Chapter 347: Karma

Passing through the rift, Hua Changxi arrived in a pitch-black, silent space with neither sky above nor ground below.

In the very center of the space, a grand red lotus floated suspended in the air, its petals spreading outward layer by layer, revealing the lotus seed platform at the core.

Perhaps because she possessed the Lotus bloodline and had awakened the Fire Lotus divine ability, when she saw the lotus platform, Hua Changxi felt an unusual familiarity. After quickly scanning this space and sensing no danger, she withdrew the Karma Fire Red Lotus.

Previously, her entry into the Xuanfu Palace had drawn attention from all directions and even led to pursuit by a Spirit Platform realm cultivator. This had left her with a psychological shadow, and she didn’t want to repeat a similar mistake.

As soon as the Karma Fire Red Lotus returned to her hand, the spatial rift closed instantly.

Cut off from outside attention, Hua Changxi began to carefully observe this space.

At the moment, she was suspended in midair, still some distance from the lotus platform. Just as she was wondering how to reach it, her form flickered, and she found herself standing on the lotus seed platform at the center.

Earlier, looking from afar, she hadn’t thought the lotus platform was very large. Now that she was inside it, she realized it was astonishingly huge.

"Whoosh—"

The Karma Fire Red Lotus in Hua Changxi’s hand suddenly burst into intense flames. On the halo surrounding the fire, the character "Karma" began to take shape.

Watching this, Hua Changxi’s pupils constricted. Realizing that this lotus platform should be the "Karma Fire Platform," she actively began to control the rapid condensation of the "Karma" character law light chain.

As soon as the law light chain took form, it shot into the lotus platform with a "whoosh."

In an instant, the previously dormant lotus platform began to radiate firelight.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi’s eyes lit up, and she once again controlled the formation of the "Karma" character law light chain.

As more and more law light chains merged into it, the firelight on the lotus platform grew stronger and stronger...

Before long, Hua Changxi felt that this lotus platform had been ignited!

Finally, each layer of lotus petals on the platform burst into red flames.

The originally lifeless lotus platform, with the flames now blazing, seemed to come alive.

Then, red lotus flames began to coalesce on the lotus seed platform. When the flames subsided, a fist-sized red jade lotus platform appeared, and with a "swish" it vanished into Hua Changxi’s brow.

"This..."

As soon as the red jade lotus platform entered Hua Changxi’s sea of consciousness, the entire lotus platform manifested in her mind. At that moment, she had a clear and thorough understanding of everything about this platform.

It was the Karma Fire Platform Seal!

Because the "Karma" character law she had condensed awakened this Karma Fire Platform, and now the platform had recognized her as its master.

Hua Changxi hadn’t expected that she would obtain a paradise so easily.

Just as she was rejoicing, the dark red lotus seed platform became covered in complex red karma patterns, resembling blood flowing through veins.

Where her feet stood, dark red flames burst out from the karma patterns, quickly climbing up her feet, calves, thighs...

The sudden appearance of dark red flames startled Hua Changxi, but she didn’t panic much.

She knew the flames surging from the lotus seed platform were "karma fire." Not sensing any danger, she suddenly wanted to experience what it felt like to be burned by karma fire.

However, she still actively tried to stop the spread of the karma fire. Unfortunately, no matter what she tried, she couldn’t succeed. It seemed that once stained by karma fire, there was no way to get rid of it.

Hua Changxi could only watch helplessly as the karma fire engulfed her.

The karma fire did not burn her clothes but instead penetrated her skin, flesh, bones, and organs like countless fine needles and blades...

"So this is the pain of being burned by karma fire?"

For the first time, Hua Changxi felt that being burned by flames was so unbearably painful that she couldn’t even stand and had to collapse onto the lotus seed platform.

The pain of karma fire burning was like undergoing the slow, torturous death of a thousand cuts.

Just as she was about to reach her limit and wanted to use the "All Fires Pay Homage" divine ability to resist the karma fire, a single lotus petal burning with flames drifted down and landed before her.

The flames twisted and surged, and images quickly appeared on the lotus petal.

An obstacle phantom!

The images revealed many scenes—some from before cultivation, some after cultivation, warm scenes, and tense confrontations.

Most scenes passed by quickly, with only a few slowing down, such as scenes where she killed people, where she fought, and where she saved others.

Hua Changxi stared blankly at the images on the lotus petal, forgetting even the pain of the karma fire burning her body.

"These are all the karmic burdens I carry?"

Soon, Hua Changxi had no time to ponder the images on the lotus petals.

If before the physical pain was still bearable, now she felt the karma fire penetrating into her spirit root, not only burning it but also surging along the spirit root into her dantian.

This time, she truly panicked. Worried that the karma fire would destroy her dantian and spirit root, she subconsciously used the "All Fire Homage" divine ability.

Unfortunately, "All Fire Homage" was ineffective against the karma fire.

Just as "All Fire Homage" was ineffective against yin flames—the burning of yin flames relies on one's own desires; as long as desires persist, the yin flames do not extinguish.

The same went for karma fire: as long as karma continued, the karma fire would not be extinguished.

"All Fire Homage" could only control natural flames.

Hua Changxi had no choice but to immediately sit cross-legged, protecting her spirit root and dantian.

At first, she tried to suppress the karma fire, but the more she suppressed it, the more intense the pain became. When it reached the limit of what she could endure, she had to try releasing the suppression to alleviate the pain.

Between releasing and suppressing the karma fire, Hua Changxi gradually discovered that the karma fire could not be suppressed.

By letting the karma fire burn freely and facing the images on the lotus petals, the karma on her body could be burned away.

She saw that when the karma fire burned freely, black gas seeped out from her spirit root and dantian, and the originally dark red karma fire became even darker.

After extreme pain came extreme tranquility and peace, even with an inexplicable joy.

The color change of the karma fire was very abrupt. As the flame core turned from black to green, Hua Changxi's entire being, from body to soul, became light and airy, as if about to ascend.