
Immediately parrying Nezha’s lance with the lotus flower within his palm, Master of Outstand Culture unleashed forth his renowned Dragon Bound Stake — effectively placing the former’s mind into great confusion and thus resulting in easy capture. As Nezha shortly realized that he was completely bound to a golden stake with rings around his arms and legs, Master of Outstanding Culture ordered his disciple, Jinzha, to beat him with his cane as punishment. After they both returned to their cave after giving Nezha a long and severe beating, Fairy Primordial arrived from the heavens to meet with Master of Outstanding Culture. Walking into the Taoist’s cave while ignoring Nezha’s pleas completely, the former declared to Outstanding Culture that he sent him here for the sole purpose of temperament. With Nezha thus being set free shortly, he kneeled with dignity before his master within the cavern.
As Li Jing was reprimanded for the cruelty of burning down Nezha’s sacrificial temple, he was soon dismissed but ordered to show no further animosity towards Nezha from this point on — and vice-versa. With Nezha thus being ordered to keep watch of the cave entrance while the two superior men plaid a round of chess, the former could not contain himself and left to pursue Li Jing immediately atop his flaming wheels. Believing to be fooled completely by the previous immortal due to Nezha’s refreshed pursuit, Li Jing fortunately caught site of a man sitting on the side of a pine tree — and thus called to the latter for assistance.
Running up to the man and hiding behind him, Nezha arrived shortly and explained the situation to this man, determined to vent his hatred. Giving in to Nezha’s furiousness, the man spat on Li Jing and then clapped his hand to the former’s back.
As Li Jing was ordered by this man to fight back Nezha with little other choice, Nezha soon realized that his father’s strength was far greater than originally — and thus the man standing at the pine tree must be none other than a Taoist who was a master at the enhancement arts.
Realizing that if he effectively destroyed the Taoist, his father’s strength would not be surpassing his own, Nezha lunged forward and slashed his lance into the latter’s forehead. As a lotus flower appeared before the his face to negate Nezha’s blow, the Taoist angrily unleashed forth his great golden pagoda from the heavens to trap the former within as punishment.
Clapping his hands to additionally signal a great fire to rage within the pagoda, Nezha had no choice but to beg for mercy and declare his acknowledgement to his father — thus seizing the chance of being set free. Realizing that he possessed not a single burn from the Taoist’s great fire, Nezha deduced the former’s ability to be none other than Genjutsu . 8 Threatening to burn Nezha further in his pagoda if he did not kowtow to his father with needed respect, the former had no choice but to do so in a rageful state.
As the Taoist thus declared to Li Jing that he would teach him the burning pagoda art as a resistance against Nezha’s potential future assaults, Nezha dismissed it first — and thus quickly rode back to Qianyuan Mountain in disappointment over his sullied vengeance. Now declaring his name to be Burning Lamp of Mount Divine Hawk, the former told Li Jing to forget about fame and riches under the Shang Dynasty and to live as a hermit in the neighboring mountain valleys until the preordained assault upon the dynasty comes his way; at that time he should assist King Wu in the campaign.
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