Ne Zha 2: Why Did Shen Zhengdao Sever One of His Arms

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Introduction

In Ne Zha 2: Chaos in the Sea of Demons
Ne Zha participated in the second trial of the Jade Void Palace Ascension Assessment, where he faced Shen Zhengdao—the father of Shen Gongbao.
At first, Shen Zhengdao thought Ne Zha had come to learn from him as a disciple, so he didn’t take Ne Zha seriously. He even criticized Ne Zha for staying up late, pointing out his dark eye circles. When Ne Zha made a move, Shen Zhengdao then dismissed him as a reckless child deliberately causing trouble. It wasn’t until Ne Zha unleashed all his strength that Shen Zhengdao finally sensed the threat, revealed his Dharma Body, and fought with all his might.
In the end, using the "Rain-Summoning Mantra," Shen Zhengdao became as fast as lightning, leaving Ne Zha in an extremely passive position.
However, just as Shen Zhengdao was about to unleash his ultimate move and finish Ne Zha off in an instant, he suddenly stopped. Without hesitation, he severed one of his own arms.
So the question arises: why did he do this?

The Second Trial

I.
To save Ao Bing, Ne Zha was taken by his master Taiyi Zhenren to the Jade Void Palace to participate in the Ascension Assessment, aiming to obtain the "Jade Nectar Elixir" within seven days. For this purpose, the Immortal Lord Wuliang carefully selected three trials for him: the marmot demon, Shen Zhengdao, and Niangniang Shiji.
The reason behind choosing these three demon lords as Ne Zha’s assessment targets actually hid Immortal Lord Wuliang’s ambition:
After all, Immortal Lord Wuliang’s role in the Chan Cult was to handle "dirty work." At the same time, to minimize his own responsibility and avoid risks, he needed someone to act as his "straw man" (a frontman to take the blame). Initially, this role was filled by Shen Gongbao, later replaced by Lu Tong. But to keep them constantly vigilant and fully committed to his service, he needed to continue searching for new candidates.

Clearly, Ne Zha was more in line with Immortal Lord Wuliang’s standards and was the best choice for a straw man. On one hand, Ne Zha was reincarnated from the Demon Bead—harming innocent people and other demons was in his nature. This identity made him inherently suited to take the blame, far better than Shen Gongbao (who was of demon origin) and He Tong. On the other hand, as a reincarnation of the Demon Bead, Ne Zha’s strength was not to be underestimated; he might be able to defeat some demons that Lu Tong couldn’t handle.
Therefore, the three trials set by Immortal Lord Wuliang were arranged from easy to difficult, based on his intelligence analysis.
Naturally, Immortal Lord Wuliang also wanted to test Ne Zha’s obedience. Choosing the marmot as the first trial was to see if Ne Zha would charge ahead mindlessly following orders, or if he had the ability to think independently—and whether he would show sympathy for the marmot, a demon that harmed neither humans nor animals and treated everyone fairly.
But Ne Zha was just a three-year-old child, focused solely on subduing demons and eliminating evil. He never imagined how complicated human intentions could be, nor did he realize that innocent demons like the marmot were the "basic resources" for Immortal Lord Wuliang’s elixir refinement.

Immortal Lord Wuliang’s Scheme

II.
The second trial that Immortal Lord Wuliang set for Ne Zha was none other than Shen Zhengdao—the figure we focus on in this article, and Shen Gongbao’s father, who led a group of little demons in cultivating immortality every day.
Immortal Lord Wuliang had his reasons for targeting Shen Zhengdao, and these reasons revealed his malicious intentions:
On one hand, in Shen Xiaobao’s words, "Elder Brother (Shen Gongbao) is the only demon from our Seven Mountains and Five Ridges who successfully cultivated immortality—he’s a role model for all of us." It was precisely because of this "living example" that Shen Zhengdao had recruited a large number of disciples to cultivate immortality. This had lasted for at least a hundred years, making him a mentor with "disciples all over the world."

When Shen Xiaobao went to Chentang Pass to find his elder brother, he mentioned that Shen Gongbao hadn’t returned home in a hundred years. During that time, Shen Xiaobao himself had cultivated immortal arts and successfully taken on human form. This time, their father had sent him to find Shen Gongbao, hoping to get introduced to the Jade Void Palace and achieve immortality alongside his elder brother.
This shows that among the little demons cultivating under Shen Zhengdao, there were already outstanding ones like Shen Xiaobao—who had managed to attain human form. Although these little demons hadn’t fulfilled their wish of entering the Jade Void Palace to cultivate, they had formed a demon force that couldn’t be underestimated. Immortal Lord Wuliang couldn’t sleep soundly without eliminating them.
Shen Gongbao once told Li Jing:
"Once a powerful force is discovered, they create a tragedy, frame the force for it, then send soldiers to arrest them. According to Shen Gongbao, he did many such things for Immortal Lord Wuliang in exchange for the opportunity to join the Chan Cult."
If Shen Zhengdao’s group had only grown stronger, Immortal Lord Wuliang might not have been so worried. The real fear came from Shen Gongbao—who had done his dirty work in the past and knew many secrets—escaping his control. That was truly terrifying.

The Battle

V.
Now that we’ve clarified this background, let’s return to the original question and analyze why Shen Zhengdao severed his arm.
Besides the reasons we analyzed earlier, another factor why Immortal Lord Wuliang placed Shen Zhengdao as the second trial was that, based on his own intelligence, he believed Shen Zhengdao’s strength was far inferior to Niangniang Shiji’s.
But the truth was that Ne Zha had easily defeated Niangniang Shiji all by himself—and this was when Ne Zha was in his child form (a form in which he couldn’t even defeat Ao Bing). Yet, when Ne Zha fought in his "Ao Bing-influenced form" (admittedly, this term sounds a bit awkward), he couldn’t gain any advantage against Shen Zhengdao. In the end, if Shen Zhengdao hadn’t held back, Ne Zha would have lost his life.
In other words:
Niangniang Shiji < Ne Zha (child form) < Ne Zha (Ao Bing-influenced form) < Shen Zhengdao.

This is where the problem lies!
It means that when Shen Gongbao joined the Chan Cult, he concealed his father’s true strength in the information he provided as part of his deal with Immortal Lord Wuliang. As a result, when Ne Zha led the Demon-Hunting Team to subdue Shen Zhengdao, no one knew how powerful Shen Zhengdao really was.
In the first stage of the battle, Shen Zhengdao fought Ne Zha (in his Ao Bing-influenced form) using the ordinary form he usually showed to others. He wielded a vine whip and used whip techniques—likely the source of Shen Gongbao’s basic whip skills. Unfortunately, this form was no match for Ne Zha’s Ao Bing-influenced form. Within a few rounds, Shen Zhengdao was kicked into the sky by the short-statured Ne Zha (Ao Bing-influenced form) and slammed hard into the water, splashing up a spray.
This prompted Ne Zha (Ao Bing-influenced form) to say:
"You’re no match for me!"

Why Sever the Arm?

VIII.
More importantly, Shen Zhengdao might even have thought that the visit he’d arranged a few days earlier—sending Shen Xiaobao to find his elder brother (Shen Gongbao) to pursue immortality—was now getting a response. He likely believed they were being taken to the Jade Void Palace to be "guided onto the righteous path," and he saw this as a good thing.
Of course, this line of thinking was based on two key facts: Shen Zhengdao had no idea what the Demon-Hunting Team had actually done, and he still imagined the Chan Cult as an ideal place for cultivation—a paradise for little demons.
However, as a powerful demon lord who had once succeeded in sending Shen Gongbao into the Chan Cult, he must have signed some kind of agreement, just as we inferred earlier. It was this guarantee that allowed him to safely lead the little demons in their immortal cultivation, and even made him think this was a way to gain entry into the Jade Void Palace—after all, he had surrendered and pledged allegiance to the cult long ago.

At the same time, he should have been well aware that the Jade Void Palace had never shown mercy to other demon lords of his rank; most of them had been eliminated.
Therefore, when he realized his true strength had been exposed and that he now posed a threat to the Jade Void Palace, he took the initiative to sever his left arm to dispel their concerns. On one hand, he still wanted to hide the truth—specifically, to keep them from knowing he was the one who had summoned the rain. As seen in the film, the talisman in his severed palm also disappeared, erasing evidence of his power. On the other hand, by cutting off his arm, he was essentially giving up the Rain-Summoning Mantra; without that arm, he no longer had the means to cast the spell. This was his way of proving he no longer posed a threat.
At the same time, he led the little demons in straightening their robes and greeted the Demon-Hunting Team with extreme deference, hoping this humility would earn them forgiveness from the Jade Void Palace.
After all, his son Shen Gongbao was not only in the Jade Void Palace but also a first-generation disciple there. With his son able to speak on his behalf, surrendering without resistance seemed like no big deal.
Besides, if even the dead could be resurrected, regrowing a severed arm was surely possible.

Journey to the West Reference

IX.
It wasn’t until Lu Tong unleashed his ultimate attack—each arrow aimed directly at Shen Xiaobao’s life—that Shen Zhengdao finally realized the gravity of the situation. He grabbed Shen Xiaobao and tried to flee, but in the end, he was injured and captured.
Having said all this, there’s still one question left unanswered: as we mentioned earlier, why did Shen Zhengdao deliberately hide the fact that he could use the Rain-Summoning Mantra, going to great lengths to keep it from the Jade Void Palace?
To answer this, we have to look to the lessons from Journey to the West. Do you remember how the Dragon King addressed Sun Wukong when Sun first visited the Dragon Palace of the East Sea?
"Welcome, Honorable Immortal! Please come in!"
Why would the Dragon King address a monkey as "Honorable Immortal" when they met for the first time?

The answer is simple:
Because Sun Wukong could recite the Water-Avoidance Mantra (or "Water-Avoidance Formula")!
If you’ve read Journey to the West carefully, you’ll notice that Sun Wukong is one of only two beings in the entire book explicitly said to know the Water-Avoidance Mantra. The other is the Bull Demon King, who used it when attending a feast at the Green Wave Pavilion—but even this isn’t clearly stated. After all, the Bull Demon King rode his Water-Avoidance Golden Beast to enter the water, and when he left, the Dragon King may have helped part the waters for him, as described in the text:
"Thus, the waters were parted, and he leaped out of the pond’s depths, mounted a yellow cloud, and went straight to the Plantain Cave on Green Cloud Mountain."
Other immortals or demons who could enter the water mostly relied on their innate nature. Either they were aquatic creatures by birth, or they were skilled swimmers—they didn’t need to recite a mantra to stay dry underwater. Examples include Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, and the Rhinoceros Demons; they were all naturally adept at water, and this didn’t hinder their ability to fight underwater.