Demon Fetus

On the day I was born, nineteen bolts of lightning struck around our courtyard. Not one hit the roof of our house.

Only the nineteenth bolt struck the old elm in our courtyard. Black smoke billowed up, and the whole village saw it.

People also said that on the day I was born, an old hunter sheltering from the rain found an extraordinarily beautiful woman with eight tails in a cave in the mountain behind the village. Her face was pale, and she seemed to be on the verge of death. When she saw him, she asked whether a family named Wu in Nine Mountains Village was about to have a baby.

The old hunter was terrified. He nodded instinctively, not daring to move.

The woman, as beautiful as an immortal, sighed and said, "It seems I must repay what I owed in my previous life."

As soon as she finished speaking, thunder sounded outside. The woman suddenly closed her eyes, collapsed to the ground, and lay motionless.

When the old hunter gathered some people and returned to the cave to look for her body, they found that she had vanished without a trace.

At that very moment, I was born. The instant the midwife saw me, she cried out in terror and nearly flung me away.

I looked very strange as a newborn. My chin was pointed, my head actually resembled a fox's, and my mouth was already filled with tiny, sharp teeth. A fine layer of white fur covered my body.

Most babies cried when they were born, but I did not. I simply looked hungry.

When my mother tried to nurse me, I bit down and sucked out nothing but blood. The pain made her shove me away, and she became deeply afraid of her newborn child.

The midwife said she had spent her whole life delivering babies. She had brought at least half the people in the surrounding villages into the world, yet she had never seen such an eerie newborn. She feared my mother had given birth to a demon fetus.

A freak like me could not be allowed to stay. She urged my father to leave me in the burial ground to fend for myself, or I would bring disaster upon the family.

My father knew there was something strange about me, but I was his firstborn, his own flesh and blood. How could he bring himself to do something so cruel? Besides, he could not make such a momentous decision alone, so he fetched my grandfather to ask his advice.

My grandmother had died young, leaving my grandfather as the pillar of the family.

Dad was a devoted son and had always done whatever my grandfather told him.

When my grandfather saw me, he too was badly frightened. He kept lamenting our misfortune, wondering what wrong he had committed in his previous life for the Old Wu Family to produce such a freak.

But my grandfather could not bear to leave me in the burial ground to fend for myself either. No matter how strange I was, I was still his own grandson.

After much thought, my grandfather suddenly came up with an idea. He said everything about this child was strange. When I was born, nineteen bolts of lightning had struck in a ring around our home, with the last landing in the courtyard and splitting our old elm. There had to be some significance to it. He told my father to go to Eight-Li Hollow and bring back a spiritual practitioner named Wu Banxian, who could advise us and find out what was wrong with me.

My father set out for Eight-Li Hollow that very night, walking dozens of kilometers. By the time he arrived, it was already dawn.

When my father told Wu Banxian what had happened, he repeatedly marveled at the strangeness of it and immediately followed my father back to the village.

When they reached our gate, they were met with another bizarre sight.

At some point, a great many Yellow Weasels and foxes had suddenly appeared outside our home. They crowded together in a dense mass, numbering at least several hundred. No one knew where they had come from.

The Yellow Weasels and foxes surrounded our courtyard so tightly that there was no way through, chattering and yelping without pause.

The commotion drew a crowd of villagers, but none dared approach.

People whispered among themselves, saying our family had produced a freak and offended the Yellow Weasels and fox spirits. Sooner or later, those creatures would destroy our family.

My father panicked at the sight. He picked up a thick wooden stick and was about to drive the animals away, but Wu Banxian held him back. Narrowing his eyes at the creatures, he told my father, "Don't go near them. They mean no harm."

As soon as he said that, the chattering Yellow Weasels and foxes all knelt like humans, bowed three times toward our house, and swiftly departed.

The animals left as quickly as they had come. In moments, they were gone without a trace.

My father could hardly believe what he had seen. He asked Wu Banxian what was going on.

Wu Banxian looked grave. Rather than answer my father, he merely said they should go inside and see the child first.

Once they entered the house, my grandfather brought me out in his arms. Wu Banxian took one look and drew a sharp breath, his eyes gleaming. Then he asked for the date and time of my birth.

Wu Banxian began calculating on his fingers. After a long while, he said agitatedly, "This child is extraordinary. He truly is a demon fetus. If you keep him, I fear he will bring disaster upon this whole area, with no end to the consequences. He feeds only on blood and cannot eat ordinary food. Even if you keep him, you will never be able to raise him. Sooner or later, he is bound to die."

His words terrified the entire family. My father's legs went weak, and he nearly fell to his knees before Wu Banxian. "Mr. Wu, please think of something! He is my wife's own flesh and blood, after all. We can't just stand by and watch him die!"

"Mr. Wu, is there no way to keep him alive?" my grandfather asked, equally distraught.

"Do you know why nineteen bolts of heavenly lightning struck around your courtyard when this child was born?" Wu Banxian asked instead of answering.

How could either of them know? Both shook their heads.

Wu Banxian continued, "My calculations just revealed that a demon has taken possession of this child's body. That demon had attained considerable power and was on the verge of surviving its tribulation and taking human form, but it faced heaven's punishment and feared its soul would be utterly destroyed. After all, for a demon to attain such power goes against heaven, and heavenly punishment is inevitable. Your child happened to be born at that moment. Unwilling to be reduced to ashes by heavenly lightning, the demon placed its soul within him. That way, the lightning would no longer strike it, because your child was innocent. Those nineteen bolts merely struck in a ring around your home without harming anyone."

"The Yellow Weasels and foxes bowing outside your courtyard just now are the clearest proof. The demon that entered your child is probably a powerful fox demon. Those Yellow Weasels and foxes are his family, friends, and descendants."

My father nearly burst into tears. He hurriedly asked again, "Mr. Wu, what are we supposed to do?"

Wu Banxian sighed and said helplessly, "This is the first time I have encountered such a thing. Even if this child survives, his life will be plagued by calamity and misfortune. His fate shows the hexagrams Possession in Great Measure, fire over heaven; Before Completion, fire over water; Opposition, fire over lake; Biting Through, fire over thunder; and the Clinging, doubled fire. These are signs that he must undergo tribulations. On average, he will face one great tribulation every three years. Whenever one comes, someone must die-either him or someone else. He will face at least eighteen tribulations in his lifetime."

"I do have a way to save his life: he must become my disciple and follow the mystic path. But he will be subject to the five afflictions and three deficiencies throughout his life. Even so, that is better than dying. Only, if we do this, I fear he will never be able to see you again."

But no one could have imagined that Wu Banxian himself would be the first Tribulation-Bound Person. He had barely carried me beyond the village entrance when he suddenly dropped dead, blood pouring from all seven openings of his head.