Yellow Weasel

Biodata

Cultivation

Yellow Weasels differ substantially in cultivation. Their speech, demands, fur coloration, and ability to control humans provide clues to their strength 15 17 19.

• The five great spirits are fox, weasel, hedgehog, snake, and rat. The weasel’s second position gives rise to the title Second Master Yellow 14.

Background / History

Wu Jie’s Birth and Early Childhood

At Wu Jie’s birth, several hundred Yellow Weasels and foxes surrounded his family’s courtyard. His father prepared to drive them away, but Wu Banxian stopped him, saying they meant no harm. The animals knelt like humans, bowed three times toward the house, and departed. Wu Banxian interpreted them as family, friends, and descendants of the powerful fox demon whose soul had entered the newborn 1.

When Wu Jie refused milk and could consume only blood, the animals began delivering rabbits, pheasants, fish, and other game. Deliveries continued almost every night, sometimes twice a day, feeding both the child and his family. Surplus meat could even be sold at market 2.

Ma Laosan’s Wife

After Ma Laosan’s wife assaulted Wu Jie, the weasels and foxes killed her in retaliation for insulting the Immortal within him. During her funeral, an unusually large, white-backed weasel led hundreds of animals to her immovable coffin. It circled the coffin three times and struck it three times with a paw, after which the pallbearers could lift it again 4 7.

When she returned as a Corpse Demon, the same white-backed weasel led the animals into battle to protect the Wu family. The defenders suffered heavy losses, although the large weasel managed to overturn her. After her defeat, it limped away with the wounded survivors. Grandpa buried more than thirty dead weasels and foxes in the courtyard rather than sell their pelts 8 9 10.

Retaliation Against the Zhang Family

Near Wu Jie’s sixth birthday, the Zhang brothers attacked his parents, and the youngest brother slapped him. The youngest was found hanging beside a dead Yellow Weasel the following morning. When the second brother smashed the weasel’s corpse with a shovel, Granny Liu warned that he had invited further retaliation 12 13.

The youngest brother’s corpse subsequently sat up, possessed by a spirit Granny Liu addressed as Second Master Yellow. It threatened the entire family and demanded chickens. Granny Liu expelled it using pipe smoke, the Chang Immortal’s authority, and a talisman-like marking drawn in ash 14 15 16.

That night, the second brother killed another weasel and became violently deranged. Granny Liu treated the deadly resentment within him, but a more powerful white-tailed weasel continued controlling his body from a roof beam. Neither Grandpa’s attempts to drive it away nor Wu Jie’s initial request ended the attack. Only the Fox Immortal’s manifestation and command made it submit. The second brother later recovered 16 17 18 19.

The Ninth-Birthday Calamity

When Grandpa Wang struck nine-year-old Wu Jie, nearby weasels and foxes watched him from the grass. Remembering previous deaths, Wu Jie begged them not to hurt him 20.

During Old Man Wang’s subsequent possession of Wu Jie, the animals gathered on the roof and bowed to a blood-red crescent moon. Granny Liu later understood that they had deliberately produced celestial anomalies to summon powerful practitioners. The signs drew the four great feng shui masters and Li Xuantong, who saved Wu Jie and accepted him as his disciple 23 24 26 28.

Appearance

• Eyes: The swarms defending the Wu courtyard display gleaming green eyes in the darkness 8.
• White-backed Yellow Immortal: An unusually large weasel with a white streak running from the top of its head down its back; appears at Ma Laosan’s wife’s funeral and later fights her Corpse Demon 4 8.
• White-tailed weasel: Has an entirely white tail, a pointed head, and blood-red eyes; hides on a roof beam while controlling the second Zhang brother 17 18.

Personality and Behavior

The weasels associated with Wu Jie are devoted to the Immortal inside him. They supply food, watch over him, and defend him even at the cost of their lives. With the child himself, they are unusually tolerant: they lie around him, allow him to stroke and play with them, and do not bare their teeth even when he hurts them 2 8 11 19.

Their loyalty also produces ruthless retaliation. They treat attacks on Wu Jie as disrespect toward the Fox Immortal, and Granny Liu warns that offended weasels may pursue a family until it is ruined. Grandpa appreciates their protection but considers killing people over a slap excessive. Despite their grudges, the white-tailed weasel ultimately obeys the Fox Immortal’s order to stop 12 15 16 18.

Abilities & Skills

Corpse Possession

Yellow Weasels can animate dead bodies; this is possession, not genuine resurrection or transformation into a hopping corpse 14 15.

• A possessed corpse may sit cross-legged, speak, demand offerings, or roll on the ground if its demands are refused 15.
• Most possessors request chickens, ducks, fish, or other food and depart after being satisfied 15.
• Violence against the possessed body may provoke damage to the corpse or attacks on the living 15.
• Persistent or vengeful possessors require negotiation or intervention by a Spirit Medium 15.

Control of the Living

Sufficiently cultivated weasels can control living humans without relying solely on poisonous fumes 19.

• The white-tailed weasel directs the second Zhang brother’s complex movements while its own body remains elsewhere 17 19.
• Its host gains tremendous strength and continues attacking without responding normally to pain or fatigue 17 18.
• This control pushes the host’s body toward its physical limits and can exhaust him to death 18.
• Granny Liu states that capturing, driving away, or killing the controlling weasel can free the victim 17 18.

Hallucinogenic Fumes

A Yellow Weasel’s foul-smelling flatulence contains a toxin that causes convincing hallucinations capable of frightening a victim to death 19.

• Both the fifth and second Zhang brothers were poisoned this way 19.
• To achieve the toxin’s full lethal potency, the attacking weasel must enter the same death state and kill itself—effectively exchanging its life for the victim’s 19.
• Prompt intervention saved the second brother; the fifth brother lived alone, so no one noticed his condition in time 19.

Resentment-Based Malevolent Energy

A weasel’s resentment can form a moving, fist-sized lump of malevolent energy inside a victim’s abdomen 17.

• Granny Liu warns that the second Zhang brother will die unless this energy is released 17.
• She immobilizes the lump with cold well water and ruptures it with a silver needle 17.

Physical Combat

• Weasels attack in swarms, climbing over enemies and biting them 8 9.
• The large white-backed Yellow Immortal can seize the Corpse Demon’s legs and flip her onto the ground 9.
• The white-tailed weasel is nimble enough to evade Grandpa’s saber while moving along a roof beam 18.
• Their bites cannot penetrate the Corpse Demon’s hardened body, and even the large Yellow Immortal is vulnerable to her blows 8 9.

Celestial Signaling

The weasels and foxes perform three kneelings and nine prostrations toward the moon while casting spells that produce celestial signs 24 26.

• The spectacle includes a blood-red crescent, clustered Big Dipper stars, and an erratically flickering Purple Star 24.
• These effects arise from their spells in combination with Wu Jie’s unusual fate; the passages do not establish that they can reproduce them independently 26.
• Practitioners observing the heavens recognize the anomaly and travel to Wu Jie’s home 28.

Weaknesses and Countermeasures

Granny Liu recommends untethered dogs in the courtyard and well-fed white geese in the bedroom, but does not guarantee that these precautions will save the youngest Zhang brother 12.

Relationships

• Fox Immortal / Ancestor — The weasels’ revered authority and the true reason for their service to Wu Jie; the white-tailed weasel kowtows and obeys her command 18.
• Wu Jie — Protected child and childhood playmate. As he grows older, their food deliveries become less frequent, but they continue watching him from a distance 11 19.
• Grandpa Wu — Grateful beneficiary who thanks the Yellow Immortal and buries the fallen defenders; later intervenes against their excessive revenge while trying not to kill them 10 15 18.
• Granny Liu — Spirit-Calling Disciple familiar with weasel possession. She treats them respectfully but can oppose and expel them with help from her Chang Immortal 14 15 16.
• Foxes — Frequent companions in food deliveries, worship, defense of the Wu family, and the celestial ritual that summons rescuers 1 2 8 24 26.
• Wu Jie’s father — Initially wants to chase them away, later accepts their deliveries, and eventually admits that fear of their retaliation prevented him from beating his son 1 2 29.