Chapter 31 The Collapse of the Red Sky Empress’s Worldview

Liu Zheng watched Liu He leave in a hurry and couldn’t help but swallow hard. He felt that tonight, the Holy Capital was going to face a massive upheaval. About two hours passed in waiting.

A figure reappeared in the Chengying Mirror—not Liu He this time, but the same black-clothed woman from earlier.

Her usual cold expression was gone, replaced with a frown and a look of curiosity as she asked, “Liu Zheng, what exactly did you tell the Patriarch?”

“Why? Did something happen?” Liu Zheng asked urgently.

The black-clothed woman took a deep breath and said solemnly, “After hearing your report, the Patriarch went straight to the palace to seek an audience with the Emperor. Do you realize the entire Holy Capital is now in chaos?”

“The entire Holy Capital is in chaos?”

Liu Zheng was shocked.

Even though he had anticipated something serious, hearing it confirmed still left him stunned.

The black-clothed woman said, “There are no secrets in the Holy Capital. Not long after the Patriarch entered the palace, word spread—though only among the top-tier noble families. As for the weaker second-tier clans, while they don’t know the details, they’ve caught the tension in the air. Everyone’s on edge. In short, it’s already complete chaos.”

Liu Zheng understood clearly in his heart. As the imperial capital of the Chixiao Divine Dynasty, the Holy Capital was a place where hidden dragons and crouching tigers gathered.

There were over a dozen powerful clans that had existed for more than a thousand years, and these families wielded immense influence.

Their network of spies extended throughout the court and beyond—some were even planted close to the Chixiao Empress herself.

Therefore, it wasn’t difficult for them to obtain information about the “Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin.”

As for the slightly weaker families, although they lacked the ability to place as many spies, their nerves were constantly on edge. At the slightest disturbance, they would react immediately.

Only families that remained ever-vigilant could survive in an environment as complex as the Holy Capital. The current situation was very clear.

Some major families had received intelligence that the “Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin” originated from the Mythical Era, which shocked them greatly and led them to urgently convene their clans to discuss the matter. The smaller families, though unaware of the truth, saw the reaction of the major families and were also shaken, following suit.

With such a chain reaction, the entire Sacred Capital naturally descended into chaos. Not long after, the black-robed woman’s expression suddenly changed.

She said in a low voice, “The Empress has arrived.”

The Empress?

Before Liu Zheng could react, the scene in the Shadow Mirror shifted once again. A breathtakingly beautiful woman appeared, wearing a golden crown and a luxurious purple robe.

In the center of the robe was an embroidered phoenix, surrounded by a hundred types of birds—forming the grand scene of A Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix.

She was none other than the current ruler of the Chixiao Divine Dynasty, widely known as the Chixiao Empress!

Even across the entire Southern Region, the Chixiao Empress was incredibly famous. This fame was not due to her cultivation level, nor the power of the Chixiao Divine Dynasty, but solely because of her stunning beauty.

That innate aura of nobility, combined with the authority of someone long accustomed to ruling, made her seem like a celestial maiden descending from the Moon Palace—radiant enough to outshine all of the Southern Region.

“Your humble servant, Liu Zheng, Governor of Heishi Prefecture, greets Your Majesty.”

Liu Zheng hurriedly bowed to the Chixiao Empress through the Chengying Mirror. In his entire life, he had only seen the Empress from a distance once, and had never been this close before.

Even though they were separated by thousands of miles of void, he was still extremely nervous and excited.

“You may rise,”

the Chixiao Empress said calmly. Her voice was very pleasant, carrying both the composure and majesty of a ruler.

“As you command.”

Liu Zheng straightened up, his gaze slightly lowered, not daring to look directly at the Empress.

“Lord Liu, I’ve heard from you that a strange phenomenon appeared in the skies above Heishi County—nine dragons pulling a bronze coffin, suspected to be from the Mythic Era. Is this true?”

As the Empress spoke, she stared intently at Liu Zheng. Her stunningly beautiful eyes were sharp, as if they could see straight through the Chengying Mirror and into Liu Zheng’s heart.

“Reporting to Your Majesty, it is indeed true. The black sand that fell from the bronze coffin was personally examined by Master Cui Yi. He confirmed it originated from the Mythic Era and is at least 500,000 years old.”

Liu Zheng answered respectfully, not daring to conceal a single detail.

“Five hundred thousand years… the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin… So pure-blooded dragons really do exist in this world,” the Scarlet Dawn Empress murmured to herself.

In this world, whether it’s true dragons, phoenixes, or qilins, they only existed in murals and paintings. No one could say for sure whether these powerful mythical beasts truly existed in the Mythic Era—people mostly considered them imaginary divine creatures.

That was why human emperors carved dragons and phoenixes on their robes. Otherwise, given the tense relationship between humans and the demon race, how could human emperors possibly revere true dragons and phoenixes like that?

But now, Liu Zheng was telling her that pure-blooded dragons really existed. This was undoubtedly a tremendous shock for the Scarlet Dawn Empress. Even more shocking was that the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin originated from the Mythic Era—the era that was said to have completely vanished.

“This… how is this possible? In over two hundred thousand years, I’ve never heard of anyone discovering traces of the Mythic Era. There must be some misunderstanding,” the Scarlet Dawn Empress said, furrowing her elegant brows.

“Your Majesty,” Liu Zheng replied, “Master Cui Yi was once one of the most renowned appraisers in the Sacred Capital. Since he asserted that the bronze coffin is from the Mythic Era, he’s likely not mistaken,” Liu Zheng spoke very bluntly.

In truth, he was secretly delighted. When Cui Yi had said the same thing to him earlier, he had also doubted it—only to be ruthlessly proven wrong.

Now, seeing even the mighty Empress Chixiao visibly shaken by it was clearly something he took great pride in. The Empress fell silent. Her worldview was beginning to crumble.

If this matter was true, it would completely overturn the beliefs and knowledge she had held for decades!