Daji: The Fox Spirit of Xuanyuan Tomb (Part 1)

A story adapted from Creation of the Gods , based on the image I created for The Shadow’s Secret Challenge . My artwork submission: https://budgetpixel.com/p/62597 In the seventh year of King Zhou's reign, the Shang dynasty still appeared secure. The realm was prosperous, its armies formidable, and eight hundred feudal lords acknowledged the authority of the court at Chaoge. King Zhou himself was a man of exceptional strength. As a prince, he had once held up a collapsing beam with his bare hands, and after the death of his father, Emperor Yi, he inherited the throne with capable ministers such as Grand Tutor Wen Zhong and the warrior Huang Feihu to guard the kingdom. Nothing yet suggested how quickly that prosperity would begin to unravel. One morning at court, Chancellor Shang Rong reminded the king that the following day, the fifteenth of the third month, was the birthday of the goddess Nüwa. He urged King Zhou to visit her temple and burn incense, explaining that Nüwa had repaired the heavens with five-colored stones and was worshipped as a protector of the people. King Zhou agreed, and the next morning he left Chaoge in a magnificent procession, accompanied by three thousand cavalry, eight hundred imperial guards, Huang Feihu, and the officials of the court. At Nüwa's temple, the king offered incense and wandered through the richly decorated hall. As he admired its splendor, a sudden gust of wind swept through the building and lifted the curtain before the sacred image. For the first time, King Zhou saw Nüwa's face clearly. The statue seemed almost alive. Her features were graceful and radiant, unlike those of any woman he had seen. Desire overwhelmed reverence. Though his palace already contained three consorts and six courts of women, the king thought none of them could compare with the beauty before him. "Bring me the brush and ink," he ordered. Before his ministers could stop him, King Zhou wrote a poem upon the temple wall. He praised the goddess's beauty, but the final lines revealed the thought that had taken hold of him: if only such a beauty could move and breathe, he would take her back to the palace to attend him. Shang Rong was appalled. He pleaded with the king to have the words washed away. Nüwa was an ancient and righteous goddess, he warned, and the king had come to seek her blessing, not insult her with thoughts of lust. King Zhou dismissed the warning. He claimed that he had merely praised Nüwa's incomparable beauty and saw no reason why his poem should be removed. With no one daring to contradict him further, he returned to Chaoge and soon put the incident from his mind. Nüwa did not. Later that day, after returning from Huoyun Palace, where she had paid respects to Fuxi, Shennong, and the Yellow Emperor, Nüwa saw the poem upon her temple wall. Her anger flared. How could the ruler of Shang, charged with governing the people and cultivating virtue, dare to profane her sanctuary in such a manner? She mounted her divine bird and set out for Chaoge, intending to punish him herself. Yet before she could reach the palace, two beams of red light rose into the heavens and blocked her path. Looking down, Nüwa perceived the workings of fate: King Zhou still possessed twenty-eight years of allotted fortune. His dynasty was doomed, but its appointed end had not yet come. She could not simply strike him down. Nüwa returned to her palace and ordered a golden gourd brought before her. From it she summoned the Demon-Summoning Banner. Its supernatural light spread across the heavens, and before long spirits and demons from throughout the world gathered to await her command. She dismissed all but three from Xuanyuan Tomb: a thousand-year-old fox spirit, a nine-headed pheasant spirit, and a jade pipa spirit. "The fortune of Shang has grown dim," Nüwa told them. "A sage ruler has arisen in the west, and Heaven has determined the course of events. Conceal your true forms and enter the palace. Confuse the heart of the king and await the day when King Wu rises against Shang." Then she gave them a warning. They were not to harm the innocent. When their task was complete, she promised, they too would be granted a proper place among the divine. The three spirits bowed, transformed into a gust of wind, and disappeared. Meanwhile, the king's encounter with Nüwa had left a deeper impression upon him than anyone realized. He could no longer look upon the women of his palace without remembering the goddess's face. He lost his appetite, slept poorly, and became increasingly dissatisfied with everything around him. At last he summoned Fei Zhong, one of the flattering courtiers who had gained influence while Wen Zhong was away campaigning in the north. King Zhou confessed his frustration. Since seeing Nüwa, he said, none of the women in his palace pleased him. Fei Zhong saw immediately what his ruler wanted to hear. Why should the Son of Heaven suffer from longing, he asked, when everything beneath Heaven belonged to him? Let each of the four great regional lords select one hundred beautiful women from among their territories and send them to Chaoge. Surely among four hundred women the king would find one worthy of his favor. The proposal delighted King Zhou. (To be continued in Part 2) Creation of the Gods (《封神演义》, Fengshen Yanyi ), also known as Investiture of the Gods , is a classic Chinese mythological novel set around the fall of the Shang dynasty and the rise of the Zhou dynasty. It blends history, folklore, Taoist mythology, magic, gods, demons, and legendary heroes into a vast story of war between the Shang and Zhou. The novel is traditionally attributed to Xu Zhonglin (许仲琳), a writer of the Ming dynasty, although its exact authorship remains uncertain and Lu Xixing (陆西星) has also been proposed as a possible author. It was probably written during the late 16th century, with the earliest known surviving editions appearing in the early 17th century, around the 1600s–1620s.