Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

The Vermilion Bird Palace was an incredible sight during the day. During the night, it was breathtaking.

The light absorbed by the tons of Sun Stone carved to make the palace now glowed with an ethereal shine, lighting up the surrounding architecture with no need for any other lanterns or torches.

Despite that, the Phoenix Flames on the giant torches surrounding the palace in a circular pattern burned brighter than ever, their light caught by the same translucent Sun Stone, scattering it around like the light of an aurora.

Alex and the rest walked in utter awe at the sight of it all, absolutely sure that there would never be a day in their lives when they would ever forget about this sight. Not a single Human palace or sect could ever live up to the marvel that lay before their eyes right then.

Scarlet took them through the clear-cut hallways of the palace, explaining the importance of each section and each hall.

The Vermilion Bird Palace was much smaller in size than either of the other two palaces that Alex had been to, perhaps by nearly twice the amount. That had mostly to do with the fact that the Vermilion Birds couldn’t have as many children as they could want.

The females could only ever have a single child to begin with. Even the males could only reproduce once technically, but there were species of birds that could use it to fertilize multiple eggs in order to birth more than one.

In fact, the Progenitor was also a female, who only had a single child. Thankfully, the child was a male, and thus could find a partner to give birth to multiple offspring, thus expanding the Vermilion Bird bloodline.

Still, the numbers could not reach close to the population of the other Heavenly Beasts, and as a result, the palace hadn’t had a reason to be larger than it was.

Scarlet showed them through the various locations around the palace before finally arriving in a hall with giant paintings hung in golden frames. Some of the paintings were so massive that they might as well have been murals.

Alex saw many paintings, belonging to many events in the past of the Vermilion Birds, including one that was called the Great First Rebirth.

It showed the first instance of a Vermilion Bird reverting to the state of an egg and being reborn. According to Scarlet, the one being reborn was the Progenitor’s son, their first Patriarch.

His painting hung no further away, a magnificent Vermilion Bird with fire blossoming all around him. Next to him was another painting, depicting a Vermilion Bird and what looked like a golden eagle, with a young Vermilion chick.

The chick was the Patriarch, and thus the Vermilion Bird in the painting was the Progenitor.

There was another painting portraying the Progenitor in a much better image, proud and strong, and yet at the same time, kind and caring. For a painting to project such intense emotion from just a glance, Alex could only imagine how great a painter it had to have been.

There were more paintings, two in fact, both of Matriarchs.

Alex frowned a little upon seeing those. “How many generations of Vermilion Birds has it been?” he asked. “I heard you were the 5th Generation, Scarlet. But how many before that?”

“Uhh,” Scarlet took a moment to think. “9 generations so far.”

“9?!” Alex said, slightly in shock. “I would’ve guessed 7. Wait, how are you 5th Generation when you’ve had 4 generations more before that? The other Beasts have had only 2.”

“That’s… just how it is,” Scarlet said. “Unlike the other Four Families, the Vermilion Birds don’t have the luxury of having children until they can’t. Our first Patriarch was pressured to have many children, right from the start. He only had 3 in the end, all Vermilion Birds, but as you can imagine, they were pressured too.”

“So, in the end, the era of when they were born was close enough to each other that most of them also died around the same era. So now our generations are higher. So, I’m technically the 9th Generation,” Scarlet said.

“Oh! That’s a coincidence,” Pearl said. “I’m a 9th Generation too.”

“Really?” Scarlet turned around.

“Yes, and 5th Generation, if you don’t include my mother,” Pearl said.

“Hey, we’re the same then,” Scarlet said with a laugh.

Bai Jingshen turned toward Alex, seeing the gears in his head turning. “Before you get confused, the Matriarch is actually 2nd Generation right now. So there is someone older than her.”

“Really?” Alex asked.

“Oh, yes,” Scarlet said as she turned. “I think the Matriarch’s father is still alive.”

“Oh, he must be very old if he’s not the Patriarch then,” Alex said.

“Actually, his age has nothing to do with it,” Scarlet said. “He just can’t become one because he’s not allowed.” Updates are released by novel fire.net

Alex paused. “Not allowed? What do you mean?”

“We only have Matriarchs,” Scarlet said. “It is noted that female Vermilion Birds give birth to offspring with a stronger bloodline, so every family leader after the first male Patriarch has been a Matriarch.”

She pointed to the paintings as if to prove her point.

“In fact, the Patriarch only had a single daughter and two sons, so the daughter’s bloodline has since been considered the main one. She also had a daughter, who became the Matriarch.”

“The 3rd Matriarch had a son, who then had two daughters and a son. And when it was time for the new head to be selected, the current Matriarch was chosen, despite her father being perfectly capable,” Scarlet said.

“You treat females better than males then,” Alex said.

“Only when it comes to who becomes a Matriarch, and that only gets decided every few hundred thousand years,” Scarlet said.

“The current Matriarch has a sister, right? So how was it decided which of the two would be Matriarch?” Alex asked.

“Yes, but you see, my great-grandmother had a son, while the Matriarch had a daughter,” Scarlet said with a light shrug. “So, the decision was unanimous in the end.”