Chapter 372: Crushing-Level Power
When Excavation-Princess relayed the news, Bai Fu for a moment thought she was dreaming.
【I fantasized again, fantasized that all my little haters were conquered by my strength and beauty, that they’d abandon darkness for light, become my ultimate simps, and willingly devote everything to me.】
However—this time, it wasn’t a dream.
“Must be a trap. It has to be a trap set up jointly by the Supreme God’s disciples and the Wind-Rising Stars.”
That was what Bai Fu thought.
And Yulia, who had been advising her, thought the same.
But there was one thing Bai Fu couldn’t make sense of.
If it was really a trap, there was no need to involve Wind-Rising Stars in the play. Wouldn’t that just make her suspicious and risk the whole plan’s failure?
There weren’t that many players in the Apostolic Holy City, but there were still tens of thousands.
So, could it be that Wind-Rising Stars had truly defected?
Forget it.
Bai Fu shook her head.
All she needed was to know where the Supreme God’s disciples were hiding. As for everything else—whether Wind-Rising Stars’ loyalty was genuine or fake—none of that mattered. So long as the coordinates they revealed were real, that was enough.
Clearly, those coordinates couldn’t be fake.
Even if the Supreme God’s disciples weren’t there right now, once she arrived, they’d definitely appear.
Otherwise, why would Wind-Rising Stars and the Supreme God’s disciples go through so much trouble for nothing?
“A sudden turn of fate, huh? I thought it’d take a while before I found them, but now I can finally send them off in peace—then deal with the Original Pact next.”
Bai Fu immediately gathered everyone she could call.
But when she tried contacting Rufas, no matter how much she called out, there was no response.
Was that guy Rufas up to some shady scheme again?
Never mind, never mind.
Once she was done with the Supreme God’s disciples, she’d send him on his way next.
Bai Fu hadn’t forgotten that Hiye, Jin Lu, and Rufas had grudges between them.
After finishing off that flip-flopping bastard Rufas, she could feed his Void Sovereign Core to Hiye and Jin Lu.
“Let’s move out!”
……
While Bai Fu stormed toward the Apostolic Holy City brimming with killing intent, Aetheron, utterly unaware of his peril, was conducting a grand purge.
Of course, he didn’t dare appear in person.
The purge he carried out was done secretly, with cooperation from Zoriel, the True Spirit Palace Master, eliminating one by one the followers within the Apostolic Holy City who had recently shown open hostility toward him.
First, to vent his rage. Second, to seize the Cosmic Treasures in their possession—things like Apocalypse and Mind Desert.
Aetheron had completely lost all attachment to the Apostolic Holy City.
His plan was to kill Bai Fu and then, with Zoriel and those still loyal to him, establish a new Apostolic Holy City elsewhere.
Those Cosmic Treasures would become the cornerstone of that new city.
Once he fully mastered the Double Helix Tree and grew the new Apostolic Holy City to power, that would be the day he returned to take vengeance upon the Three Universal Civilizations.
It was a grand plan—one destined to take years.
“This is what comes from defying me!”
In a temporary hideout, watching the video feeds Zoriel sent back, Aetheron couldn’t help but sneer coldly.
His purge had thrown the Apostolic Holy City into utter panic. The surviving followers had hurriedly gathered for a meeting to discuss how to counter the assassinations.
The funny thing was—they hadn’t even suspected him. They thought it was the work of the Three Universal Civilizations or the Original Pact.
“Ha…”
Aetheron had just started to scoff when a laugh from behind drowned out his voice.
He snapped around, his eyes sharp and icy, glaring at Wind-Rising Stars, who was sealed within amber.
“You trying to provoke me—make me kill you in a fit of rage?”
Wind-Rising Stars exhaled softly. “No. I’m just telling you—you’re about to die.”
“I’m going to die? From you?”
“Yes. From me. To be honest, Bai Fu’s here. You’ve got nowhere left to run.”
Bai Fu?
Nowhere to run?
Aetheron let out a short, amused breath.
“You’ve got to be kid—”
Wait.
His words cut off abruptly.
He sensed it—Wind-Rising Stars hadn’t been lying.
When he probed more closely, he found the spatial constants around him had shifted—a fluctuation that only occurred when a high-tier Void Lifeform descended. And Bai Fu just happened to be one.
So…
“Hahahaha!”
Aetheron burst into laughter.
“You Undying Ones really are amusing. Even after I sealed all transmissions and hid you in a nearly untraceable alternate dimension, you still managed to contact Bai Fu—tell her my exact location. The essence of that power is extraordinary. Once I’ve slain Bai Fu, I’ll uncover the source of your strength. Maybe that’s my next step toward godhood!”
Aetheron brimmed with confidence.
So Bai Fu was coming—so what?
More than twenty days ago, she’d barely managed a draw even after exhausting herself. Now, after absorbing the Fourth Apostle, his strength had doubled. What could she possibly use to fight him?
Tch.
Wind-Rising Stars shot him a disdainful glance.
“‘Kill Bai Fu,’ huh? Instead of fantasizing, you might want to start composing your last words.”
Aetheron narrowed his eyes. “Still denying until the coffin’s nailed shut, are you?”
Wind-Rising Stars couldn’t be bothered to reply.
His confidence in Bai Fu came from the promotional video for version 3.1—in that video, Bai Fu alone took up two-thirds of the runtime, the undisputed protagonist.
And considering she’d just been chosen as the Beyond the Stars poster girl, he had every reason to believe Aetheron wasn’t her match.
Not that he could explain that to Aetheron anyway; any such talk would only sound like senseless rambling. Better to just sit back and watch the show.
Aetheron didn’t have to wait long.
About half a minute after the spatial constants began to distort, his hideout suddenly quaked violently.
She’s here!
His body swelled, in less than a second transforming from humanoid form into a monstrous being tens of kilometers tall, surrounded by billions of writhing branches and roots.
On the thickest of those branches hung one shriveled body after another—
Puppets.
True Spirit Puppets crafted by Aetheron from the followers he had devoured.
Though weaker than they had been in life, their strength was still formidable.
“Come, Bai Fu! Today, I’ll show you what a demigod’s body truly is!”
His roar shook the dimension.
A tiny crack split open across the rippling dimensional membrane.
Then, with light steps, Bai Fu traversed the void, walking out from the fissure.
Their eyes met.
Silent.
For a long time, neither spoke—until finally Aetheron smiled.
“You rushed here in such a hurry, so sure of victory. I thought you’d brought the Original Pact lot with you. Seems I overestimated you. Bai Fu, you’ve no idea how strong I am now. You may have severed my path to godhood, but you can’t sever my fusion with the Double Helix Tree! Last time I said I’d finish you in five minutes and you escaped. This time I’ll make good on my word—five minutes, and you’ll never resurrect again!”
Before the sound of her voice faded, countless branches and roots shot toward Bai Fu like arrows.
Ding ding ding.
The moment they touched the force field surrounding Bai Fu, those branches and roots melted away as though doused in potent acid, blackening and dissolving at a speed that defied imagination.
At that instant, a small cube spun rapidly in Bai Fu’s right palm.
“ Aetheron, if you had escaped the very moment you sensed my arrival, you would still have had about a 5% chance of fleeing from my hands today. But now… everything is too late. Predestined Celestial Sphere, unfold—your fate shall be sealed here and now! ”
The cube collapsed like a sand tower, breaking apart into countless tiny particles. Those particles intertwined, flowing like a flood between the rifts of dimensions, and ultimately formed into a gigantic Zodiac Armillary Sphere that enveloped both Bai Fu and Aetheron completely.
Predestined Celestial Sphere.
It was a one-time Cosmic Treasure Bai Fu had learned from the Original Pact through the Analysis Card.
Lock the space, lock the dimension, lock the fate, lock everything!
Yet, this was merely the appetizer Bai Fu had prepared for Aetheron.
When Aetheron tried to attack again, an enormous Psionic Construct — Sovereign Zenith was born from her mind and descended from the Ethereal Realm. Its body, vast as a dwarf planet, loomed before Bai Fu like an unshakable wall that would never collapse.
“ What … what is that thing? ”
The appearance of the Predestined Celestial Sphere had already shocked Aetheron; upon seeing the Sovereign Zenith, his eyes nearly popped out.
Since he had stepped onto the path of the Psionic stream, centuries had passed.
Through those centuries, he had summoned countless True Spirits and fought countless more—yet he had never seen one with power so profound, so boundless.
Its might even surpassed that of the Fourth Apostle!
Aetheron’s heart clenched uncontrollably—he must have misjudged something.
But now there was no time left to ponder, for the Sovereign Zenith had already lunged forward.
Despite its colossal form, the True Spirit displayed agility that rivaled any smaller lifeform, thanks to its ever-shifting abilities.
Bang bang bang!
The Sovereign Zenith and Aetheron clashed fiercely.
Bai Fu calmly unfolded her force field, activating the talent 【Beyond the Apostle】 to assimilate the surrounding space into a domain of her own control—the Ethereal Realm space.
Only when that personal realm was born would she be at her strongest!
“ No… something’s off… this fluctuation, this power, this aura … ”
Only when the disturbance in space was detected by his probing branches did Aetheron finally realize what he had misjudged.
It was Bai Fu’s strength!
Over the past twenty-plus days, his own power had more than doubled—but the aura Bai Fu now exuded was several times greater than when they last fought. Not only had she erased the gap between them, she had utterly surpassed him.
Impossible!
He had merged with the Double Helix Tree, he had devoured the Fourth Apostle, he had consumed over a dozen Transcendent Servants from the Apostolic Holy City—how could Bai Fu’s strength have risen even faster than his?
Could it be that Bai Fu had crossed the Life Chasm without relying on the Double Helix Tree, stepping directly into the fabled Divine Realm?
Could it be that the reason his own path to Apotheosis had been interrupted was not because the God of the Ethereal Realm had revived, but because Bai Fu had seized the divine seat in advance?
At this moment, all the ferocity and arrogance vanished from Aetheron’s face, replaced entirely by terror and disbelief.
He tried without hesitation to link to the Ethereal Realm and escape—but the lock of the Predestined Celestial Sphere left him no way out.
He attempted to interrupt Bai Fu’s spatial assimilation, unleashing billions of branches and roots at once, even summoning Apocalypse, Mind Desert, and other Cosmic Treasures.
Yet he still failed.
The Ark of Heaven, strengthened by the 【Psionic Crown — Virtual God】, surged with power. Under its protection, all spiritual-type attacks became utterly ineffective against Bai Fu.
As for other attacks—could they bypass the Sovereign Zenith, bypass Kabaye, the Prayer Angels, the Shadow Lord, the vast legions of Psionic soldiers, and even Hei Fu commanding the Majestic Divine Body?
Oh? You want to release your puppets?
Come then—Fei Ye, Jin Lu, Anya, Cecia, Cyprys, Shadow Foxtail …
In terms of Transcendents, once god-servants like Shadow Foxtail were counted, Bai Fu’s side was no weaker than Aetheron’s.
Though Anya, Cecia, and Cyprys had only just ascended and were still relatively ordinary, Bai Fu had stuffed each of them with piles of Prayer Cards before departure. With those blessings, they held their own even against Aetheron’s puppets.
Crack crack crack —
Aetheron played card after card, but Bai Fu countered each one relentlessly, crushing every move he made.
Psionic and dark energies intertwined; Ethereal Realm Particles danced. Amid those dimensional fissures, numbness overtook Aetheron.
He truly could not stop Bai Fu.
He had already used every attack method he possessed, yet nothing worked. What now?
Among Psionic Priests, he was never famed for slaughter.
He used to excel in control.
Now, he excelled in endurance.
Of course, he knew his powers had flaws.
But that was fine—once he became a god, every flaw would mend itself.
Yet…
He had failed to become a god.
“ I can’t keep fighting. ”
Aetheron’s face turned pale.
If the battle continued, there would be no good outcome for him.
Though the Double Helix Tree’s blessing made him immortal, being beaten like a sandbag was hardly glorious.
Leaving part of his branches and roots to delay the Sovereign Zenith, he poured his whole focus into breaking the Predestined Celestial Sphere.
Of course, that meant taking a beating—but his endurance could handle it.
Still, Aetheron had underestimated the durability of the Predestined Celestial Sphere.
As Bai Fu’s aura grew ever stronger and her spatial assimilation spread, he panicked and shouted:
“ Wait — wait! There’s no need for us to keep fighting! You’re strong—far stronger than I expected! I can’t defeat you. But you can’t kill me either. You’re not a god; if you truly were, you could command the entire Ethereal Realm directly instead of crafting your own space here. Let’s just make peace—why don’t we … ”
“ There’s no need for that. ”
Bai Fu cut him off.
In truth, she had never needed this long to complete her assimilation. The delay had been only to give Élisée cover.
Now that Élisée was in position, Bai Fu no longer needed to hide.
In an instant, a violent shockwave burst from Bai Fu’s body.
As every enhancement skill activated at once, the 【Psionic Construct — Primordial Burst】 and 【Primordial Furnace】 descended simultaneously, both powered entirely by Ethereal Realm Particles.
Aetheron felt an unprecedented sense of doom.
He triggered every life-saving ability he had.
But none of them worked.
Psionic Shield, Dark Shield, Ethereal Particle Barrier, Spatial Displacement, Dimensional Shift, the walls of branches and roots, even his escape attempts—
All of it, before Bai Fu’s total eruption, was as fragile as paper, reduced to ashes in an instant, without resistance.
“ Aaaaah — ! ”
Aetheron screamed in agony.
His body was utterly incinerated—but the Double Helix Tree’s terrifying life force restored him to full health the very next second.
Aetheron trembled with lingering fear.
Yet the assault did not cease.
He could only keep shouting: “ You really can’t kill me, Bai Fu! Wake up! ”
“ Is that so? ”
Bai Fu remained unmoved.
She kept attacking—Ethereal Realm Particles rained down like they cost nothing, battering heaven and earth until reality itself seemed about to overturn.
Aetheron writhed in pain, his full attention locked on Bai Fu.
But then, a strange light shone from the void.
That …
Who … ?
Aetheron’s eyes widened.
And he saw—the one he least wanted to appear.
“ God of the Ethereal Realm! ”
Élisée drifted past him like a ghost.
When she stopped at Bai Fu’s side, Aetheron felt a void deeper than ever before.
His connection to the Double Helix Tree—was severed!
“ I … ”
“ You’re dead. ”
Bai Fu appeared before him in a flash, pressing her hand gently against his chest.