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The day I was born, nineteen bolts of thunder struck around my family’s courtyard, yet not a single one landed on the roof of our house.
Only the nineteenth bolt struck the old elm tree in our courtyard. Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, and the entire village could see it.
There were even people who said that on the day I was born, an old hunter had taken shelter from the rain in a cave on the back mountain. There, he discovered an unparalleled beauty with eight tails.
Her face was deathly pale, and she looked as though she were barely clinging to life. When she saw the old hunter, she asked him whether there was a Wu Family in Jiushan Village that was about to have a child.
The old hunter was terrified and he instinctively nodded, not daring to move an inch.
The woman, who was as beautiful as a celestial maiden, let out a sigh and said, “It seems I have to repay what I owed in my previous life.”
As soon as she finished speaking, thunder rumbled outside.
The woman suddenly closed her eyes and collapsed onto the ground, completely motionless.
When the old hunter later called some people over to search the cave for the woman’s corpse, they discovered that she had already vanished without a trace.
At the same time, I was born.
The moment the midwife saw me, she let out a terrified scream and nearly dropped me.
I looked extremely strange at birth. My chin was pointed, and my head actually resembled that of a fox. Fine sharp teeth had already grown inside my mouth, and my body was covered in a layer of thin white fur.
Most newborn babies cried the moment they came into the world.
But I did not.
I merely looked terribly hungry.
When my mother tried to breastfeed me, I bit down in a single motion.
What I sucked out was nothing but blood.
The pain caused my mother to shove me away. She was filled with deep fear toward me, her newborn child.
The midwife said that she had spent her entire life delivering babies and that she had delivered at least half the children in all the villages within ten li of the area.
Yet she had never seen such a bizarre newborn as me.
She was afraid that my mother had given birth to a demon fetus.
A monster like me could not be allowed to live.
She even urged my father to throw me onto the mass burial grounds and let me fend for myself. Otherwise, she said, I would bring disaster upon the entire family.
My father also knew that there was something strange about me.
But I was his first child, his own flesh and blood. How could he bring himself to be so cruel?
Besides, such a major decision was not something he could make on his own, so he called my grandfather over to ask for his advice.
My grandmother had died early, so my grandfather was the backbone of the family.
My father was extremely filial and had always obeyed my grandfather’s words without question.
When my grandfather saw what I looked like, he was also badly frightened.
He repeatedly cried out that this was a terrible sin, wondering what kind of virtue he must have lacked in his previous life for the Old Wu Family to give birth to such a monster.
But when it came to abandoning me onto the mass burial grounds, my grandfather could not bring himself to do it either.
To him, no matter how strange I might be, I was still his grandson.
After thinking it over again and again, my grandfather suddenly came up with an idea.
He said that everything about this child was strange.
At the moment of my birth, nineteen bolts of thunder had fallen from the sky, exploding in a circle around the entrance to our home. The final bolt had landed in the courtyard and struck the old elm tree.
There had to be some deeper meaning behind this.
He told my father to go to Bawa and invite a yin-yang master named Wu Banxian over. Perhaps he could help them make a decision and figure out exactly what was wrong with this child.
My father left for Bawa that very night.
He walked several dozen kilometers on foot, and by the time he arrived in Bawa, dawn had already broken.
After explaining everything to Wu Banxian, the yin-yang master was also filled with amazement.
He immediately followed my father back to the village.
When they arrived at the entrance to our home, they were confronted by an even stranger sight.
At some point, a huge number of yellow weasels and foxes had suddenly appeared outside our house.
They were densely packed together, with at least several hundred of them, and no one knew where they had come from.
The yellow weasels and foxes had surrounded our courtyard so completely that not even a drop of water could pass through.
They chattered and squealed incessantly.
The strange scene attracted quite a few villagers, who came over to watch.
But not a single person dared to approach.
People began discussing it among themselves, saying that my family had given birth to a monster and had offended the yellow weasels and fox spirits. Sooner or later, they would torment my family until we were completely ruined and our household destroyed.
The moment my father saw this situation, he panicked as well. He picked up a thick wooden stick from the ground and was about to drive the beasts away, but Wu Banxian grabbed him and stopped him. Squinting at the animals, he said to my father, “Don’t go over there. They mean no harm.”
As soon as he said this, all the yellow weasels and foxes that had been squealing and chattering together suddenly knelt down like humans.
They bowed three times toward the direction of our house, then quickly departed.
These beasts had come quickly, and they left just as quickly. Before long, they had disappeared without a trace.
My father found the sight unbelievable and asked Wu Banxian what was going on.
Wu Banxian’s expression looked extremely solemn. He did not answer my father’s question, merely saying, “Let’s go inside first and take a look at the child.”
When we entered the house, Grandpa carried the child out.
Wu Banxian only glanced at me once before sucking in a sharp breath.
A strange light flashed in his eyes, and he immediately asked for my birth date and time.
After that, Wu Banxian began making calculations with his fingers.
It was only after quite some time that he excitedly said, “This child is extraordinary. He really is a demon fetus. If you keep him, he will likely bring disaster upon this region, leaving endless trouble in his wake. He can only consume blood and cannot eat ordinary food. Even if you keep him, you certainly won’t be able to raise him. Sooner or later, death will be his only path.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire family became terrified.
My father’s legs went weak, and he nearly knelt before Wu Banxian.
“Mr. Wu, please think of something! No matter what, he is a piece of flesh that came from my wife’s body. We can’t just watch him die!”
“Mr. Wu, isn’t there any way to keep him alive?” Grandpa also asked anxiously.
“Do you know why, when this child was born, nineteen bolts of heavenly thunder struck around your courtyard?” Wu Banxian asked instead of answering.
How could the two of them possibly know?
They both shook their heads.
Wu Banxian immediately continued, “I just made a divination and discovered that this child’s soul has been taken over by a demon. That demon’s cultivation is extremely profound. It was on the verge of surviving a heavenly tribulation and transforming into human form, but then it was struck by Heaven’s punishment and was likely about to have its soul scattered and destroyed.”
“After all, a demon cultivating until it becomes an entity of true spiritual power is an act that defies the heavens, so it is bound to incur heavenly punishment.”
“Coincidentally, your child was born at precisely that moment. The demon did not want to be blasted into oblivion by the heavenly thunder, so it transferred its own soul onto the child.”
“Once it did that, the heavenly thunder would no longer strike the demon itself. After all, your child was innocent. That is why those nineteen bolts of heavenly thunder merely exploded in a circle around your house without harming anyone.”
“The yellow weasels and foxes that bowed at the entrance to your courtyard just now are the best proof of this. The demon that possessed your child is most likely a fox spirit that has already cultivated to a considerable level. Those yellow weasels and foxes are its relatives, friends, and descendants.”
When my father heard this, he nearly burst into tears.
He hurriedly asked again, “Mr. Wu, then what are we supposed to do?”
Wu Banxian let out a sigh and said helplessly, “I have never encountered a situation like this before.”
“Even if this child manages to survive in the future, his life will be filled with disasters and misfortune. Looking at his destiny, he bears the signs of Fire Over Heaven, Fire and Water Not Yet Completed, Fire Over Lake, Fire Over Thunder, and Li as Fire. These are all signs of someone destined to undergo tribulations.”
“On average, he will face one major calamity every three years. Whenever he encounters one, a life will inevitably be lost. Either he dies, or someone else dies.”
“In his entire lifetime, he will face at least eighteen tribulations.”
“I do have one way to preserve his life, which is for him to become my disciple and follow the path of the Xuan Sect.”
“However, his life will inevitably be afflicted by the Five Abuses and Three Deficiencies. Even so, it would still be better than dying.”
“Only, if he takes this path, I’m afraid he will never be able to see you again.”
But no one could have imagined that Wu Banxian himself would become the first person I would drag into a calamity.
He had only carried me out of the village when he suddenly died a violent death, collapsing without warning and bleeding from all seven orifices.