The new Exalt—the venerated youth who'd been highly favored by the Hentian clansmen—was actually a Vermillion Bird. Such news shocked the entire clan.
The peril beast Vermillion Bird was an extremely powerful ancient peril. It once had the same prestige as the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise, who were known together as the "Foremost Perils"—the most powerful tribes of all peril beasts, as their title suggested.
Although the Azure Dragon was the ancestor of the true dragon tribe known today, the dragons later learned the Dao of man and were able to create their own human forms, and their innate color turned from azure to gold. The dragons were the best at adapting and gathering the strong points of each individual, allowing them to keep their bloodline going despite all the changes in the world.
