The Alliance issued the Celestial Punishment Order, Gao Xuan is the Alliance's most wanted criminal.

Gao Xuan's entry into the Celestial Battle Realm is an open secret among the Alliance's upper echelons.

The Qin Family originally intended to enter the Celestial Battle Realm to capture Gao Xuan, but ultimately couldn't make the trip. Such a dangerous place isn't one you can enter just because you want to.

Qin Wu, a top Golden Powerhouse, shoulders heavy responsibilities. It's not like he can just leave whenever he wishes.

Moreover, if anything were to happen to Qin Wu, the Qin Family couldn't bear such a loss. After much deliberation, the Qin Family abandoned the plan to enter the Celestial Battle Realm.

The Qin Family lost two major Golden Powerhouses. Qin Ken didn't say much, but Qin Xuan alone was an outstanding Middle-tier Gold powerhouse. He was always in charge of the Qin Family's external affairs.

His competence and firm hand brought many benefits to the Qin Family. He was the most important figure in the Qin Family's external affairs. In the end, he was killed by Gao Xuan just like that.

The Qin Family, unable to capture Gao Xuan, directed their anger towards others related to Gao Xuan.

Hercules, because of his close relationship with Gao Xuan, faced strong attacks from the Qin Family. The Jin Family and Yuan Family also expressed strong dissatisfaction with Hercules.

The Jin Family even demanded that Hercules marry Helen to Jin Yutang as an atonement. Otherwise, they wouldn't let it go.

While Helen is indeed extraordinarily beautiful, Jin Yutang wanted to marry Helen to humiliate Gao Xuan and Hercules.

The Yuan Family also proposed numerous harsh conditions, demanding that Hercules compensate for their losses.

The Qin Family went even further, demanding that Hercules hand over all battleships of Sea Emperor Star and the corresponding military command authority. They wanted to send representatives to take control of the military power of the Sea Emperor Star System.

Hercules, of course, rejected all these unreasonable demands.

As a descendant of Zeus, one of the Twelve Golden Bloodlines, Hercules has his pride and dignity. He cannot accept the insult from several noble families.

The noble families, of course, showed no courtesy. They joined forces to exert pressure. First, on the Alliance's side, several noble families enacted several embargo regulations against Sea Emperor Star.

Important weaponry, light brain chips, and other items couldn't enter the Sea Emperor Star Realm through regular channels.

The Central Alliance is so powerful because it holds a large amount of core resources. These resources are the technological accumulation of the Alliance over three thousand years, including technology, equipment, and talent.

Even though remote star realms can close their doors and dominate internally, they fall behind and suffer if they are isolated technologically.

Golden Powerhouses are important, but conventional military power is still in Star River Battleships.

The large main-level Star River Battleships are actually more useful than Golden Powerhouses. They are also more cost-effective.

Besides the Central Star Realm, no other star realm can independently manufacture main-level Star River Battleships. Just the engine is beyond anyone's capability.

The Central Star Realm's embargo on the Sea Emperor Star Realm might not matter in the short term. But over time, the Sea Emperor Star Domain Fleet would be ruined.

Such tactics grip the Sea Emperor Star Realm's throat, making Hercules very uncomfortable, though it can't strangle it immediately.

What's more troublesome is that several families have also partnered with the Black Banner Alliance, prompting them to deploy Interstellar Pirates.

Dozens of pirate ships are prowling around the space jump points, attacking at any opportunity.

So far, eleven interstellar cargo ships have been looted, and all crew members aboard were killed.

Additionally, two interstellar cruise ships, specifically for passengers, were hijacked. One of the ships was only released after paying a ransom of two trillion materials.

The passengers aboard the other interstellar cruise ship were all killed. This was to intimidate Hercules.

Hercules is not afraid of this, but the rampant Interstellar Pirates, coupled with the Central Star Realm broadcasting these incidents widely on the Celestial Net, create trouble.

Now everyone in the Alliance knows the Sea Emperor Star Realm is dangerous, severely impacting the tourism industry of Sea Emperor Star.

Even as the Tenth Sage, Hercules has no good solution for this.

This isn't a conspiracy, but rather the joint effort of the Qin Family, Yuan Family, and Jin Family pulling strings behind the scenes.

The Black Banner Alliance is naturally in this line of work, and with the support of several noble families, they show no politeness towards Hercules.

Hercules is very angry yet helpless.

Although the Black Banner Alliance only has the Nine Kings left, even one of them might be formidable for him to handle.

The information Hercules received from the Moisture Hall indicates that this operation is led by the Black Eagle King and Iron Mountain King.

Both are powerful Golden Middle-tier Powerhouses, oppressing him in terms of rank.

Unless these two come to Sea Emperor Star to fight him one-on-one, if encountered in outer space, Hercules is not their match.

Hercules has led his fleet into battle twice. Although he didn't lose, he gained no advantage either.

The Black Banner Alliance's warships have insufficient frontal combat power, but they're particularly fast and adept at hiding their movements, making them very cunning.

Hercules has been restless and uneasy for several months without any solution.

The main issue is that the three major families are pressing down, allowing the Black Banner Alliance's pirate fleet to operate freely in the Sea Emperor Star Realm, with no intervention from any party.

Hercules held firm for a few months but finally couldn't withstand the pressure. Goods from the Sea Emperor Star Realm can't circulate externally, and relying solely on internal self-sufficiency, the Sea Emperor Star Realm won't last long before its economic environment collapses.

Left with no choice, Hercules sought out Helen, intending for her to marry Jin Yutang.

This young man is said to be a genius, with handsome looks. Among this generation of the Jin Family, he has the most talent. There might be a chance for him to become the Jin Family Head in the future.

Following Jin Yutang wouldn't really be a grievance for Helen.

Helen, however, immediately turned hostile, saying Jin Yutang being called handsome is an insult to the word. As for being a genius, that's laughable.

In the Sword Dao finals, Jin Yutang was so scared by Gao Xuan that he dared not even take the stage. And they call him a genius.