Chapter 3 003 Nezha
I thought that once the bud slightly opened, the lotus would bloom in due course. But in reality, I waited for many days, and even after the rainy season ended, it was still just a slightly opened bud. Nothing had changed.
But the little lotus is not anxious at all. Even though I keep asking it every day, “Why hasn’t it bloomed yet?” it remains calm and even comforts me that it will bloom.
"I heard that flower arrangers slap the buds to make them bloom."
I don't know where I heard it, but I vaguely have this crude operation in my mind.
Little Lotus was speechless: "So, are you going to slap me?"
I couldn't help laughing, and a string of bubbles rolled out of my mouth.
"I can't bear to do that."
It swam around the lotus stem, wagging its tail. I've been eating too well these days and feel a bit fat, so I swam more to lose weight.
"As the saying goes, loving someone is like growing flowers. I just can't bear to do that."
The little lotus is my only good friend in this lonely world. How could I bear to hit it? No matter how beautiful the flowers used in flower arrangements are, they only last a few days. That fleeting bloom is only to maintain the beauty of the art of flower arrangement.
"Do you really want me to bloom?"
For some reason, Little Lotus sounded a little disappointed. I suppressed this strange feeling for the moment and said, "Isn't this wonderful? A flower that blooms well nourishes its spirit. My wish for my friend is for it to be healthy and happy."
But then again, what kind of serious injury had Little Lotus sustained that required the cultivation of its spirit? In my limited knowledge, needing to cultivate its spirit was essentially the same as being near death. This question had been swirling in my mind ever since Little Lotus spoke of cultivating her spirit, but because it was so sensitive, I didn't dare ask, fearing to bring up its heartbreak.
"Even if I will leave after it blooms?" Little Lotus asked again.
"Will you come back to see me?" I asked.
"Yes." The answer came without hesitation.
So what does it matter? "You will come back to see me, that's all."
Little Lotus seemed to find it difficult to understand and did not speak for a long time.
I gradually realized that Little Lotus had emotions. It was acting like a child, throwing a tantrum, but with a more reserved air than a child's outbursts. It was a deeply contradictory feeling. I suspected Little Lotus was still a child.
I kissed its lotus stem and said soothingly, "Don't worry about separation, my friend. People will separate as they grow up, your turn, mine, it's always been this way."
I found it incredible that a little mind like mine could come up with such profound ideas. I hope Little Lotus doesn't think I'm preaching.
Little Lotus didn't say anything for a long time. I called it a few times before it finally came to its senses and said in an uncomfortable tone, "You just kissed me."
I don't care about it. I kissed the lotus stem, not the face. It's no big deal. What's more, I am just a fish now, and the little lotus is still a child.
"This is me comforting you."
Little Lotus didn't understand, "Is this how comfort works?"
"Of course, kissing releases dopamine." Huh? What is dopamine?
Little Lotus asked for me, "What is dopamine?"
I thought about it and searched my scattered memories again, but found nothing. So I started to talk nonsense: "That's something that can make people happy. Are you happy now?"
"Yeah, very happy." Little Lotus said, and her voice sounded obviously excited.
The little lotus's joy was clearly expressed. The bud slightly opened, and a lotus petal fell, pink with white.
It encircled me once more, the lotus leaves supporting me. I watched the petals of the newly opened lotus blossom, already emitting a fragrance. The pond was dotted with stars, their light shimmering into the water. The waves swayed, shattering the Milky Way into a single piece.
…
The opening of a lotus petal seemed to turn on a switch, and the lotus pond suddenly became lively. When I woke up, I quickly ate a few mouthfuls of algae and went to find the little lotus, but I found that the little lotus was actually entertaining guests.
The guest was a crane.
How strange.
I jumped out of the water, successfully attracting the attention of the little lotus and the guest. However, as soon as the guest saw me, his eyes lit up and he quickly flew towards me.
Help!
I quickly dived deeper into the pond, but the crane's long beak was too advantageous. Just as I was about to become a meal, a lotus stem circled me again, stopping the crane from foraging.
"The little carp is my friend." Little Lotus said to the crane solemnly.
The crane spread its wings, lifted its long, slender neck, and began to cry. For the first time, I experienced what it meant to "cry from the nine ridges, so loud that the sound is heard in the heavens." After hearing Little Lotus' words, the crane stopped moving.
"It was so scary. I almost got reincarnated." I am still scared at this moment.
"I'm sorry for scaring you. The crane meant no harm." Little Lotus apologized to me on behalf of the crane.
I was about to protest, but then I thought, if the crane really had any ill intentions towards me, I wouldn't even have had a chance to get into the pond. So, for the time being, I believed the explanation that it had no ill intentions.
The crane didn't stay long and quickly spread its wings and flew away.
After it left, I asked Little Lotus, "Is it your friend?"
The little lotus fanned me with its lotus leaves and said, "It is my master's mount. Today my master ordered it to come and see me."
"Your master?"
I seem to have forgotten a very serious question, "Who is your master?"
Little Lotus said with considerable pride, "My master is, of course, Taiyi Zhenren."
“…”
The little brain went blank for a second.
No wonder the name Qianyuan Mountain feels so familiar, it turns out that this is the location of Taiyi Zhenren’s cave!
Wait, so, isn't the little lotus the—
Nezha?
It’s him, it’s him, it’s him, our friend, Little Nezha…
No wonder I became friends with Xiao Lianhua, he was our friend!
Little Lotus noticed my strange reaction and asked me worriedly if I was still scared.
I wagged my tail to show that I was no longer afraid.
What I'm more curious about now is which version of Nezha this is. If it's from the Conferred Gods, doesn't that mean the world is in chaos at the moment? If it's from Nezha's Sea of Trouble... It's too long ago, I can't remember what Nezha did after his resurrection. It's also during the end of the Shang Dynasty, but what happened after that? Speaking of Journey to the West, Nezha doesn't have many scenes, and the plot hasn't even begun at this point...
I thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out, so I gave up. There was no point in thinking about it anymore.
It would be too unfair to define Nezha, who is still a little lotus, by using works like Investiture of the Gods, Nezha Conquers the Dragon King, Journey to the West, etc.
Little Lotus is still Little Lotus!
Thinking of this, my mood suddenly improved.
"Little Lotus, let's bask in the sun together today!"
This time I was not in the center of the lotus leaf, but floating on the water. I found that even if I stuck my head out of the water, I could still breathe. It was worthy of me, a little carp with awakened intelligence and the potential to develop into a carp spirit.
"By the way, Little Lotus, my name is A-Yu. The A of the mountain, the Yu of the poppy."
After learning that Little Lotus was Nezha, I took the initiative to mention my own name. What's the difference between being friends with Nezha and holding onto a golden thigh? Hehe.
"Ayu...little carp, your name is so nice. I'll call you Ayu," said the little lotus cheerfully.
"My name is Nezha. Little carp, Ayu, my name is Nezha."
…
After we exchanged names, I felt that my friendship with Nezha had grown closer. That night, I had a dream. It was truly bizarre that such a small head could dream.
But this dream is not very beautiful.
Above the East China Sea, dark clouds rolled in, thunder rumbled across the sky, and between the clouds and the lightning, something seemed to appear, a shadowy figure half-peeked out—a dragon claw! A fishy wind lingered between its claws, as if with a slight force, the entire sky would be pulled down heavily.
The dragon's body had not yet fully revealed, but just one claw was enough to make the walls of Chentang Pass fall to dust.
The one ringing the gong shouted, "Here comes the Dragon King! Here comes the Dragon King!"
The dragon claws suddenly tore open the sky, and a huge, ugly head popped out between the lightning and layers of dark clouds. The horns and long dragon whiskers on its head were glowing red, and its eyes without whites were staring at the city wall.
Saliva was dripping from the dragon head's cracked mouth.
The soldier in charge of escorting the human sacrifice raised his hand and shouted, "The Dragon God has arrived. Let the sacrifice begin!"
The dark sky, the raging lightning, and the surging waves.
I felt like I had entered an incredible dream. The scene of Nezha's chaos in the sea kept replaying in my mind, exactly like the film. The Dragon King, appearing, was extremely oppressive. Mortals faced the demons, seemingly with no other solution except sacrifice. I stood on the city wall, with the people behind me constantly bowing in worship.
At this moment, a red silk ribbon like a blood rainbow pierced through the sky, surged over, and tightly bound the dragon.
An extremely cold and clear voice shouted, "Qian Kun Circle!"
The golden ring on the wrist rang, shot out, circled and grew larger until it encircled the dragon's body, and then kept shrinking.
The dragon suddenly felt pain, and its massive body rolled over, shattering the dark clouds. It roared, and its voice echoed throughout the sky and earth:
"Nezha! You've ruined my plans time and time again. Even if you're a disciple of Taiyi Zhenren, I'll report this to my father and have your Chentang Pass flooded!"
The young man in red and silver armor sneered, "Hmph! You're nothing but a deceitful scoundrel who deceives the world and steals your reputation. Go tell your father and let him stand up for you! Then I'll kill you all together! If you dare flood Chentang, I'll smash your entire Four Seas Dragon Palace to pieces!"
The soldiers below were shouting anxiously, "Third Young Master, you must not do this!", but Nezha ignored them, jumped up, and fought with the giant dragon that was entangled by the Hun Tian Ling and the Qian Kun Circle.
I stood on the city wall, also worried about the current development. Although I knew the outcome of the fight between Nezha and Ao Bing, I could not connect the young man in red clothes and silver armor in front of me with the little lotus.
After all, I thought Little Lotus was still a child.
But this boy is at least seventeen or eighteen years old.
Moreover, the boy battling the dragon was even more unruly and rebellious than Little Lotus, even perverse, and had nothing to do with being "good" or "honest." My memories of my time with Little Lotus flashed through my mind, and as I watched the boy fighting the dragon with such ferocity, I felt like I was going crazy.
As I was daydreaming, the battle gradually became clear.
The giant dragon's body, which was hundreds of feet long, rolled wildly in the shallow sea, and its blood dyed the entire bay red.
Nezha rode on his wind-fire wheels and chased after him relentlessly. The Hun Tian Ling wrapped around the dragon's neck like a red python. Every time it tightened, the dragon's scales would break into pieces.
"Little Nezha! I am the third prince of the Dragon Palace—" Ao Bing's eyes were bloodshot and a roar came out of his throat.
"Third Prince?" Nezha pierced the dragon's claws with his spear, pinning the entire dragon to the reef. He said disdainfully, "So what?"
Ao Bing struggled to his death, and a golden scale on his abdomen suddenly stood upside down.
"Found it!" Nezha's eyes flashed with ferocity.
The Fire Spear, piercing the dragon's reverse scale with the True Fire of Samadhi, sent dragon blood spurting out like lava. Nezha's grin grew even more ferocious, his bloodstained hand tracing the wound down the dragon's spine, digging and digging until a dragon tendon was pulled out...
Blood rain began to fall from the sky, pouring onto Nezha's fair face and emitting wisps of white smoke.
Suddenly, his eyes flashed, and his sharp gaze located my position.
I started and woke up.
The author has something to say:
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Here I come~ Looking at the writing of Nezha Conquers the Dragon King [shy]
There are many private facilities.
Shan'a (e)
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