The Burning God

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses substance use and violence.

Nezha’s close third-person point of view recounts a discussion with his father nine years ago. His father tells him a story about Arlong’s history as a cursed, haunted place, until a shaman named Yu communed with the Dragon to control the rivers and make Arlong prosperous. As a tradeoff, he was tortured by “shamanic hallucination” (392). At the end of his life, to continue the city’s prosperity, he transformed into the grotto’s dragon. Vaisra knows Nezha is interested in the grottoes and tells him not to go there because he isn’t “strong enough” (393).

Rin, Kitay, Venka, and Cholong strategize about an offensive. Rin wants to occupy Arlong with a two-pronged attack: one led through the north by Venka and Cholong, and another in the southeast led by Rin, with new shamans she trains. Everyone is wary, but after the events on Tianshan, they reluctantly agree.

Kitay tells Rin that her people think the Trifecta sacrificed themselves. For Jiang’s sake, Rin lets them believe this. That night, Rin meets with Chaghan. He did research into the House of Yin and found out about the dragon in the grotto, who encountered the true Dragon’s magic and became a manifestation of the ocean.