Source check
Has the nine-tailed fox always been a demonic figure?
No. In the Shanhaijing it is auspicious: the demonisation comes afterwards, and is a late layer laid over a symbol of good omen.
The entry
This source check also appears at the foot of the entry for Huli jing, where the fact is set out in its context rather than in the form of a question.
What this page promises. The Method commits every entry to stating how well documented it is. This section is the uncomfortable consequence of that commitment: when something everyone repeats does not hold up to checking, it has to be said — with the name of the source and the point at which it was checked, so that anyone can repeat the check. If you find an error in these lines, report it: it ends up in the corrections log.