Written by Muchuan and directed by Ji Zhao “New Gods: Yang Jian” (2022) is an animated action film whose plot revolves around the hunt for Chenxiang by Yang Jian (God of Erlang) to stop him from getting an artifact that will bring imbalance in the world followed by catastrophe.
The film begins with a story of the battle for supremacy between Shang and Zhou, where both God and humans fought alongside. Peace returned to the world after the battle, and each God selected their own realm. The scene shifts to Erlang’s ship in the cloud, and one of his employees complains about the lack of bounty jobs. As he is talking about the catastrophic event, soon a job notice arrives from Penglai. Though the price for the bounty is inadequate, Erlang decides to take it, or else they will starve. Erlang makes a confrontation with the person in the bounty in Penglai, who is a medicine seller and has paired up with a demon. With a few moves, the demon is defeated, and Erlang chases his bounty on the run. When he was just getting out of Erlang’s reach, his associates captured the bounty. The medicine seller promises to provide them with more than the bounty offer, but Erlang puts him in detention and collects the bounty.
A lady comes to visit Erlang and says she wants him to find somebody who has the “Lamp of Wishes” and tells him his name is Chenxiang. The scene shifts to the cosmic gas station, which is soon taken under control by a group of skilled vigilantes. But heaven’s army arrives and knocks everyone down except one individual, Chenxiang, who collects all the cosmic oil and makes his way out of there. Using a portal in the Penglai port, Erlang’s ship arrives at Square Pot. Here, Erlang enters the casino and tries to learn about the whereabouts of Chenxiang. Soon, some of his rivals appear and tease him with a hurtful past where, 12 years ago, he trapped his sister in the mountain Hua as she fell in love with a mortal. They get a good beating from Erlang, and the Mo brothers appear and tell Erlang to stop looking for Chenxiang, as they are the ones after him. While returning from the casino, Erlang meets Chenxiang by accident, who was also saved by him from thugs, but he slips away. The Mo brothers again appear and tell Erlang to ask about Chenxiang to Master Yuding. Erlang makes his way to the Jin Xia Cave to do the same and learns from his master that Chenxiang is his nephew who has joined hands with Shen Gongbao and has become a murderous traitor.
Shen Gongbao, in the Square Pot Wine Alley, tells Chenxiang that Erlang is his uncle and is the one who trapped his mother. Shen Gongbao wants to take revenge on Erlang and his bunch and tells Chenxiang that Erlang is after the lotus lamp, which can free her mother. Erlang travels to Yingzhou Fairy Palace to meet the lady who asked him to find Chenxiang and tells her about him. The lady sends him into a trance, and when he wakes up in the morning, he finds a note from her telling him the whereabouts of Chenxiang. Erlang meets Chenxiang in the Square Pot Ship Graveyard and tries to converse with him. Chenxiang attacks Erlang, but the Mo brothers have also reached there and went in guns blazing to capture Chenxiang. In the mix of things, Chenxiang flees the scene. A fierce battle emerges between them, and the other two Mo brothers sneakily appear on the scene and help capture Erlang, who is later put behind bars. Erlang’s associate attacks the prison with their ship and breaks him out along with the medicine seller whom Erlang put there for the bounty. Their next destination is Square Pot Lighthouse.
On entering the Square Pot Lighthouse, Shen Gongbao and Chenxiang meet Mo Liqing, who is sitting with his sword. Mo Liqing uses magic to defend the lotus, which Shen Gongbao and Chenxiang reciprocate with their magic and trickery and finally defeat Mo Liqing. As Chenxiang holds the lotus in his hands, magical swords from the sky gush in, and the other Mo brothers attack. Shen Gongbao gets heavily injured while protecting Chenxiang, who escapes. When Erling reaches the Square Pot Lighthouse, it is too late, and he finds Shen Gongbao, who tells him where Chenxiang went and dies. From the Smuggler’s Point, Erlang travels to the mortal realm through a portal into Chang’an (Jin Dynasty), where he finds that the place is devastated after the war. Chenxiang travels to Mount Li in the Cross Moon Pool, where he gives the lady who was looking for her all the objects to fix the lotus lamp. Erlang arrives and reveals the true story of Chenxiang’s mother and Erlang’s fight against the phoenixes to Chenxiang, and the lady reveals her true identity as Miss Wanluo (Goddess of Mount Wu). She asks both Erlang and Chenxiang to come with her and reveals to Erlang how holding the phoenixes trapped in Mount Hua gave Master Yuding the power to hold the Jin Xia Cave together and tricked Erlang. They decide to break Mount Hua and free Chenxiang’s Mother.
In the midst of this, Erlang says that he wants to confront his master and also wants to take Chenxiang with him. Miss Wanluo and Chenxiang strongly reject this idea, and a fight breaks out between Miss Wanluo and Erlang. Miss Wanluo is soon defeated, and Erlang tells Chenxiang with evidence that it was Miss Wanluo who killed Shen Gongbao and Chenxiang’s master. Later, the journey toward Mount Hua is made by Erlang and Chenxiang. Erlang takes Chenxiang to his home on Mount Hua, which is in a solitary and barren state, and Chenxiang sees flashes of memory of his childhood. But when Erlang and Chenxiang enter Mount Hua, they are attacked by the Mo brothers, and using the Taiji scroll, Master Yuding traps Erlang. Master Yuding even tells Erlang that to preserve the Jin Xia Cave, he would have to turn Erlang, Chenxiang, and Miss Wanluo into ashes using the Taiji Scroll. But using the Lotus Lamp and the power of the Phoenix, not only do they defend themselves, but Erlang frees himself from the Taiji Scroll. A fierce battle starts between Erlang and a combined force of Master Yuding and the MO brothers, from which Erlang emerges victorious. Chenxiang and Miss Wanluo are freed from the Taiji Scroll, and Erlang tells Chenxiang to split open the mountains. Using the Lotus Lamp, Chenxiang splits open the mountain, and the phoenixes are released. Everything is destroyed, and Chenxiang can see his mother. But he breaks down, knowing his mother will depart with the phoenixes to restore the balance of the world.
‘New Gods: Yang Jian’ Ending
The animated fantasy “New Gods: Yang Jian” tells the story of fate and how it cannot be changed. Though the film showcases stunning battle scenes, it has a somber tone of sadness and loss from the very beginning till the end. What started as a story of a fallen god who has become a bounty hunter ends with the act of letting go of dear ones in order to preserve the balance of the world.