Stripping the Royal Title

Marquis Juzhu and his people had returned. They returned carrying a massive mountain on their shoulders. It was the very mountain they had hauled away from Mount Zhu back then. Now, barely a month later, they carried it back to Mount Zhu once more. Marquis Juzhu, Si Yue, Wu Yue, Yuanyue, and the other experts were all thrilled. Ever since Su Yu had departed the Upper Realm after suffering heavy losses, the Iron Eater race had been living in misery. They had originally assumed that in the coming great war, their people would likely be used as cannon fodder. To their astonishment, Su Yu had returned so soon. Not only had he returned, but he had also displayed overwhelming dominance, forcing the myriad races to willingly release and return the Iron Eater clan... "Your Majesty!" Even from afar, Marquis Juzhu was overwhelmed with excitement, and when he saw San Yue, his joy swelled even further. They were back! Although Mount Zhu was no longer in its original location, Mount Zhu was still Mount Zhu. San Yue, Su Yu, and the rest were all here—and that was more than enough. Su Yu was smiling as well. Back when he was preparing to leave the Upper Realm, he had met with Marquis Juzhu. On that day, Marquis Juzhu had pledged that they would wait for his return, and that unless Su Yu fell, the Iron Eater race would never submit to another master. San Yue had faithfully honored that promise all along. Thus, upon returning, Su Yu's very first priority had been to find a way to reclaim the Iron Eater clan, thereby preventing them from being used by the myriad races as leverage against him. "You're back!" Su Yu smiled. His camp had gained another Heavenly King. Si Yue was a second-grade Dao Integration expert, and Wu Yue was at the peak of third-grade—altogether a respectable force. His roster of Heavenly Kings had grown again; Tongtian had also just broken through to Heavenly King moments ago. As a result, Su Yu's side now possessed four Celestial Venerables and three Heavenly Kings. He had only just arrived in the Upper Realm, yet his fighting strength had already skyrocketed. Su Yu even wondered whether he could launch a full-frontal assault against the Prison King lineage. The prerequisite, of course, was that the myriad races did not interfere; with the myriad races still present, a reckless frontal assault would not be wise. "Juzhu!" San Yue was equally elated. Looking at the mountain and the tens of thousands of Iron Eater clansmen upon it, he was filled with joy. The Iron Eater population was not large. Ten thousand clansmen was roughly equivalent to their numbers in the Lower Realm. Had these ten thousand clansmen, along with Juzhu and the others, been lost, it would have dealt an immeasurable blow to their race. Now, they were back! At that moment, the giant Iron Eater beasts were equally thrilled. They had just witnessed Su Yu and his companions unleash their mighty prowess, and they had heard Su Yu intimidate the myriad races, compelling them to escort them back. In an instant, tens of thousands of giant Iron Eater beasts roared in unison, "Greetings, Your Majesty!" Tens of thousands of beasts roared together—some still gnawing on bamboo, others hanging from tree branches. The scene was somewhat comical, yet deeply inspiring. Su Yu broke into hearty laughter. "Rise, all of you! Your return is the fortune of the Imperial Residence of Yu! Today, we cannot descend to the Lower Realm to reunite with the brethren there, but that is only a matter of time!" Su Yu made his proclamation, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Here in the Upper Realm, the Iron Eater race will bear witness to our glory! We will slay our enemies and avenge the fallen elites of the Imperial Residence of Yu! "For every one of my followers slain, I shall make them pay a hundredfold! "Everyone, we will battle the Prison King lineage to the bitter end—a fight to the death! Only after wiping them out completely shall we return to the Lower Realm!" "A fight to the death!" The roars shook the heavens! The gathering of Iron Eater beasts felt their blood boiling with excitement. Even though they might not necessarily participate in this battle, hearing his words felt exhilarating. Su Yu was never a man of empty words; he had truly come to the Upper Realm for vengeance. After all, on his very first day here, he had already beaten two Celestial Venerables of the Prison King lineage black and blue. That was true ruthlessness! Fierce words meant nothing; what mattered was having the iron fist to back them up. At this moment, Su Yu turned his gaze toward the depths of Mount Chaos, his voice thundering across heaven and earth: "The Prison King lineage has betrayed the human race and colluded with chaos—a sin beyond pardon! If the Human Sovereign will not punish them, and if the nine generations of Human Lords will not punish them, then I shall punish them! "Guilty of monstrous treason, their crime warrants death! I hereby strip the Prison King of her title as Human King! Prison is a traitor to humanity whose crimes demand execution! I strip the human fortune from the Prison King lineage! Let the Human Sovereign bear witness! Let heaven and earth bear witness! "Traitors must be put to death!" *Boom!* At that very moment, Su Yu's words carried the weight of cosmic law, and the sky transformed. Far to the east, in the Dao Origin Land, the Human Sovereign's Great Dao trembled. In the depths of Mount Chaos, Su Yu's Human Lord Seal trembled as well. In the name of the contemporary Human Lord, he judged the Prison King guilty and stripped them of the human race's fortune! *** In the depths of chaos, within the territory of the Prison King lineage. Suddenly, the earth quaked and mountains shattered. Heaven and earth altered their hues. Dark clouds blotted out the sun! In the void, a colossal figure resembling Su Yu materialized. The giant opened his mouth, attempting to swallow the kingdom nestled among the peaks in a single gulp. The ancestor of the Prison King lineage underwent a drastic change of expression. He threw a sudden punch! *Boom!* Heaven and earth exploded, yet the strike failed to touch the phantom. The giant resembling Su Yu had appeared out of nowhere. Swallowing downward, he harmed no one, yet at that instant, several top-tier experts felt their hearts skip a beat. Suddenly, they felt an unsettling emptiness, as if something vital had been torn away. The fortune of the entire Prison King lineage plunged abruptly. The statue of the Prison King enshrined in the grand hall suddenly shattered with a sharp crack, tumbling from its altar! Before long, the fragments rapidly converged, reassembling into a complete form. It flew back onto the altar! Yet at this moment, something indistinct was missing from it. "Guilty!" Right then, a low shout erupted from the giant's mouth in the void. In the next breath, a massive character for "Guilty" branded itself across the entire kingdom of the Prison King lineage! Countless citizens looked up at the sky, terror clutching their hearts. Suddenly, they felt as though they were truly guilty! *** At the same time. Fortune surged around Su Yu with a rumbling roar, clashing intangibly against an unseen force. His face was pale, yet he laughed wildly: "Prison, I have already condemned you as a traitor to humanity. Why resist? I am the Human Lord, master of the human race! If I say you are a traitor, then a traitor you are! No matter how formidable you were, back then you were merely one of the Four Extreme Human Kings. Your status was nothing more than that—how can you contend with me? "What is more... can you even return? "Hahaha!" Su Yu laughed arrogantly, his power of fortune continuously erupting to suppress heaven and earth. *I might not have authority over the myriad races, but do I not have authority over you humans?* Through the nine generations of Human Lords and the ancient era, fortune had ultimately been inherited by Su Yu. He had captured Marquis Jiantian, and Hundred Battles had severed his own ties; one could say that the fortune of the entire ancient human race was now concentrated in Su Yu alone! *Since that is so, even without physically fighting you, I can brand you a traitor through fortune, and that is what you will become!* At that moment, in the eyes of everyone—in the eyes of the myriad races—the weak could see nothing, but the strong could clearly perceive boundless dark clouds gathering over a certain location in the depths of Mount Chaos! Fortune was dissipating! The Prison King lineage did not rely entirely on the fortune of the human race, so Su Yu could not destroy all of it. Even so, their fortune was visibly disintegrating. *** Atop Human Mountain. Marquis Tianming promptly opened his heavenly eye! Not only him, but other experts capable of opening their heavenly eyes activated various Dao techniques to gaze into the distance. What they saw shocked them to the core. Those with clear sight, such as Marquis Tianming, beheld a golden dragon struggling above the kingdom of the Prison King. Straddling the dragon was the phantom of Su Yu, who was steadily extracting portions of its fortune. *Rumble!* Inaudible thunders echoed through the metaphysical plane! Holding the great seal, the giant Su Yu pinned down the golden dragon. In the blink of an eye, he stripped away nearly a third of its fortune. With a tremendous blast, that stolen fortune dispersed into nothingness. The entire dragon visibly shrank in size. Immediately after, the giant Su Yu vanished, collapsing on the spot. The golden dragon instantly turned white as its golden sheen faded away! Marquis Tianming was thoroughly shaken! Su Yu was not a sovereign! The Prison King's office had not been bestowed by Su Yu; Su Yu was merely a Human Lord, technically equal in rank to the Prison King. Unless the Human Sovereign himself stripped the Prison King of her post, no one had the authority to do so—not even King Wen. How had this happened? Why had this occurred? It was not just Marquis Tianming who was stunned. At that moment, every Celestial Venerable atop Human Mountain was deeply unsettled as they gazed toward Su Yu in the distance. Over there, Su Yu's aura was turbulent; he appeared to have sustained significant internal strain. A mutual injury! Yet at that moment, Su Yu's boisterous laughter echoed across the sky once more: "I condemn you as traitors! The so-called Prison King lineage ceases to exist from this day forth; only the Sin race remains! From now on, your people shall forever be the criminals of humanity! The Sin race—a name truly fitting for you!" By this point, Marquis Sheng of the Immortal race could not help but exclaim in astonishment, "This... he... his bearing as a Human Lord surpasses all previous generations! His status is actually half a notch higher than that of the Prison King! How is this possible?" Su Yu's rank and standing within the hierarchy of the ancient imperial court was actually slightly superior to that of the Prison King! Unbelievable! Strictly speaking, this matter was not critically vital, yet from another perspective, it was profoundly significant. Stripping the Prison King of her Human King status meant that the Prison King lineage could no longer share in the fortune of the human race! Hundred Battles had extracted his own human fortune, and Su Yu had now severed the Prison King lineage. As things stood, the fortune of the human race was shared solely between Su Yu and the ancient Human Sovereign. Severing fortune in this manner was likely a first in all of history! A descendant of later generations had actually stripped an ancient predecessor of their Human King rank—inconceivable! In the distance, Tiangu remained silent for a moment before speaking slowly: "Perhaps... it is because his status and standing are indeed extraordinarily high! He inherited King Wen's legacy, gained the support of the descendants of King Ming and King Zhan, and earned the backing of the Fire Transmission lineage. He might have even received the acknowledgment of the Human Sovereign... "With the backing of the Human Sovereign, along with King Wen, King Ming... and perhaps King Wu among the Four Extreme Human Kings, coupled with the devotion of the human populace and the support of allies like the Iron Eaters, he is indeed a figure of peerless fortune and talent among all generations of Human Lords. I suspect he has also captured Marquis Jiantian, augmenting his fortune by another thirty percent. If Jiantian was captured, it means Jiantian's fortune was inferior to his..." At this moment, there was only room for sighs and lamentations. Yet someone asked in confusion, "He appears injured. What is the practical point of making such a grand show to strip their fortune?" Not everyone understood the intricacies of fortune. Marquis Sheng whispered, "The point? The point is that the fortune of the Prison King lineage has plummeted. In a great war, when their experts are defeated, they might have originally had a chance of escaping or surviving with severe injuries. Now... they will die! "Fortune is not omnipotent; it merely serves an auxiliary role. If you are powerful, having your fortune stripped has little immediate effect! "However, once you suffer defeat in battle, you will find yourself becoming increasingly unlucky! "You might even explode while attempting to heal your wounds..." Just as he finished speaking, a massive explosion thundered from the distance. *** Within the kingdom of the Prison King. In his fury, the ancestor of the Prison King lineage threw a punch toward the sky. By a terrible stroke of luck, the punch swept toward Yue Hao, whose physical body had just been destroyed. With a sickening splatter, the flesh he had barely begun to regenerate was instantly shredded apart once more. His sea of will fled in panic! In the next instant, he retreated to the side with an ashen face, staring at the ancestor. The ancestor's expression shifted drastically as well, his teeth clenched in disbelief. "Impossible! How could this be? Even if it was truly stripped, our clan is immensely powerful. Aside from human fortune, we possess a formidable pool of innate fortune! The strong embody fortune; the powerful themselves are the wellspring of fortune! Why would this happen?" Even bad luck had its limits! The Prison King lineage possessed immense innate fortune. Powerhouses were, in essence, components of fortune. Right now, only the fortune granted by the human race had partially dissipated; it did not mean the Prison King lineage had lost all fortune entirely. If they had truly lost all of it, people would die just from walking and tripping! This was impossible! He had not directed his attack toward Yue Hao, yet Yue Hao had somehow been dragged into it. At this moment, the other Celestial Venerables also turned pale. Every single one wore a grim expression! How could this happen? A Human Lord could actually sever the fortune of a Human King? What kind of joke was this? And not just an ordinary Human King, but one of the Four Extreme Human Kings! They claimed that humanity was insignificant and that they were now the Holy race. Yet the Prison King's exalted status had derived not only from her strength, but also from her standing in the ancient imperial court. She was one of the Four Extreme Human Kings—one of the five most revered figures of the ancient era! Today, long after the ancient era had vanished, she had been stripped of her rank by a mere junior! The Prison King... yes, that title of Four Extreme Human King had truly been revoked by Su Yu! An unfathomable outcome! He was not the Human Sovereign. Even in the ancient era, only the Human Sovereign possessed the authority to strip the Prison King of her title; not even King Wen could have done so! *** At the exact same time. In the upper reaches of the River of Time. Xingyue had not arrived all that long ago—in fact, she had practically just arrived. Yet at this very moment, while the River of Time did not tremble again, an unseen force of will came sweeping over. Every human powerhouse was momentarily taken aback. It was as though a voice whispered in their ears: *"The Prison King lineage has committed monstrous treason! If the Human Sovereign will not punish them, and if the nine generations of Human Lords will not punish them, then I shall punish them! I strip the Prison King of her royal title..."* The voice echoed in the depths of every human expert's heart. The group's expressions shifted repeatedly. Someone... was stripping the Prison King of her royal title! Heavens, who was it? The nine generations of Human Lords... obviously not. Could it be... could it be the tenth-generation Human Lord Xingyue had mentioned earlier? So overbearing? The Prison King was one of the four great ancient kings! At this moment, the phantom of the Human Sovereign trembled slightly. He abruptly looked toward the distance, gazing downriver. After a long silence, he murmured softly, "Granted!" *Boom!* A surge of fortune boiled over. In the next instant, four massive golden motes of light, thirty-six smaller golden motes, and three hundred and sixty white motes materialized around the Human Sovereign. The Four Extreme Human Kings, thirty-six ordinary Human Kings, and three hundred and sixty Human Marquises! This was the pinnacle fighting strength of the ancient human race! At this moment, one of the massive golden motes suddenly shattered. The original four points of light became three, forming a triangle that circled the Human Sovereign before quickly dispersing. King Ming stepped forward, his tone complex: "Your Majesty!" The Human Sovereign sighed. "They are all brothers and sisters who fought across the myriad realms alongside me. I never wished to abandon any of them... Regarding the matter of the Prison King, I never considered stripping her royal title, much less banishing her from humanity! Even if she betrayed us, she was still part of the human race! Yet now, the tenth-generation Human Lord does not see it that way. Moreover... fortune has surged forth in resonance; the hearts of the people align with him, and his fortune is soaring like a rainbow... Would you have me refuse?" He had the power to refuse! He was the one who had bestowed that title! Su Yu's standing was still not as high as his. Su Yu had merely channeled the resonance of fortune forward. Had the Human Sovereign withheld his consent, Su Yu's decree would have been nothing more than a minister's petition. But once the Human Sovereign granted his approval, everything fell into place naturally! Su Yu acted as an imperial inspector holding the Shangfang Sword of authority. With the Human Sovereign's permission, he could naturally revoke the Prison King's peerage. "Su Yu?" King Ming murmured the name under his breath. This time, he etched the name into memory. Xingyue had mentioned it earlier, but no one had paid it much mind—a heaven-opener at the Sun Moon Realm who was likely crippled by now. Yet at this moment, this heaven-opener, the tenth-generation Human Lord, had actually stripped the Prison King of her throne. In that instant, everyone took note of him. The Prison King had been their comrade-in-arms. A traitorous comrade, of course. Even so, she had been a comrade, and their feelings were complicated. Normally, no one would ever bring up stripping her royal title, yet someone had actually done it now. A heavy silence fell over the crowd. Xingyue looked around and remarked with apparent casualness, "It must be the Prison King lineage doing evil again! That faction commits every atrocity imaginable! They colluded with the Western Heavenly King, attempting multiple times to murder Warden Hongmeng and slaughter the thirty-six wardens so they could lead the dead spirits into the realm of the living! "In the Upper Realm, that faction colluded with Hundred Battles to sabotage the Fire Transmission lineage. Bingku, Danyu, and the others were all murdered, while veteran generals like Minshan fell in battle one after another... "By the time Su Yu arrived in the Upper Realm, only a handful of surviving veteran generals remained: Dingjun, Huoyun, and Yingwu. Those were the only ancient veterans Su Yu could rally—oh, and Zhou Tian..." Upon hearing this, everyone felt a pang of sorrow and grief. They had not even broached this subject yet! King Ming's heart shook slightly. "Only... those few?" "Yes. There were a few others, but they were subverted by Hundred Battles. Only these few remain!" The crowd felt their hearts shatter. When the great ancient war erupted, they had left behind at least a hundred ancient marquises, along with countless titled and untitled generals. Now... were they all gone? What a tragedy! Just then, someone in the crowd voiced surprise: "Dingjun... is still alive?" Everyone turned to look at a burly man. Seeing all eyes upon him, the man said awkwardly, "I just mean... Dingjun is... a bit weak. Everyone else died, but he survived?" *Good grief!* Dingjun was still alive! Everyone recognized this man—King Ping, a powerhouse who had attained kingship through the physical body. Dingjun had been his subordinate. His strength... well, among the ancient marquises, he was indeed on the weaker side. With Dingjun alive, there was not much anyone could say. The Human Sovereign's phantom, which had been solemn a moment ago, now looked as if he wanted to laugh. "Isn't it a good thing that a marquis under your command is alive?" "..." King Ping looked sheepish. It was a good thing, of course, but... he simply had not expected it! Dingjun was still alive! What incredible luck! King Ming smiled as well. "It's good that Yingwu is alive too. Back then, she was only a titled general. Surviving until now is remarkable luck!" As for Marquis Huoyun, King Yue had already fallen in battle, so no one commented much; Huoyun's strength had never been weak to begin with. "Sigh, let's speak no more of this. If the title is revoked, so be it!" The Human Sovereign chose not to dwell on it. Xingyue's words had left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth. Back before they departed, the Prison King lineage had not yet manifested, so it had seemed inconsequential. Even if the Prison King turned traitor, that was an internal dispute among old comrades—outsiders had no right to interfere. Yet now that Xingyue revealed this lineage was utterly ruthless, slaughtering countless innocents and driving humanity toward extinction, no one could object any longer. Xingyue remained impassive. Seeing that everyone had quieted down, she held her tongue as well. *How simple!* *One must know how to use their head!* *When in doubt, use your head—and using your head means thinking about how Su Yu would handle it.* *If it were Su Yu, he would definitely fabricate rumors.* *Fortunately, I'm not as shameless as Su Yu. I didn't spread rumors; I merely spoke the truth without a single shred of falsehood.* Someone sighed, "Even if the Prison King betrayed us, that was a matter between us; she would never have targeted ordinary mortals... Yet the descendants below have completely lost all sense of restraint and discipline, turning so vile! Stripping the royal title is for the best!" "Indeed. Even if she bore resentment toward King Wen, she shouldn't have implicated those below. What fault did the others have?" "They deserve to die!" "..." The crowd felt a mix of anger and helplessness. Meanwhile, the Human Sovereign fell silent. He was merely perplexed: where did this tenth-generation Human Lord, Su Yu, obtain such tremendous fortune? How bizarre! Hadn't he been crippled? He glanced at Xingyue with a hint of suspicion and sent a voice transmission: "This Su Yu, the tenth-generation Human Lord—is he the one who saved you?" "Yes." "Is he very strong?" "Not strong." "Oh!" *Not strong!* *Then... could it truly be that the people's hearts align with him, causing his fortune to boil over?* Thinking of this, he asked again, "Does he love the people as his own children?" Xingyue pondered for a moment. *Does he?* She didn't really feel so! However... since her brother was asking, she replied, "I suppose." "Does he feel a sense of responsibility toward the human race?" "Yes!" Xingyue nodded. He certainly did; Su Yu treated his family and friends exceptionally well, was good to his subordinates, and carried quite a sense of responsibility! "Then... has he been to Tianhekou?" "Probably?" Xingyue recalled someone mentioning it, so he had likely been there. "Did you give him the Xingyu Seal earlier?" "Yes." "He is the Human Lord, possesses the Xingyu Seal, and bears responsibility toward humanity..." At that moment, the Human Sovereign seemed to realize something and muttered, "That little bastard abandoned my Great Dao just to go off and open his own petty Dao? Could the Dao he opened possibly be stronger than mine?" His tone carried indignation! *Who is he looking down on?* *My Great Dao is boundless and supreme! Even opening a small fraction of it is far beyond what that little bastard could achieve by opening a sky at the Sun Moon Realm!* Yet soon, a realization struck him, and he murmured, "Could it be... he gave it up solely to open a Dao of Life and Death to save you?" Shaken, he looked at Xingyue. "Sister, is this Su Yu... very close to you?" Xingyue thought about it. *I suppose so?* She gave a slight nod. "I suppose." The Human Sovereign's expression shifted wildly! A peerless genius, master of the human race, whose sense of responsibility weighed heavier than Mount Tai, had actually been captivated by his sister in her dead spirit state. To think... he had abandoned the realm for a woman. What was this? Choosing beauty over the empire? Abandoning his Great Dao made the Human Sovereign speechless and tempted to curse, yet upon realizing that Su Yu had opened a sky solely to resurrect Xingyue, his feelings grew complicated. Anyone capable of inheriting his Great Dao was a peerless hero between heaven and earth! Every bit as outstanding as himself! He did not know whether to sigh in pity! It was indeed somewhat lamentable! For such an exceptional figure to abandon the Great Dao of responsibility left the Human Sovereign deeply conflicted. Looking at his sister again... *sigh!* He did not know whether to call her a femme fatale. It was only because she was his own sister; otherwise... it was truly far too great a pity! "Su Yu... tenth-generation master of the human race!" The Human Sovereign murmured under his breath, at a loss for words. *** At the exact same time. Behind the Heavenly Gate. King Wu and King Wen, who were fleeing once more, suddenly froze. King Wu exclaimed in surprise, "Hey, did you feel that?" *Nonsense!* The white-robed man ignored him. The burly man said in shock, "Someone stripped Prison of her royal title, didn't they?" *Yes, but I don't feel like talking to you.* "Who did it? Doesn't seem like the boss. So ferocious—why?" *Still not talking to you!* "Old Wen, have you gone mute?" The white-robed man continued fleeing. After escaping for a while, he caught his breath and said, "I don't know, and I don't care to ask. Guessing right now is pointless! As for who it was... you should have seen him before." "I've seen him?" King Wu paused, his jaw dropping in the next moment. "That guy from last time?" "Most likely!" "Your son did it?" "Your father did it!" The white-robed man snapped in irritation. *He's your father, not my son! This bastard has said that several times now—is there no end to it?* King Wu curled his lip, then grinned. "Forget it, doesn't matter... By the way, when will we be able to rescue Wen Yu?" "I don't know!" The white-robed man fell silent after replying. Seeing this, King Wu had no choice but to shut his mouth. Before long, however, he couldn't resist asking, "Could Wen Yu be close to dying?" "..." *Jinx.* The white-robed man felt an urge to throttle him! "Don't worry, I'll definitely rescue her!" King Wu took on a serious tone; she was his brother's sister! With that, he added somberly, "Once we save her, I'll be your brother-in-law. Even though Wen Yu is a bit plain and not quite my type!" The white-robed man's gaze turned razor-sharp! King Wu chuckled sheepishly. "Just psyching myself up, otherwise I'm afraid I won't have the motivation!" "Shut up!" "Fine, I'll shut up... But seriously, when we actually get Wen Yu back, Old Wen, let her eat more. She's so skinny, it's pitiful!" The burly man sighed. Look at how emaciated their girl had become! It broke his heart! Now that she was trapped in danger, who knew how much thinner she had gotten? Truly pitiful and heartbreaking. *I only offered to be your brother-in-law to comfort you—did you actually take it seriously?* *I would never do that!* The white-robed man couldn't be bothered to deal with him. Continuing forward as he traversed the void, he sent a voice transmission: "Worry less about what's happening outside!" "I'm not worrying!" Forget it, King Wen had nothing more to say. The man likely wasn't worrying; he had merely felt the resonance and blabbered a few words. *** At this moment, powerhouses across the human race felt the ripple to varying degrees. Meanwhile, atop Mount Zhu. Su Yu's face was pale from the expenditure of fortune, yet he laughed uproariously. *Prison King?* Not anymore! From now on, she was merely Prison! Whether Prison was dead or trapped behind the Hell Gate, there was nothing she could do about it, so what did it matter? *In my capacity as the Human Lord, I strip you of your title!* It might not affect Prison herself, but it had a massive impact on her lineage. He had scattered their fortune, plunging them into misfortune! Beside him, Great Axe asked dumbfoundedly, "Your Majesty... you... weren't just shouting empty threats, were you?" *Could he truly have stripped it away?* Su Yu glanced at him and smiled faintly. "Marquis Great Axe, shall I try it on you?" "..." *Don't!* *I certainly don't want that!* If this was real, wouldn't his marquis title be gone as well? Su Yu smiled. "Stripping a royal title isn't that difficult! As long as the Human Sovereign raises no objection, it's nothing complicated! Of course, for Prison, losing her title won't affect her strength, so it hardly matters to her! But for these sinners, there is definitely an impact. It might not seem huge, but... things like lucky escapes and surviving by the skin of their teeth will likely cease to exist!" Su Yu smiled faintly. "That is precisely what I want: to sever their hope! Once the great battle erupts, they must either slaughter all their enemies, or... face a dead end! The moment they retreat, it could turn into a total rout, filling their hearts with panic and leaving them without a burial ground! I am giving them pressure and motivation—a good deed, so they ought to thank me!" San Yue nodded with a solemn expression, then asked, "Your Majesty, were you affected as well?" Su Yu nodded. "It's fine! Just a bit of fortune expended, nothing serious!" Indeed, it was nothing serious. Fortune was something that would naturally replenish as long as he remained strong. Right now, Su Yu's fortune was soaring like a rainbow. Furthermore, his newly formed heaven and earth were continuously birthing fortune; Su Yu was currently accumulating his own fortune and cultivating the Dao of Fortune. On his very first day in the Upper Realm, Su Yu had accomplished two major feats. Or rather, three! He had battered Yue Hao and his companion, retrieved the Iron Eater clan, and stripped the Prison King of her title. As a result, the entire Prison King lineage likely despised Su Yu to the bone, itching to slay him immediately! Yet Su Yu acted as though the chaos was still not grand enough. His voice boomed across heaven and earth once more: "Sin race, if you wish to summon that Rule Master, you had better hurry! Hahaha! Otherwise, I will certainly disrupt it! You'd best burn a few Celestial Venerables to speed up the summoning! The myriad races are fools, constantly hesitating and blind to everything, but trying to hide things from me, Su Yu, is impossible! Having crossed me, your death is not far off!" In the distance, there was only dead silence! *** Atop Human Mountain, the crowd of powerhouses exchanged glances. After a long while, Marquis Sheng said in a deep voice, "Is the enemy... truly trying to summon that Rule Master?" If so, they could no longer afford to wait for Su Yu to initiate talks of cooperation! That would be too late! Soon, Marquis Sheng said solemnly, "We should take the initiative to seek out Su Yu. His subordinate Tongtian devoured that portal projection and might truly know something. If we are to cooperate... it would be best to do so!" Earlier, they had spoken of waiting for Su Yu to seek cooperation, but now, that was out of the question—they had to go to him proactively! That lunatic Su Yu seemed to have no intention of proposing cooperation. Or rather, he was deliberately waiting for them to make the first move! This fellow's methods were truly formidable; the moment he arrived, he seized the initiative. As for their earlier claims that Su Yu would come knocking within three to five days, they had become a complete joke. Nine times out of ten, he wasn't going to come at all! At this moment, Celestial Venerable Rimian also said in a heavy voice, "Let's seek out Su Yu to talk! We cannot allow them to actually summon the Rule Master. Otherwise, even if we can match him, how many Celestial Venerables would have to die before it's enough?" This time, the myriad races acted with remarkable efficiency, swiftly reaching a consensus. They decided to take the initiative to approach Su Yu for talks! Su Yu's side possessed formidable strength, and more importantly, everyone in his faction was unhinged. If they truly joined forces, dealing with the Prison King lineage would become far simpler. Meanwhile, the stalling strategy proposed by the Former Imperial Concubine... had instantly become unviable! They had to assault the Prison King lineage as soon as possible! The Former Imperial Concubine sighed softly, saying nothing, yet feeling thoroughly helpless. She had wanted to stall, but it was clearly no longer an option. She suspected this might have been one of Su Yu's calculated strategies all along. The more she observed Su Yu, the more uncanny he seemed. It was as if he had anticipated their desire to stall, so with a single battle, he made stalling impossible, instantly leading everyone around by the nose. Whether it was the myriad races or the Prison King lineage, both sides now had to prepare for full-scale war! Among the crowd, Tiangu fell into deep thought. After a long silence, he finally said, "Cooperating with him is actually a good thing. By joining forces, we might achieve greater results, slay more powerful foes, and suffer fewer casualties... The only thing we must beware of is not falling into his traps!" Cooperating with Su Yu as an ally was actually quite advantageous! The man possessed countless methods and sharp intelligence; he seemed omniscient, instantly uncovering crucial secrets that the myriad races had failed to discover. At times, Tiangu felt profoundly helpless. The myriad races had established extensive intelligence networks, yet their information still arrived slower than Su Yu's—a truly galling reality. Take the matter of summoning the Rule Master, for instance: the myriad races had known nothing about it. Yet the moment Su Yu stepped into the Upper Realm, he knew! By comparison, the experts of the myriad races looked utterly useless. Tiangu sighed softly. The initiative had once again fallen into Su Yu's hands!