Poor scholar Mu Sheng prays desperately at the God of Wealth temple. A nine-tailed fox spirit appears to grant him wealth to repay a kindness from five hundred years ago. The price is that she bears heavenly tribulation for him and loses her beauty. After getting rich, Mu Sheng loathes her disfigured face and conspires with a Taoist priest to trap and kill her. The fox takes back all her blessings, and Mu Sheng is reduced to poverty overnight. Three chances of sudden fortune slip away due to his laziness, greed and folly. In the end, Mu Sheng freezes to death in the snow. The fox lets go of her obsession spanning ten lifetimes and ascends to immortality.
