Chapter 208: Bai Fu: Watch closely, this is how you use a Player!

What entered the eyes of the Oathmaster was a photograph.

The subjects of the photo were herself, Fei Ye, and that subordinate Fei Ye had recruited some time ago, named Bai Fu.

Because of Fei Ye, although she had never met Bai Fu in person, she had a strong impression of her.

During the outbreak of the Tianshu Star war, Fei Ye had forcefully used Void power to save Bai Fu, which significantly increased her degree of voidification. That was the first time the Oathmaster took notice of the name Bai Fu.

After receiving the report, she had Lemang from the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster branch go investigate. Lemang then brought back a shocking piece of news.

【In order to lift Fei Ye—who had become listless due to advanced voidification—out of despair, Bai Fu had voluntarily sucked Fei Ye’s blood and said to her, “If you feel lonely after becoming a Void Lifeform, then I’ll stay with you.”】

What touching emotions!

With Bai Fu by her side, Fei Ye likely stood a good chance of overcoming her inner demons and returning to the right path.

From that moment on, the Oathmaster remembered Bai Fu.

Now, several months had passed since the Tianshu Star war, and once again, the name Bai Fu had appeared before her eyes.

However, not even in her wildest dreams did she expect Bai Fu to show up like this—

In the photograph, she was standing behind Bai Fu, her head slightly lowered. Her left hand hung at her side with a clenched fist, while her right hand reached forward slightly, tugging on Bai Fu’s clothes. Bai Fu, being tugged on, completely ignored her gesture and was in a heated verbal spat with Fei Ye, locked in an intense war of words.

This positioning alone made her look utterly pitiful. And since her frame was visibly smaller than Bai Fu’s by two sizes, the contrast made her look even more pitiable.

“What the hell is this?”

The Oathmaster had thought the photo was already outrageous, but only after reading the headlines beneath it did she truly understand what it meant to be bested by experts!

【Shocking! The love triangle inside the Star Covenant you didn’t know about!】

【What kind of charm does Bai Fu possess that makes the Oathmaster unable to quit and gives the Void Valkyrie the nerve to defy her?】

【Savior Saint or Seductress? A famous physiognomist starts from scratch to analyze Bai Fu’s allure!】

【Relationship experts weigh in: Who’s on top and who’s on bottom in the dynamic between Bai Fu and the Oathmaster!】

The Oathmaster: “……”

Bang!

A sharp crash soon alerted the Star Covenant's permanent secretary, Yin Zhu, who rushed into the Oathmaster’s quarters with a tense face just seconds later.

Upon entering, she immediately spotted a shattered cup on the floor—splintered into four or five pieces. It was the Oathmaster’s most frequently used mug, printed with a chibi-style illustration of herself.

Even her go-to cup was smashed, and a virtual screen was floating mid-air in front of her—could it be…?

“Lord Simoon, you’ve seen the news?”

“What do you think?”

Deep violet flames were “flowing” out from the corners of the Oathmaster’s eyes, and the entire room trembled uncontrollably.

Yin Zhu twitched at the corner of her mouth.

She had seen this news last night and had been worrying all along about what would happen if the Oathmaster came across it. Well, here it was—the worst had come true.

“Who the hell wrote this article?” The Oathmaster jabbed a finger toward the news displayed on the virtual screen, face stormy. “A whole five hundred words of analysis, and the conclusion is that because of my underdeveloped figure, I probably have a mother complex, and since Bai Fu looks maternal, I must be the one on the bottom in our relationship while she’s on top. What utter nonsense is that?”

Indeed, it was pure nonsense!

Secretary Yin Zhu agreed wholeheartedly.

The Oathmaster, while berating, slammed the table beside her.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

The desk even bounced under her force.

“What a joke. Me? On the bottom?”

Yin Zhu: “……”

Hey, is that really the point? Shouldn’t the issue be that the entire thing is fabricated?

Yin Zhu really wanted to say something, but in the end, she decided not to get hung up on that detail.

The Oathmaster was just like that!

She had grown up alongside this Oathmaster of the Star Covenant and understood her character down to the core.

There were three Transcendent-tier Psionicists in the Edge Worlds, each with unique traits.

The Administrator of the Arcane Library wore voluminous robes, a monocle, and wielded a blackwood staff. Always courteous, but once angered, more berserk than a berserker.

The Chairman of the All-Spirit Fellowship, Rufas, was a different breed. Said to be several centuries old, but always roaming around with a youthful face, acting on whims—neither good nor evil, just chaos incarnate.

As for their own Oathmaster of the Star Covenant…

The word Yin Zhu found most apt was “competitive.”

She, the Oathmaster, and several other Star Covenant core members all hailed from the same civilization—a primitive, surface-level society where martial arts and psychic force were the foundation of power.

In that civilization, the biggest fist ruled all.

Unfortunately, the Oathmaster had always been short and frail since childhood, which often made her the target of mockery and bullying.

Most people would have been crushed under such treatment, but the Oathmaster was no ordinary person. Rather than breaking, she awakened an inexhaustible fighting spirit.

Screw that! Who said being small and thin meant you couldn’t punch someone to death?

Driven by her fighting spirit, the Oathmaster fought her way up from a complete nobody, eventually becoming the Simoon—the highest-ranked official—of the most powerful faction in that civilization. The title Simoon was akin to a Holy Son in the Sanctification Order, named so because that civilization revered the moon.

At that point, most would’ve chosen to rest on their laurels, but not her.

【I heard someone say I’d never surpass the greats of the past. Nonsense. In this life, I’m second to none!】

The Oathmaster shattered the barriers of martial cultivation with her bare fists and became the first A-rank Psionicist in that civilization’s history.

By then, she could’ve used her self-developed Qi Surge cultivation method to alter her physique—taller, curvier, fuller—nothing was out of reach. But she didn’t.

【As I am now is already perfect. No changes needed. If others have a problem with it, they’re just blind!】

Yin Zhu deeply admired the Oathmaster’s confidence and drive. Without those traits, she wouldn’t have followed her all these years. And without them, the Oathmaster couldn’t have gone from a refugee of a backwater world invaded by Starsea civilizations to one of the three Transcendents of the Edge Worlds.

But being too competitive wasn’t always a good thing.

Like now—her first concern wasn’t whether the article was true, but that it claimed she was on the bottom in her relationship with Bai Fu. In her mind, being a Transcendent-tier Psionicist, she obviously had to be the one on top.

Trash journalism!

“Who wrote this garbage? Found out yet?” the Oathmaster demanded angrily.

“It was published by a media outlet under the All-Spirit Fellowship. I contacted them to request deletion, but they refused, saying the story had already gone viral.”

Yin Zhu explained.

Relations between the All-Spirit Fellowship and Star Covenant had never been good. Expecting them to delete an article that painted the Oathmaster poorly was pure fantasy.

“I also tried tracing the original rumor’s source. Regretfully, I couldn’t find the author. All I know is that the piece was posted from within the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster. After it spread, another similar article appeared.”

As she spoke, Yin Zhu forwarded the second opinion piece, written by the Steward of the Secret Tower, to the Oathmaster.

The Oathmaster skimmed the contents and suddenly froze.

“Higher-dimensional lifeforms? Hundreds of millions of Undying Ones? This information has already spread?”

“It has.”

Hundreds of millions of Undying Ones...

The Oathmaster chewed over those words. As she kept repeating them, her eyes began to glow.

She had been reclusive all these years—not because she liked it, but because she was looking for a path to greater strength.

Ever since losing that fight to the Arcane Library Administrator, she’d been obsessed with leveling up. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find any breakthroughs—stuck at Transcendent I for far too long.

Now, hearing that Bai Fu commanded hundreds of millions of Undying Ones, her curiosity flared.

There must be something deeper going on.

Maybe visiting Bai Fu would help her find a path to becoming stronger?

“Yin Zhu, stay here and hold down the fort. I’m going to meet those Undying Ones.” The Oathmaster made a swift decision. “These two opinion pieces have spread far and wide. In the coming days, many will likely show up seeking information. The Arcane Library and the All-Spirit Fellowship might make moves as well. If they ask, tell them you don’t know where I’ve gone.”

“Understood. Leave everything to me.”

The Oathmaster changed into plain-looking clothes and swiftly slipped out of Star Covenant Headquarters.

To stay hidden, she didn’t take her personal vehicle. Instead, she bought a regular passenger ticket to the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster like any ordinary traveler.

Midway through the interstellar voyage, a joint statement from Manu United, the Tide Civilization, and other factions denying the rumors went viral across the Edge Worlds.

Short essay?

Verified as false!

【There are absolutely not hundreds of millions of Undying Ones on Jingu Star. At most, there are only a few hundred thousand. The author of the short essay resorted to such despicable slander tactics to defame Saint Bai Fu—it is truly disgraceful.】

In the clarification statement, Manu also stated that their four civilizations would jointly develop Jingu Star, construct a Starport on Jingu Star, and connect it to the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster. By then, everyone would be able to personally witness just how absurd the content of the short essay was.

The first to react to the clarification news was the Steward of the Secret Tower.

"Didn't you say Jingu Star had hundreds of millions of Undying Ones?"

He glared at Pawell, who had escaped back from Jingu Star.

Great, now this obvious loophole had rendered his short essay worthless. He had spent three hours revising it, just to make the Oathmaster catching Bai Fu and Fei Ye in the act sound more dramatic!

Pawell was full of grievances.

Foster said there were hundreds of millions of Undying Ones on Jingu Star. The situation had been extremely urgent back then—they simply didn't have time to verify, so they had no choice but to believe it.

"You bastard!"

The Steward lost his composure.

Since Bai Fu appeared, the Secret Tower had suffered countless losses.

At first, he wasn't all that keen on killing Bai Fu. He only wanted to retrieve the lost Base Sample. But now, his mindset had completely changed—

Stab you to death, stab you to death, stab you to death, stab you to death!

"Go, notify Scalpel. Have him run an experiment on the Undying Ones we just captured using parasites. See if the parasites are effective on them."

If they worked...

A chilling gleam flashed in the Steward’s eyes.

Then the more Undying Ones Bai Fu gathered around her, the easier it would be for him to kill her!

Soon, the Sanctification Order also issued a corresponding response.

If the short essay was false, did that mean Bai Fu wasn’t actually after the True Spirit Pillar?

Elron immediately contacted the Sanctification Order’s Backer.

"Star Web's clarification doesn’t prove that the entire content of those two essays is false. Find a way to monitor Bai Fu. Figure out the true relationship between her and the Oathmaster. If she really is under the Oathmaster’s orders to seize the True Spirit Pillar, then this will be a huge problem."

Elron nodded gravely.

The Oathmaster—she was a Transcendent-tier Psionicist. If she was really involved in this, then everything he had been hoping for might just vanish into thin air.

After the call, Elron immediately found Sui Xi.

"You want me to get close to Bai Fu?"

Sui Xi showed clear resistance. She had no desire to associate closely with someone she viewed as a commoner.

Elron said, "That’s what That Great One instructed. Unless you want the Oathmaster’s interference to ruin your dream? Or maybe you want to switch tasks with me—you handle the Secret Tower, and I’ll investigate Bai Fu?"

Sui Xi had nothing to say.

Her strengths didn’t lie in combat. Sending her against the Secret Tower would be asking too much.

"I’ll do my best."

Sui Xi could only accept the mission.

While she felt irritated by the task, the Oathmaster aboard the interstellar passenger ship also saw the clarification news.

Not hundreds of millions?

But even a few hundred thousand Undying Ones wasn't a small number—it still had research value. Plus, since she was already here, there was no point in turning back now. She might as well consider this trip as checking on the extent of Fei Ye’s voidification.

...

After several days of space travel, Bai Fu finally returned to the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster.

She bid farewell to Manu and the others, then piloted her ship straight toward the Star Covenant’s Initial Gate branch.

While en route, she urgently contacted Green Sludge and asked him to rent over a dozen cargo ships for her. The ship performance didn’t matter—what mattered was capacity. The more people they could carry, the better.

Although Green Sludge didn’t understand what she was planning, he still agreed quickly.

Though Fei Ye still held the title of supervisor, everyone knew Bai Fu was the real decision-maker of the Fei Ye Group now.

One could say Bai Fu’s “treacherous minister usurping the empress” plan had achieved complete success.

It wasn’t just Fei Ye Group—other groups now fully submitted to Bai Fu too.

What choice did they have?

If Bai Fu could beat up the Secret Tower on Jingu Star, thrashing them would be child’s play.

"Looks like there’s no need to even hold an election for the new department head. In this situation, even if I wanted to appoint someone other than Fei Ye, nobody would dare take the job."

Watching Herbert and the others tremble, Lemang, the branch director of the Star Covenant’s Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster, couldn’t help but shake his head.

Herbert and the rest were already terrified by the strength Bai Fu had shown recently. After those two short essays surfaced, they became even more restless. Some even submitted transfer requests to other branches.

Lemang could understand them.

Even though Manu claimed both short essays were completely false, what if part of it was actually true—like the part about the Oathmaster and Bai Fu being a couple?

Who would dare take that risk?

Lemang took a few steps forward and then suddenly stopped.

A person stood before him—only reaching his chest in height, wearing a low-pressed baseball cap and an utterly unremarkable windbreaker, along with plain white sneakers. But the face was anything but ordinary.

"Oath! Master!"

Lemang’s pupils shook—he almost shouted aloud, but the words were blocked in his throat by a formless force.

He knew—it was the Oathmaster stopping him from speaking.

"Shh—"

Yes, yes, I won’t say a word.

Lemang was shaken to his core.

Why was the Oathmaster here? And in such secrecy? Could it be...

"Oathmaster, are you here to find Bai Fu? She’s not back yet."

Find Bai Fu?

She came looking for the Undying Ones, but all of them happened to be Bai Fu’s followers. From that angle, looking for Undying Ones was the same as looking for Bai Fu.

The Oathmaster nodded.

"Don’t tell anyone I came here."

No way—she really was here for Bai Fu. So maybe the love triangle wasn’t just rumor? But at the very least, there was something between Bai Fu and the Oathmaster!

Now Lemang was thoroughly convinced.

It wasn’t just submission anymore—it was admiration!

To make the Oathmaster secretly travel all the way to the Initial Gate Galaxy Cluster… now that was what you called a woman among women! (tactical lean back)

"I’ll contact Bai Fu right away and tell her you’re here."

A few seconds later—

"The Oathmaster wants to see me?"

Hearing this, Bai Fu was stunned.

Could it be that the Oathmaster read those two essays and came to give her trouble?

She couldn’t be that petty, right? She wasn’t the one who wrote them!

It wasn’t until she met the Oathmaster that Bai Fu realized she had overthought it. The Oathmaster had come to ask her for some Players.

That’s all?

She immediately handed over 100 Players to the Oathmaster.

After bidding the Oathmaster farewell, Bai Fu fell into deep thought.

The Oathmaster hadn’t come to give her trouble, but this still revealed a lot—given the increasing number of Players entering the Starsea, the major powers would inevitably turn their attention to this juicy resource.

With her current strength, monopolizing all the Player resources would be extremely difficult.

Instead of waiting for other factions to poach from her, why not proactively send out some Players and plant them as undercover agents in those factions? That way, she wouldn’t become a target, and she’d establish a massive intelligence network.

From Bai Fu’s perspective, sending some Players out as infiltrators had even more benefits.

First, with the faction quest quota she currently controlled, there was no way to meet the needs of two million Players.

So send out the surplus Players to other factions—let them raise them, and she would return periodically to squeeze them dry. Wasn’t that better than watching those Players leave due to unmet needs?

"Good, good, good—this is exactly how Players should be used!"

The day Green Sludge secured the ships, Bai Fu issued a special mission to Sword Qi Soaring and the others: pilot ships to transport Players from Origin Star, Azure Sky Star, and Jingu Star to the Starsea.

Assigning the transport task to Players had two purposes: increasing Player engagement and avoiding unnecessary casualties from possible ambushes en route.

"Mission guaranteed complete!"

"Go on, go on."

Bai Fu beamed as she sent off Sword Qi Soaring and his team.

After wrapping things up here, it was time to meet with Cersia.

"Wait."

Just as she was about to set off, Yulia suddenly called out to her.

"You want to come along?" Bai Fu looked at Yulia, puzzled.

Yulia shook her head, took out several potions, and handed them to Bai Fu: "This one replenishes stamina quickly, this one rehydrates fast—good luck. Try to come back alive!"

Bai Fu: "???"