Bifang is a bird of the Shanhaijing, said to resemble a crane but with only one leg, blue plumage with red markings, and a white beak. Where it appears, fires break out for no clear reason, so it was regarded as an omen of fire.
Bifang’s dread lies not in its own aggression but in the sense that to witness it is to be forewarned of disaster. The structure in which merely seeing the bird brings flames is a classic of Eastern omen-lore, where an entity’s very appearance becomes a sign of what is to come.