In early 2016, Zhao teamed up with director Amp Wong to work on White Snake. But in keeping with Light Chaser's timeline — one new film each year — Zhao also started brainstorming on Nezha.

In the original Ming Dynasty story, Nezha is fictionalized as a naughty child raised in a general's family. After slaughtering a dragon in the raging East Sea, the dragon's father gathers powerful fellow dragon kings to seek revenge, forcing the child to commit suicide. But Nezha's master resurrects him, transforming him into a deity with multiple heads and arms to ride on two wheels set ablaze.