Hồ ly tinh

Hồ ly tinh ( chữ Hán: 狐狸精) also known as Hồ tiên (狐仙), Hồ ly (狐狸), Hồ tinh (狐精), Hồ yêu (狐妖), Yêu hồ (妖狐) or Cáo chín đuôi ( chữ Nôm: 𤞺𠃩𡳪), Cáo tinh (𤞺精) is a nine-tailed fox in Vietnamese mythology. They do not have a specific personality; some stories tell about them harming people but along with them are stories about them helping people.

According to a quite famous version, hồ ly tinh are foxes that have the ability to cultivate, to be able to transform, and have magic. If they practice for a hundred years, then they will have three tails and are called Yêu hồ or Tam vĩ yêu hồ (Three-tails demon fox). If they cultivate until after 1,000 years, they change to Lục vĩ ma hồ (Six-tailed ghost fox). And so, when they reach the realm of 9-tails, Cửu vĩ hồ (九尾狐) or Cửu vĩ thiên hồ (Nine-tailed celestial fox), they can turn into humans. Each tail is a life of them. To kill a fox, you must cut off its tail first.