The Nine-Headed Pheasant Spirit is a demon in the novel Investiture of the Gods. Both Wikidata and the Chinese Wikipedia article are titled 九头雉鸡精, and Wikidata also lists the shorter name Pheasant Spirit. It is the name of a kind of spirit and not a personal name, so the heading stays Jiutou Zhiji Jing. The sources class her as a character of the novel and record her as female.[1][2]
The three demons of Xuanyuan Mound
The Chinese Wikipedia list of characters says that after King Zhou wrote an impious poem at the temple of Nuwa, Nuwa concluded that the Shang had run out of fate. She sent three spirits from Xuanyuan Mound outside the south gate to bewitch the king in his palace, and told them not to harm living beings. The three were the Thousand-Year Fox Spirit, the Nine-Headed Pheasant Spirit and the Jade Pipa Spirit. The pheasant spirit is a nine-headed pheasant that had cultivated itself into a demon.[2]
As Hu Ximei
The article says that after Jiang Ziya burned the pipa spirit, Daji wanted revenge. She had King Zhou agree to build the Deer Terrace by saying that immortals would descend once it was finished. To make good her lie, she had fox spirits pose as immortals visiting the terrace, but Bi Gan saw through them and all the foxes were burned to death. Daji then asked the Nine-Headed Pheasant Spirit for help. The pheasant spirit took the form of Daji's sister Hu Ximei and entered the palace to serve the king. Daji then feigned illness, and Hu Ximei declared that she needed Bi Gan's heart as medicine. Elsewhere the article says that Daji and the pheasant spirit together killed the vice-chancellor Bi Gan.[2]
End
After the Shang fell, Jiang Ziya ordered Yang Jian and others to hunt down the three. They fought as they fled and met Nuwa before Xuanyuan Mound. Because the three had ignored her order not to kill, Nuwa seized them herself and handed them to Jiang Ziya. The article says that the jade pipa spirit and the nine-headed pheasant spirit were both beheaded. The fox spirit prolonged her life for a time by bewitching the executioner, but Jiang Ziya finally put her to death with his own hands.[2]
Basic facts
- Description: character of Investiture of the Gods[1]
- Other name: Pheasant Spirit[1]
- Appears in: Investiture of the Gods[2]