When word had silently spread among the underworld that Lilith had swiftly, and effortlessly not only killed one eight-tails, but had also casually and unchallenged reduced another eight-tails to a kit without any reprisal and had done so with only the most trivial of challenge, sharks had smelled blood. Yokai and demons had descended upon the kitsune families, thinking them nothing than a straw giant to be knocked down. These demons and Yokai alike however had made a critical error in research. Many believed that a kitsune ceased increasing in power when it reached eight-hundred years in age. Naturally the number of kitsune who managed to stay alive that long dwindled the higher the number of tails you got. So there were fewer frames of reference with the nine-tails. Many thought the white or golden fur seen on some nine-tails was universal, or simply a matter of taste.
None of them knew the terrifying truth. Kitsune stopped growing new tails at age 800, this was true, and they gained no new great power on their 900th birthday... but for the precious few kitsune who had through out history managed to stay alive for 1,000 years... (and had been alive when Jesus was crucified), they came something very different, they grew beyond the need for new tails. They were new creatures. They were the tenko, "heavenly/celestial fox." Effectively having achieved apotheosis, having shrines and offers in their name, and were no longer mere magical beasts to be cowed. To the ancient powers like Lilith, they weren't inferiors to be stepped on when they proved to be too much of a pest, they were equals.
The opportunistic Yokai and demons didn't die screaming... instead, some were laughing, others giggling, some trapped in their own personal illusions of having slaughtered the entire kitsune to rule their kingdom in their place till the end of time. Others became adorable fortune statues whose only thoughts were spreading good luck (and gather some coin). Petty Yokai and lesser demons alike became decorations for the Kitsunes family homes, some becoming pets, and the strongest becoming new kitsune to be raised by loving families. Some given to the ever sly Tanuki to become part of their families instead, who knew how to always get the best deal out of any situation.
All in all, it was considered an effective means of cleaning out the greedy and the stupid from the demons and yokai's numbers. And it sent the proper message without the tenko having to do anything other than defend themselves: they were not a house of cards waiting for the next slight breeze to knock over.