Chapter 265: Bai Fu Couldn’t Possibly Be an Apostle!
After ending the conversation with Yuan Yi, Bai Fu and Hei Fu flew toward Ulysses from two different directions at top speed.
While still en route, she received a flood of interview requests, many of them from the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations—after all, this matter involved the Rebirth Empire.
Besides interview requests, she also received a large number of cooperation offers.
Some invited her to cameo in their new movie, some to release a song, some to write an autobiography, and some to join some xxx cooperative organization…
The offers were all over the place, but no one was inviting her to shoot lingerie or stocking ads anymore.
Sure, plenty of people probably still had that idea—her looks were just too good, appealing to the aesthetic sense of most species—but no matter how much they wanted to, no one dared to actually send an invitation.
Inviting a Domination-level being to do that kind of ad—wasn’t that just asking to die early?
“Good reputation + good image is basically a nuclear-powered money-printing machine.”
Bai Fu chuckled.
Once she finished reaping the benefits of this wave of beating the Head of State, she shouldn’t be short of money for quite a while.
Bai Fu accepted a large number of media interview requests, only rejecting a small portion from outlets that had previously slandered her.
They’d badmouthed her before and still wanted to interview her?
She wasn’t that magnanimous.
As for the cooperation offers, she only accepted part of them.
There were simply too many, and many of them had conflicting terms. The ones she chose were all highly profitable while still enhancing her good public image.
Being an idol was tiring—you had to maintain your appearance and persona at all times.
Of course, Bai Fu found this kind of “tiring” to be quite enjoyable.
…
On the way back to Ulysses, Bai Fu was giving interviews to various media while remotely directing Anya and the others to make all kinds of major purchases, preparing in advance for the upcoming large-scale infrastructure plan in the Garden of Silence.
“I learned by pure chance that the Head of State was the mastermind behind the Glorious Forces. Remember how I accidentally ran into that assassin N2 in the Dark Zone, the one who tried to kill the Head of State? N2 was a Taim Death Warrior trained by the Glorious Forces. During his training, he accidentally overheard the Glorious Forces Commander talking to a stranger. Before dying, N2 told me about this and even mimicked the voice. Recently, when I was discussing with the Head of State how to deal with the Glorious Forces, I was shocked to find that a few of his lines had the exact same tone as the voice N2 had mimicked, so…”
Bai Fu shared with the reporters the completely made-up story she had concocted.
She didn’t want the outside world to think she was some scheming girl—she wanted them to see her as silly like Fei Ye, so she could better scheme against them. That was why she attributed all her discoveries to pure coincidence.
Her words immediately caused a sensation online.
Holy crap—so Bai Fu figured out the Head of State was the mastermind purely because of such a “coincidental” reason?
If she hadn’t made that discovery, the fate of Bai Fu and the Taim Civilization…
Hiss—just thinking about it was terrifying.
【All I can say is Bai Fu must have some kind of destiny on her side!】
【Good things happen to good people, it’s deserved】
As for the Head of State, Kaide?
A piece of stinking dog crap—no one even wanted to talk about him anymore.
“I—!”
Seeing this interview, Kaide’s face turned crimson with rage.
Wait a second.
Didn’t Rufas say Bai Fu was already dead? How was she “dead” when her attacks just now had been plenty vicious?
Kaide looked at Rufas, and Rufas looked at the shadow storm, Corona.
Bai Fu is dead—you said so yourself, and you were so confident at the time that I believed you. Now how do you explain this?
“Impossible, absolutely impossible!”
Corona’s eyes widened, the lollipop slipping from his mouth and sticking to his pants, leaving them sticky. But he didn’t care.
A Domination-level being, and a newly advanced one at that, how could she possibly withstand that move of his?
“This Bai Fu must be a fake!”
Rufas couldn’t help but laugh. “You serious? A fake? Something like that can be checked easily—who in their right mind would fake that?”
Truth be told, he had long been annoyed with Corona.
Just because this old turtle had lived longer and gotten in with the Holy City of the Apostles early, he liked to put on airs all day long. Now? Still acting?
Once the Descent Ritual succeeded, we’ll see how cocky you still are.
Corona ignored Rufas’s sharp tone—his attention was entirely consumed by Bai Fu’s “resurrection.”
That move of his would make even a normal Transcendent suffer for a long time. He refused to believe Bai Fu could really withstand it.
“Was the Bai Fu I killed a fake?”
“Did someone block the blow for her when I attacked?”
Corona kept replaying the scene in his mind, but couldn’t make sense of it, and it was driving him mad.
Fine, fine—if I can’t kill you once, I’ll just kill you again!
Corona was about to leave when Rufas’s cold voice rang out.
“Going after Bai Fu now—do you want to ruin the Holy City of the Apostles’ plan?”
Corona froze.
If he went after Bai Fu now and something unexpected happened that kept him there, it could ruin everything.
Forget the Rebirth Empire—there was someone in the Edge Worlds he feared deeply—
Yuan Yi.
Fine, I’ll wait. Sooner or later, Bai Fu will die!
Corona left the room, his face dark as iron.
“What’s with him?”
Nearby, Sui Xi of the Blessed Congregation watched Corona’s retreating back in puzzlement.
Holy Son Elron said absentmindedly, “Probably because of Bai Fu. Wasn’t there a rumor recently that she was dead? But just now, she suddenly popped up in a news interview.”
Bai Fu.
Sui Xi slowly rolled the name around in her mind.
Just hearing it gave her a headache.
A few years ago, when she had first met Bai Fu, Bai Fu’s strength had just reached S-rank. Back then, she had completely dismissed her, thinking she was just one among billions of mediocrities. Yet now, after Sui Xi had barely managed to reach Calamity-level with external help, Bai Fu had already ascended to Domination-level and was even shaking the Star Sea, stirring up waves big enough to make Transcendents take notice!
She had completely misjudged her.
But…
It was still fine.
Sui Xi vaguely remembered that she had once compared Bai Fu to the Apostles.
Bai Fu’s current strength might be overwhelming, but she still wasn’t on par with the Apostles.
The Apostles’ power was in a realm beyond imagination, and Bai Fu hadn’t even advanced to Transcendent yet. There was no way she could be a reincarnated Apostle.
Absolutely impossible!
“I wonder how much longer until the Descent Ritual is ready,” Sui Xi murmured.
At the mention of the ritual, Elron’s eyes lit up. “It won’t take long. The Taim Civilization’s civil war has provided us with plenty of Soul Pyres. Just a few more large-scale battles, or a few more bloody massacres, and we’ll have all the fuel needed to ignite the Pillar of the True Spirit. That process will take at most two to three years, and then…”
The Apostle’s will would descend upon this world, and the Apostle’s followers would gain boundless power. The entire world’s order would change.
Chaos.
Chaos was their ladder of progress!
…
It took Bai Fu ten days to return to Ulysses. Before she arrived, the construction teams and designers brought in by the Origin Consortium had already begun building the third and fourth bases of the Tide of the Dark Moon.
At this moment, Ulysses Star was crowded with people.
Players who had rushed back early from other places, representatives from surrounding civilizations, and various groups coming to deepen cooperation.
In the sky, electronic banners were everywhere.
【Congratulations to the Star Web Commonwealth’s Level-1 Partner, Saint Bai Fu, for advancing to Domination-level!】
【Congratulations…】
At the sight of these banners, Bai Fu’s mouth twitched involuntarily.
How does this feel like getting the top score in the entire province’s college entrance exam?
In the crowd, Bai Fu unexpectedly spotted Julian and people from Dimensional Capital.
Well, that saved her the trip to the Rebirth Empire.
Bai Fu stepped off the spaceship with a smile.
The moment her feet touched the ground, a deafening cheer erupted all around, and celebratory fireworks shot into the sky one after another.
The birth of a Domination-level—no celebration could be too grand.
Even for a universe-level civilization like the Rebirth Empire, the total number of Domination-level plus Transcendent-level beings under direct jurisdiction was only around thirty. Bai Fu had just advanced to Domination-level, but judging from the talent she had shown in the past, she stood a great chance of becoming Transcendent in the future.
Bai Fu had Hei Fu, Ying Fu, and Hei Wang host the celebration, making sure to squeeze the Players until they were in blissful agony.
She herself pulled Julian and the representatives of Dimensional Capital into a psionically signal-sealed room.
“Going to such lengths?”
Julian was slightly surprised. He was here on behalf of the Security Bureau to congratulate Bai Fu and to inform her that the Bureau had helped stop the Head of State from using the Rebirth Empire’s power to retaliate against her.
“Of course I have to be cautious.” Bai Fu sighed. “On my way back, I was attacked by Shadowstorm Corona.”
“Shadowstorm—the Transcendent-level Mechanic?”
Julian and the Dimensional Capital representative’s expressions changed at the same time.
How had Bai Fu provoked that lunatic again?
And then, they had the same thought as Yuan Yi.
Damn—attacked by Corona and still alive? Was she some kind of Dark Zone superhuman?
Bai Fu’s strength seemed even greater than they had imagined. They had to report this immediately and raise her priority even further.
Bai Fu said, “The reason I brought you here was to prevent Corona from eavesdropping. The reason he attacked me was because I heard something that could shake the entire Edge Worlds.”
She told them all about Kaide being invited by Rufas to work with the Ten Saints Council, and the connection between the Ten Saints Council and the Holy City of the Apostles.
At first, Julian and the Dimensional Capital representative suspected she was making it up, but when the term 【Crystal Orb of Insight】 came up, they immediately believed her.
This was a secret the Rebirth Empire had never made public. Julian himself had only learned the truth recently after being promoted and gaining access to the information in 【Radiance】.
“I have to report this immediately. Rufas colluding with the Ten Saints Council is shocking enough, but to think there’s also a universe-level civilization hidden in the Dark Zone…”
“Hold on,” Bai Fu quickly stopped Julian. “I have one more important piece of intel.”
“Oh?”
“I left a little something on Kaide. Even a Transcendent can’t detect it. With it, I can locate Kaide’s position at any time.”
“So, you can use Kaide to find the Ten Saints Council’s new base?”
Yes!
After getting Bai Fu’s confirmation, Julian’s pupils trembled.
He had never expected his trip to Ulysses to yield such a huge harvest.
If handled properly, the Empire might have a chance to snatch the 【Crystal Orb of Insight】 directly from the Saints!
Even if they couldn’t take it back, knowing the Saints’ plan would help avoid massive losses.
At this moment, in Julian’s eyes, Bai Fu was no longer just Bai Fu—she was a super promotion booster.
Last time she found the Ten Saints Council’s base could be chalked up to luck, but now she had done it again. Luck alone could not explain this.
Julian took a deep breath, secretly making up his mind.
He was going to cling to Bai Fu’s thigh for good!
He quickly shifted into business mode.
“What does Saint Bai Fu want in exchange this time?”
As he spoke, he summoned a virtual screen to start recording Bai Fu’s requests.
Bai Fu: “?”
Well now—you’re eager to give me things before I even open my mouth?
Then I won’t be polite.
Bai Fu’s first request was for materials needed to upgrade Yulia, Anya, Vic, and especially Cypriss.
Cypriss had Domination-level strength before being ambushed. If Bai Fu could help her recover, the Garden of Silence faction would become truly formidable.
Aside from these, Bai Fu also asked for items to reduce draconification activity, psionic knowledge or application techniques, techniques to increase burst sustainability, techniques to increase durability or life recovery speed, Transcendent-rank and above Esper Power manuals, psionic construct blueprints, or ultra-rare quality Prayer Card blueprints, and so on.
She listed whatever she could think of.
After all, they would bargain later. If she didn’t put it all on the table, the Rebirth Empire might think her appetite was small—when in fact, she was a glutton that even millions of Players working together could barely satisfy.
Julian’s face didn’t change, but he was already thinking about how to meet Bai Fu’s requests as much as possible without harming the Empire’s interests, all while strengthening ties with her.
While he pondered, the Dimensional Capital representative suddenly said, “For psionic matters, you don’t need to ask the Empire. I came here to invite you to the Empire. Ms. Whitney wants to meet you, and if you’re interested, she can recommend you to join the Ethereal Realm Research Society.”
The Ethereal Realm Research Society—that was the organization in the Empire with the deepest mastery of psionic knowledge, formed by the most elite Psionic Priests.
Bai Fu’s eyes lit up instantly.
If she could join, it would be hugely beneficial for improving her combat power.
But this would have to wait. For now, the priority was still milking the Players dry, and cooperating with the Rebirth Empire to deal a heavy blow to Kaide and Corona.
The Ten Saints Council was tied to a Main Storyline Quest. She hadn’t been strong enough to get involved before, but now things were different.
The Dimensional Capital representative understood.
After a brief exchange with Julian, the two of them quickly left Ulysses.
“Huh, they’re leaving already?”
Nearby leaders from surrounding civilizations were disappointed.
They had hoped to take this chance to make themselves known in front of a universe-level civilization.
Oh well.
Being seen by Bai Fu wasn’t bad either.
A universe-level civilization was good, but not as good as having Bai Fu—whose main base was right nearby, who was upright, loyal, and full of justice.
Amid cheers, Bai Fu went full throttle, squeezing Players 24/7 without pause.
This time, she threw out a lot of good stuff at once, such as various stat-boosting potions and items—all looted from the Glorious Forces’ main base.
I’ve gone this far—are you handing over your XP or not?
The Players had never seen anything like this.
In the past, they had to grind themselves bald doing quests just to raise their stats. Now, they could just spend XP in the special shop to buy potions and items.
Fine, we’ll hand it all over!
Players quickly emptied their XP reserves into Bai Fu’s hands, letting her feast to her heart’s content.
Players from other factions were green with envy—the Garden of Silence’s perks were insane.
With a steady supply of XP, Bai Fu felt confident enough to gamble on Prayer Cards.
She spent several days updating her entire Prayer Card collection, upgrading most of her main cards to red quality. When she gambled for an upgrade blueprint for the 【Eye of Sorrow】, her luck exploded—she got an ultra-rare 【Rainbow】-quality Eye of Sorrow.
“Locked in! Locked in!”
Bai Fu was overjoyed—her 2+ billion XP investment in maxing her Prayer Cards had paid off.
She had already decided: the next time she bestowed a True Name, it would go to the Eye of Sorrow!
Since she had already arranged for Vic and Hei Wang to expand the Prayer Card production factory during her return trip to Ulysses, she completed a full upgrade of her legions in less than five days. The mobile palace, however, would take longer to build.
Bai Fu now commanded ten legions, each with around one hundred thousand True Spirit summons.
With the Rainbow Eye of Sorrow, these ten legions’ combat strength rivaled that of ordinary Dominations.
“Being a Psionic Priest really is the best.”
Bai Fu eagerly summoned all of the Garden of Silence’s high-ranking members.
She had only one topic—
Expansion!
Calamity-class Bai Fu and Domination-class Bai Fu carried vastly different influence.
Before, if she wanted to expand to other galaxy clusters, she had to exchange benefits by helping NPCs level up. Now it was much simpler.
Open for business—fair trade for all!
Rest assured, Bai Fu collects no grain!
This was where her good reputation came in handy—few believed she came with any ulterior motive beyond making money.
Of course, alongside expansion, she still waved the banner of being able to help NPCs level up.
This banner was valuable—it could bring her massive benefits at minimal cost. More importantly, if the public recognized her ability, she would be like a walking 【Crystal Orb of Insight】.
A single 【Crystal Orb of Insight】 could make the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations go to war—how much could she gain with a similar ability?
Planning ahead was essential!
Right now, Bai Fu wasn’t worried about Players stealing her business. Their levels were too low to see high-level NPC panels, let alone guide them—they could at most point out which of an Oathmaster’s moves hit harder.
After half a month of harvesting XP on Ulysses Star, Bai Fu finally received news from the Rebirth Empire.
This time, they were sending four Transcendents and eight Dominations—a luxurious lineup.
Along with the rendezvous coordinates from the Rebirth Empire, she also received a new Main Storyline Quest prompt.
【You have triggered the hidden Main Storyline Quest [The Saint’s Conspiracy]】
“Time to make those old geezers drop their gold!”
Bai Fu’s fighting spirit surged.