Vermilion Bird Master

Biodata

Background and History

Vermilion Bird Master emerges from seclusion when Ghost infiltrates Vermilion Bird Mountain. The pressure accompanying his words shatters Ghost’s nine spirit rings. He then plans to turn Ghost’s shadow-attuned body into a puppet and send him into the Soul Refining Sect to pursue its Billion Soul Banner 25 26. After his disciple Liu Mei searches Ghost’s soul and discovers Douluo Continent, he attempts to locate it through Ghost’s karmic connection, but an unknown power blocks the deduction. Duntian Ancestor later destroys Liu Mei’s puppet mark on Ghost, forcing the Vermilion Bird Master to swallow his anger 27 30.

His encounters with Lin Changsheng overturn his usual position of authority. He welcomes Lin Changsheng to Vermilion Bird Planet, later kneels before him in Teng Family City, and offers him thirty percent of the planet’s origin power; Lin Changsheng rejects the gift 52 59 60. Fearing Lin Changsheng’s displeasure, he visits his woodcarving shop with treasures and pills, then leaves Liu Mei there to serve him 62 63.

When the Immortal Relic Clan threatens his rule, he brings Lin Changsheng three hundred female cultivators and asks him to destroy the clan. Lin Changsheng refuses to take part directly but gives him a flawed wooden toad carving. The Vermilion Bird Master activates it with his cultivation and life essence blood, annihilating the clan’s million-strong army and its ancestors. He subsequently returns the carving and brings the clan’s accumulated treasures to the shop 68 69. He later orders the ancestors of the planet’s ten greatest sects to seal their cultivation and operate street stalls near the shop, seeking to accommodate Lin Changsheng’s life among mortals 70.

Appearance

An elderly man whose bearing changes markedly between his palace and Lin Changsheng’s shop 25 68.

• Features: Deep facial wrinkles, bright eyes likened to burning flames, and hair partly white 25.
• Usual attire: A red or crimson robe 25 52.
• At the shop: A plain gray robe resembling a mortal steward’s clothing 68 69.

Personality

He expects the sects of Vermilion Bird Planet to answer to him and is willing to use coercion to secure what he wants. He covets the Soul Refining Sect’s Billion Soul Banner, threatens sects that refuse to supply cultivators, and seeks the Immortal Relic Clan’s destruction 26 68.

Before Lin Changsheng, he is cautious and openly fearful. He rebukes Gan Feng for suggesting they capture the shop’s occupants, kneels to request an audience, and repeatedly offers gifts or service in hopes of avoiding offense 62 63 68.

Abilities and Resources

Vermilion Bird origin and divine sense

• His Vermilion Bird origin manifests as intense heat and pressure; his emergence from seclusion turns the sky crimson 25.
• His words exert enough pressure to shatter Ghost’s already-damaged spirit rings 25.
• The Seeking the Source of Ascendance technique extends his divine sense across Vermilion Bird Planet and into space, but cannot overcome the force concealing Douluo Continent’s coordinates 27.

Planetary authority

• He issues decrees to the planet’s sects, including an order to supply female cultivators under threat of annihilation 68.
• He can compel the ancestors of major sects to seal their cultivation and follow his orders 70.

Limp-Legged Wooden Frog

• A flawed carving given to him by Lin Changsheng; it is not the Vermilion Bird Master’s own creation 68.
• When fed his cultivation and life essence blood, it manifests a giant toad that consumes the Immortal Relic Clan’s army and ancestors 68.

Relationships

• Gan Feng — Disciple and chosen successor. The Vermilion Bird Master strikes him for speaking disrespectfully about Lin Changsheng’s shop and orders him to show deference 25 62.
• Liu Mei — Direct disciple. She searches Ghost’s soul and is later left at Lin Changsheng’s shop to serve him 26 27 63.
• Lin Changsheng — A vastly stronger cultivator whom he fears and tries to please with treasures, planetary origin power, and attendants 59 60 63 68.
• Situ Nan — Second-generation Vermilion Bird Envoy, whom the current master recognizes as an ancestor and kowtows to 63.
• Duntian Ancestor — Soul Refining Sect ancestor and rival; Duntian destroys the puppet mark placed on Ghost during the Vermilion Bird Master’s scheme 26 30.
• Yun Quezi — Immortal Relic Clan leader opposed by the Vermilion Bird Master; killed when the wooden toad destroys the clan’s forces 68.