One of these creatures teaches a sorceress to magically conjure armies in a 14th-century novel partially titled for Quashing the Demons’ Revolt. An engineer crafts a robotic body for his childhood friend, who is one of these creatures, so she can use it to kill rapists in the story “Good Hunting.” In a novel, a man cuts out his own seven-aperture heart in order to please one of these creatures. In that novel, each household in the (*) capital provides poisonous snakes for a giant torture pit created by one of these creatures, next to which 50 couples of eunuchs and maidens are sent to indulge in a lake of wine and a forest of meat. Jiāng Zǐyá leads armies against a ruler bewitched by one of these spirits in the novel Investiture of the Gods. For 10 points, name this animal whose form is taken by Dájǐ, an example of its nine-tailed variant. ■END■
ANSWER: fox spirits [or foxes; accept nine-tailed foxes; accept húli jīng] (The first novel is The Three Sui Quash the Demons’ Revolt by Luo Guanzhong. “Good Hunting” is by Ken Liu.)
<S, World Literature>
= Average correct buzz position