Chapter 284: Facing the Transcendent Bai Fu, Soul Freezing Beam
The Black Tide came much faster than Bai Fu had imagined.
On the second day of her sprint toward Origin Star, the Dark Moon Eyes and Tiny Bai Fus she had scattered along the way sent back shocking news.
Spaceships.
One after another.
A sky full of them, densely filling the starry expanse, stretching beyond sight.
Such a vast fleet swept past the Dark Moon Eyes and Tiny Bai Fus, its momentum overwhelming, like a black tide capable of drowning the stars themselves.
So this was the Black Tide?
Bai Fu opened her mouth wide: “Just how big is that flagship?”
At the center of the Black Tide was a colossal vessel, wings spread like a great bird.
Last time, when she joined the Empire in attacking the artificial planet where the Saints and others hid, she had ridden on the Empire’s planet-class mothership.
That mothership stretched thousands of kilometers at its longest point, a terrifying behemoth that struck fear at first glance.
But compared with the Black Tide’s flagship…
【You’re so weak!】
At least in terms of sheer size, the Empire’s planet-class mothership simply could not compare with the Black Tide’s flagship.
“This isn’t an ordinary spaceship anymore! This is clearly a mobile, gigantic planet! And one that’s been completely weaponized!”
Bai Fu’s expression grew extremely grave.
She saw that the Black Tide had split into many divisions, with the largest one heading straight toward the Mental Sanctuary.
Could it be that the Black Tide had come for the Mental Sanctuary?
It was possible.
In fact, very possible.
Otherwise, why had the Black Tide appeared just as she was preparing to bring the Ark of Paradise back to Origin Star?
Though she didn’t know which civilization the Black Tide belonged to, Bai Fu knew one thing very clearly—she was in immense danger.
On her way here, she had only brought a Mobile Palace.
The target was small, easy to flee with.
But on the return trip, she not only had the Oathmaster’s spaceship, but also a host of Stellar Beasts and Dark Zone Insects with her.
The target was far too large, and easy to catch.
“If I don’t think of something quickly, once we get blocked off, it’ll be rivers of blood.”
Bai Fu glanced at the Ark of Paradise, then made a snap decision—she would personally go out to cover Anya and the others’ retreat.
As long as the Ark of Paradise didn’t fall into the Black Tide’s hands, even if her true body and Hei Fu were destroyed, it wouldn’t be a big problem.
She could revive with the power of the Ark of Paradise.
Though the revival would come with a severe weakening debuff, she had the Player Panel for guidance, and the Rebirth Empire’s medical resources to support her.
She would recover quickly.
“Are you insane?”
The Oathmaster, unaware that the Ark of Paradise also had resurrection capabilities, was shocked to see Bai Fu preparing to go out alone.
Bai Fu waved her hand dismissively: “Don’t worry, I’m not that easy to kill. I’m a Psionic Dominator. Even if my body is destroyed, I can just reshape another one. Oathmaster, you escort Anya, Fei Ye, and the others to rendezvous with the Rust Corps. Don’t worry about me.”
After repeated assurances, the Oathmaster reluctantly agreed.
Then, Bai Fu left the ship alone, not even taking Yulia with her.
After several blinks of teleportation to widen the distance from the Oathmaster and the others, she stopped at an unknown small planet.
There, she deliberately built a Psionic Relay Station, before flying off in a direction completely different from the Oathmaster’s group.
An hour later, the thing Bai Fu didn’t want to see happened anyway.
The Black Tide split into several divisions, using the Dark Zone Insect Mother Nest as its center, spreading out to search.
One of those divisions was heading exactly in the direction the Oathmaster’s group had taken!
“The spatial fluctuations were already smoothed away, and all informed insects and Stellar Beasts were swept out… yet they still found the right direction. Is this some kind of precognition ability, or a special reconnaissance technique?”
Either way, Bai Fu knew she had to act.
She quickly deployed a Psionic Legion into the starry skies near the Relay Station.
When the Black Tide fleet chasing the Oathmaster’s group passed by, the Psionic Legion charged ferociously to intercept.
After raising the total level of her main class to 185, the Psionic Legions under Bai Fu’s command possessed combat strength far beyond what they had when she had first ascended to Dominator.
Thousands of Boruru Psionic Lenses suddenly unfolded before the formation, channeling the surging tide of psionics into their thousands of firing ports.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With violent spatial tremors, the Psionic Cannons unleashed.
In just an instant, they shattered more than half of the shields of the Black Tide’s vanguard fleet.
The vanguard ships were Infinite Glory-class battleships, well-known in the Holy City of the Apostles.
They combined speed, firepower, and coordination, their only slight weakness being defense, but even that was only when compared to ships of their own tier.
Against the attack of a Calamity-class Psionicist, an Infinite Glory-class battleship stood no chance of gaining the upper hand.
But at the same time, it wouldn’t usually be reduced to a pitiful state either.
Yet now, under Bai Fu’s Psionic Legion’s ambush, these frontline Infinite Glory-class battleships didn’t even have time to send an enemy alert to the ships behind them before they were blown apart.
“Dominator!”
“Looks like we’ve found the right trail!”
On the command ship, the faces of the two Servants from Cathedral Seven of the Holy City of the Apostles grew grim.
They hurriedly ordered the fleet to go into full combat mode, while reporting everything to the Seventh Candidate Apostle aboard the God-statue-class mothership.
Not long ago, the Seventh Candidate Apostle had sensed through 【Revelation】 that a large number of lifeforms had fled this region of space.
He surmised that most of them were Stellar Beasts fleeing battle.
But among them, there had to be a group who had broken into the Mental Sanctuary and taken its treasures.
Thus, he had immediately divided the massive fleet into several divisions, sending them out on different routes to hunt.
“I’ll bring reinforcements at once!”
The Seventh Candidate Apostle, upon receiving the report, responded immediately.
The God-statue-class mothership was enormous, yet not clumsy at all.
The hundreds of thousands of Psionic Reactors distributed across its hull gave it turning efficiency greater than some conventional battleships.
At its core, the 【Apostle-class Dark Energy Engine】 allowed it to break through spatial and dimensional constraints, leaping across entire galaxy clusters in mere moments, spanning billions of light-years in a single super-jump.
Although each activation of the Apostle-class Dark Energy Engine was troublesome, on the ever-shifting battlefield of interstellar war, so long as it could start even once, it could descend upon the battlefield like a “Mechanical God,” turning the tide.
And now, Bai Fu was about to experience its “charm”!
The fleet Bai Fu faced originally had no Transcendent.
Two Dominators and more than two hundred thousand super battleships was already a terrifying lineup.
But to completely crush her would still take time.
After all, she now stood at the peak of Dominator level, and had that headache-inducing ability, Void Shuttle.
Her initial plan had been to rotate her dozen Psionic Legions through battle, before finally intervening herself, dragging this fleet around the starry skies, buying two or three days of escape time for the Oathmaster’s group.
However, with the activation of the Apostle-class Dark Energy Engine aboard the God-statue-class mothership, all her plans were shattered.
“Damn!”
Across half a galaxy, Bai Fu stared in shock at the colossal battleship that suddenly appeared right in front of her Psionic Legion.
What was going on?
Hadn’t the Dark Moon Eye’s feedback shown this ship still near the Mental Sanctuary just seconds ago?
Could it be that everything she saw was an illusion?
She had no time to dwell on the question.
On the suddenly revealed God-statue-class mothership, hundreds of light points lit up at once.
The next second, those hundreds of points erupted together, spewing forth an energy storm.
Wherever it passed, cosmic dust, asteroids, planets, Bai Fu’s Psionic Legion, even a distant aging red giant star, were all shredded to pieces.
The violent explosions’ electromagnetic radiation lit up the entire galaxy.
Hiss——
Bai Fu sucked in a sharp breath.
That was just a basic attack, wasn’t it?
Swish, swish, swish.
She didn’t hesitate any longer.
Through the Psionic Relay Station, she hurled out seven more Psionic Legions at once.
She feared that if she delayed, the Relay Station would be destroyed, and she would lose the ability to send Prayer Cards across such long distances.
This time, the deployed Psionic Legions didn’t foolishly charge at the Black Tide fleet.
Instead, they split into seven directions, trying to scatter and confuse the enemy.
But once again, Bai Fu had miscalculated.
She hadn’t expected the enemy to also be masters of psionics.
The instant her Psionic Legions appeared, the Seventh Candidate Apostle aboard the mothership detected the faint ripple emitted by the Relay Station.
“Found it!”
Led by the God-statue-class mothership, the massive fleet surged toward the Relay Station.
What the Apostles had to do next was simple—use the Relay Station’s link to Bai Fu to reverse-trace her location, then launch a full-scale pursuit.
Even though Bai Fu could shift her position again and again with Void Shuttle, before such a massive army’s relentless chase, after dodging across several regions she was still blocked in.
Though only about ten thousand ships stood in her way now, right in their midst floated the God-statue-class mothership, radiating crushing pressure.
“It’s you?!”
The people of the Holy City of the Apostles immediately recognized Bai Fu.
Through reports from the Ten Saints Council and their own spies, the Holy City was well-informed about major events in explored space.
Naturally, they could not fail to know Bai Fu.
The Seventh Candidate Apostle, who had originally been about to order Bai Fu blasted to death, suddenly changed his mind.
A living Bai Fu was worth more than a dead one.
Capture Bai Fu, remodel her, then release her again.
When the time came to strike against the Three Major Interstellar Civilizations, Bai Fu would make the perfect pawn.
With that thought, the Seventh Candidate Apostle flew out of the mothership with three Dominators.
If they wanted her alive, then it was better for him to strike personally—both faster and less costly.
Whoosh——
Several figures flashed into view.
The instant they appeared, Bai Fu cast Apostle’s Spiritual Vision upon them.
【Faction】: Holy City of the Apostles
When those words appeared in her sight, Bai Fu’s pupils contracted sharply.
So it was you lot.
No wonder you could mobilize such a fleet in such a short time, and even possess such a savage battleship!
As she grasped the situation, Bai Fu also felt a pang of fear.
The Holy City’s travel speed was far beyond her imagination.
Luckily she had acted quickly.
If she had delayed, the Ark of Paradise might have already fallen into their hands.
As for now…
Bai Fu, battered and bloodied, rolled her eyes slightly.
If the Holy City had opened with an all-out barrage, in such dire straits she really couldn’t think of any way to break free and continue running them in circles.
Most likely, she would have lost her first life here.
But surprisingly, the Holy City hadn’t fired.
Though two Transcendents and four Dominators was still a combination she could not hope to defeat, her goal wasn’t to kill them—it was just to escape.
That made things simpler.
Bai Fu waved her right hand, and two special cards suddenly appeared within it.
“Hm?”
The Seventh Candidate Apostle stared at the silvery, gleaming cards in Bai Fu’s hand, momentarily stunned.
Prayer Cards?
No.
He couldn’t feel any psionic fluctuations from them.
For some reason, a powerful unease surged up in his heart.
As the bearer of 【Revelation】, he dared not hesitate.
He shouted at the companions around him at once.
“Attack Bai Fu together! Don’t let her use those cards!”
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
Skill Cards were far too easy to activate—just a single tap on the confirmation button floating before her.
Shua!
The two Skill Cards in Bai Fu’s hand turned into streams of light.
One stream flowed into her body.
The other shot straight at the Seventh Candidate Apostle and his group.
The first was the 【Beast God’s Rapid Recovery Card】, obtained after completing the emergency quest 【Threat from the Beast God】.
Under its effect, Bai Fu’s HP bar—beaten down to just over 30% during her flight—skyrocketed back to full in an instant.
The second was 【Soul Freezing Beam】, acquired after exploring Rufas’s secret base.
As the beam swept over them, the Seventh Candidate Apostle and his companions were horrified to find themselves completely immobilized.
【Soul Freeze (Countdown xx seconds)】
That line of status text appeared above the heads of everyone struck.
“Farewell, folks!”
Now fully restored, Bai Fu vanished with a Void Shuttle, disappearing gracefully from their sight.
Aboard the ships, those who hadn’t been caught in the beam’s sweep were thrown into chaos.
Should they pursue?
They kept calling out to the Seventh Candidate Apostle, but the frozen Apostle could not utter a single word.
Once his soul was frozen, his consciousness also sank into silence.
He had no idea what was happening outside.
Fortunately, his attributes were extremely high, so his frozen state lasted only 7 seconds.
When the countdown ended, and he looked at the empty void before him, his face instantly darkened like the bottom of a pot.
He recognized it.
The move Bai Fu had just used was Rufas’s technique!
Rufas?
Why was it Rufas’s technique?
Could it be that Rufas was Bai Fu’s true backer?
Could it be that the one who stole the treasures of the Mental Sanctuary was Rufas?
If not, there was no way to explain why Bai Fu could use Rufas’s technique!
Damn you, Rufas.
Though we already knew you approached the Holy City of the Apostles with ill intentions, now you actually dare to strike at us directly!
“Candidate Apostle, shall we continue pursuing Bai Fu?”
Urgent voices rang out again.
The Seventh Candidate Apostle said nothing.
Only after a long moment did he speak: “Continue the chase!”
He said the words, but in truth he had little hope left.
Rufas’s strength was already clear from the battle at the Roxinam Galaxy Cluster—obviously greater than his own.
If he led the pursuit now, there was nearly no chance of snatching back the treasures of the Mental Sanctuary.
Reinforcements were necessary!
Under this mindset, the Seventh Candidate Apostle gave chase for a while, but when he saw he could not close the distance, he gave up.
Instead, he immediately contacted the Supreme Apostle, as well as the other Candidate Apostles.
“What?!”
The Supreme Apostle who received the message was seething with rage.
But he did not immediately order Rufas hunted down.
What if it was a misunderstanding?
Better to ask the Saints first, and see if Rufas had an alibi.
“I don’t know anything?”
The Saint looked bewildered—what had even happened?
No alibi!
Then what more was there to say?
“Now you’ve played your tricks on us.
Fine, Rufas, you truly have guts.
Catch him!
I’ll make him understand the consequences of provoking the Holy City of the Apostles!”
The Supreme Apostle roared.
Within a short time, the Holy City of the Apostles dispatched three Candidate Apostles in succession to hunt Rufas.
By the time Bai Fu finally rushed back and caught up with the Oathmaster and the others, who had already joined with the Rust Corps, Rufas too encountered the Apostles.
Damn.
Damn you all, why are you attacking me?!
Damn it, do you think I’m some sickly cat just because the tiger hasn’t bared its fangs?
Rufas flew into a towering rage.
But he faced two Transcendent II experts with strength about equal to Yuan Yi’s former peak, another Transcendent II far stronger than Yuan Yi’s current self, plus more than a dozen Dominators and Transcendent I’s forming the flanking lines.
And that wasn’t even counting the ships the Holy City of the Apostles had deployed.
Even when he unleashed his hidden power, he was still beaten bloody.
Kill, kill, kill!
After a desperate and brutal battle, Rufas barely managed to escape with grievous injuries.
While fleeing, he demanded of the Saint why the Holy City had gone mad.
When he learned it was because of the Mental Sanctuary and Bai Fu, he nearly fainted with fury.
“When the hell did I become Bai Fu’s backer?”
“Bai Fu used your Soul Freezing Beam.
The Seventh Candidate Apostle saw it with his own eyes.
How are you going to explain that to them?”
Explain?
How the hell was he supposed to explain that?
Rufas boiled over with rage.
Damn Holy City of the Apostles.
Damn Bai Fu.
You just wait for me.
I will be back!
He decided to first heal his wounds.
Once he recovered, he would head to Origin Star and send Bai Fu on her way.
As for the Holy City of the Apostles, he absolutely could not provoke them now.
The Candidate Apostles were already terrifying.
As for the Supreme Apostle, Rufas suspected that man had already completed four Divine Metamorphoses, and was on the verge of touching the fifth.
Unless Rufas could fully master the Void Lord Core within him, it was better to avoid them.
It was a good plan.
But on that very day, he received word that the Senate of the Rebirth Empire had decided to send their ace legion, the Forged Arrow Legion, to Origin Star as well.
Damn it.
Then what business did he still have going after Bai Fu?
“This isn’t normal.
Something’s really not normal.
I must have provoked some unclean thing.
Otherwise, why has my luck been this terrible these past few years?”
First he was targeted by the Rebirth Empire.
Then he was ambushed by the Supernova Battle Group.
Now he had been beaten by Bai Fu and the Holy City of the Apostles.
Even that old fool the Saint hadn’t suffered this badly.
Rufas began to doubt life itself.
He started thinking maybe he ought to find some ‘god’ to worship.