The day I was born, nineteen bolts of lightning struck around my family's courtyard, but none landed on the roof of our house. The final bolt struck the ancient elm tree in our yard, sending thick black smoke billowing into the air for the entire village to see. 

It's said that on that same day, an old hunter seeking shelter from the rain in a mountain cave discovered an otherworldly beauty with eight tails. She was pale and appeared on the verge of death. When she saw the hunter, she asked if someone in Jiushan Village with the surname Wang was expecting a child. 

Terrified, the hunter instinctively nodded but dared not move. The woman, as stunning as a celestial being, sighed and said, "What was owed in a past life must now be repaid." As soon as she finished speaking, thunder roared outside the cave, and the woman suddenly closed her eyes and collapsed lifelessly. When the hunter later gathered others to search for her body, they found the cave empty. 

At that very moment, I was born. The midwife's scream upon seeing me nearly caused her to drop me. I looked strange—my chin was pointed, and my head resembled that of a fox. Even more unnervingly, I was born with sharp teeth and a thin layer of white fur covering my body. Unlike most newborns who cry, I didn't. Instead, I looked ravenously hungry. When my mother tried to nurse me, I bit her, drawing blood. The pain made her push me away, and she was filled with fear at the sight of her own child. 

The midwife, who had delivered countless babies in the surrounding villages, declared she had never seen anything so bizarre. She believed I was a demon child and advised my father to abandon me in the graveyard to avoid bringing disaster upon the family. 

Though my father also sensed something was unusual about me, he couldn't bear to abandon his firstborn. Unsure of what to do, he turned to my grandfather, the head of our family. 

When my grandfather saw me, he was so startled that he kept repeating how this must be divine retribution for some wrong in his past life. However, despite my peculiar appearance, I was still his grandson, and he couldn't bring himself to leave me to die. After much deliberation, he suggested consulting Sun Banxian, a renowned mystic from Baligwa, to determine my fate. 

My father walked for miles through the night to fetch Sun Banxian, arriving at Baligwa by dawn. When Sun Banxian heard the story, he found it remarkable and immediately followed my father back to the village. 

As they approached our home, they encountered a strange sight: hundreds of yellow weasels and foxes had surrounded our courtyard, chattering incessantly. No one knew where they had come from, but they crowded around the house, blocking every entrance. The scene drew a crowd of curious villagers, but no one dared approach. 

Some whispered that our family had given birth to a cursed child, offending the spirits of the foxes and weasels, and that our family was doomed. My father, panicked, picked up a wooden stick to drive the animals away, but Sun Banxian stopped him, saying, "Don't go near them—they mean no harm." 

As soon as he said this, the animals fell silent and knelt in unison, bowing three times toward our house before scattering and vanishing without a trace. 

Inside, my grandfather brought me out for Sun Banxian to inspect. At a glance, the mystic gasped and asked for my birthdate and time. He calculated for a long time before exclaiming, "This child is extraordinary—a demon child indeed. Keeping him will bring calamity; he will only feed on blood and cannot eat normal food. Even if you try to raise him, he will inevitably die. His fate is sealed." 

Hearing this, my family was overcome with fear. My father, desperate, pleaded, "Master Sun, isn't there any way to save him? He's still my flesh and blood—I can't just watch him die!" 

My grandfather added, "Is there truly no way for him to live?" 

Sun Banxian sighed deeply. "Do you know why nineteen bolts of lightning struck around your courtyard on the day he was born? That wasn't random." 

Neither my father nor my grandfather had any idea and shook their heads. 

Sun Banxian continued, "This child's soul has been possessed by a powerful demon. That demon was on the brink of transcending its form to become human when it was struck down by divine retribution. Desperate to avoid destruction, it transferred its soul into your child at the moment of his birth, escaping the punishment. The nineteen bolts of lightning were meant for the demon but spared the innocent child. 

"The animals that bowed at your doorstep confirm this—the demon is likely a fox spirit of great power, and those creatures were its kin and followers." 

Horrified, my father asked, "What should we do, Master Sun?" 

Sun Banxian hesitated before replying, "This is unprecedented. Even if the child survives, his life will be fraught with disasters and hardships. According to his fate, he will face a calamity every three years, and with each calamity, someone will die—either him or someone else. He will endure no fewer than eighteen calamities in his lifetime. 

"There is one way to preserve his life: he can become my disciple and follow the path of mysticism. But such a life comes with its own burdens, and he would never be able to return to your family." 

No one could have anticipated what happened next. Sun Banxian himself became the first victim of my calamities. As he carried me out of the village, he suddenly collapsed and died, bleeding from all seven orifices.