Nine-Tailed Fox

Jiuweihu · Fox of Qingqiu

A nine-tailed fox from Qingqiu Mountain that can devour men; originally auspicious, later recast as a seductive fox spirit.

The Shanhaijing tells of a beast on Qingqiu Mountain "shaped like a fox with nine tails, crying like a baby, that can eat humans." Guo Pu's commentary says the nine-tailed fox appears as a good omen in times of peace. But after the Investiture of the Gods had a fox spirit possess the concubine Daji, the image shifted from auspicious to demonic.