"Never."
Yaohua was taken aback. She was quite certain that she hadn't misseen. There was indeed a white object beneath the karma fire. But why couldn't her master see it?
"Maybe I was seeing things."
Yaohua didn't know how long she had been in the tunnel when suddenly she shivered.
"The karma fire has receded!"
Someone heaved a sigh of relief.
She rubbed her eyes. Outside, the blood - red moon hung in the pitch - black sky. There was no distinction between day and night in the underworld. According to the gods, the karma fire only appeared at night. It seemed that it was now daytime.
The karma fire had retreated into the abyss. The barrier was shining brightly, but the gap in it had widened significantly.
"The karma fire is getting fiercer each time. If this continues, what shall we do?"
"My lord, have you taken more blood again?"
"It's fine."
Her master's voice came from not far away. Yaohua looked in the direction of the voice. He looked the same as usual, but his lips were a bit paler. Rong Chu was holding a tray beside him, on which there was a bowl of blood.
Yaohua's eyes trembled slightly, and she bit her lower lip.
While the gods were busy repairing the barrier, Yaohua paced over to her master's side.
"Master, how could you take more blood again!"
Officer Yi had already said that they couldn't keep doing this. All the solutions were thought up together. She didn't believe there was no other way.
"It's just a bit of blood. It doesn't matter."
Yaohua's mood became instantly complicated. "Then can you take my blood instead?"
"Nonsense." Her master tapped her on the forehead. "If you have nothing to do, you can go and admire the Lycoris radiata."
How could she be in the mood to look at flowers at this time?
Yaohua felt a bit sad. It seemed that her master would keep acting on his own until they found a useful solution.
The gods successively channeled their spiritual power into the barrier. The karma fire obscured the white shadow she had seen yesterday, but she could still faintly sense its presence.
Strangely enough, today the white shadow was glowing, looking much more energetic than yesterday.
She walked over to a god who had praised her yesterday and pointed at the position of the white shadow in the abyss. "Uncle, is there a white object in there?"
"No, little princess. Are you seeing things?"
She asked several other gods one after another, but got the same answer. Yaohua pursed her lower lip and finally confirmed that only she could see it.
She returned to her master's side. After hesitating for a moment, she told him about this.
"I've never heard that there's anything hidden in the abyss of the karma fire. Could it be some kind of opportunity?" Chongming was puzzled. He did a little divination with his fingers but couldn't get any result.
"Master, let me go down and retrieve that object. Maybe it's this thing that's causing the barrier to break."
If that was really the case, her master could recuperate in peace.
"Your phoenix true fire can resist the karma fire for a while, but the abyss of the karma fire is bottomless. It's really difficult for you alone to resist it. If you go down, the consequences will be unimaginable."
As if seeing the unwillingness in Yaohua's heart, her master added, "I'll find a way to figure out what the object you mentioned is. If it's really related to the barrier, all the gods will come up with a solution together."
Yaohua still refused to give up. "Master, I'll protect myself!"
"Don't you want to listen to your master anymore?"
Her master softened his voice. The weakness that he had always deliberately hidden was now fully revealed in front of her. Yaohua was instantly speechless.
In the following days, the light of the white shadow became stronger and stronger, while the crack in the barrier was getting bigger and bigger. Her master took more and more blood each day. Yaohua felt as if there was a boulder on her heart, making it hard for her to rest at night.
Another day came.
The gods who were repairing the barrier fell one after another. Yaohua stood in front of the abyss and looked at the white light through the barrier.
"Little princess, why do you stare at me every day?"
Who was speaking?
Yaohua looked around warily. Apart from a few scattered gods who were still holding on, she didn't see any suspicious people.
Could it be that she had misheard and there was actually no one speaking?
"Guess where I am?"
Who on earth was it?
Yaohua instinctively summoned her phoenix true fire, but the voice slipped away from her ear like the wind.
"Don't waste your effort. You can't find me."
Yaohua pursed her lips slightly. The phoenix true fire at her fingertips was jumping violently.
"Who are you? Are you the one behind the karma fire incident?"
"If you want to know who I am, then come here."
There was a hint of evil and enticement in that voice. Yaohua involuntarily took a step forward.
"Come closer. Otherwise, how can I tell you?"
Just as Yaohua took a step, her arm was suddenly grabbed tightly.
"Fairy, what's wrong with you?" Officer Yi's nervous voice rang in Yaohua's ear, like an alarm bell.
Yaohua suddenly came to her senses.
A gust of cold air rushed towards her, making it hard for Yaohua to breathe.
She lowered her eyes. Two small stones at her feet happened to fall into the abyss of the karma fire, and she didn't even hear an echo.
She had been just half a step away. If Officer Yi hadn't grabbed her arm in time, she might have fallen into the abyss of the karma fire by now!
The belated sense of tension tightened her heart. Yaohua looked at the abyss of the karma fire with lingering fear and quickly took two steps back.
She looked at Officer Yi gratefully. "I'm fine."
"The medicine prepared for the god is ready. Fairy, have you seen the god?"
Yaohua instinctively pointed in a certain direction. But when she looked up, she saw that the place where her master had been was empty. There was no sign of her master.
She scratched her head in confusion. "He was here just now!"
"I'll go and look for him again."
After watching Officer Yi leave, Yaohua looked at the white shadow in the middle of the karma fire again.
Strange. Why did it seem that the white shadow had just smiled at her?
"The annoying person is gone, little princess. Don't you really want to know why the karma fire broke through the barrier?"
Hearing this, Yaohua, who was about to leave, suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"You're the one behind this!"
"What can you do to me?"
Yaohua clenched her fists. Right. She didn't even know who that person was or where they were hiding. What could she do?
"Good child, don't be afraid. I'm a good person. I won't hurt you."
Yaohua didn't believe a single word it said, but somehow, listening to that strange voice, she still took a step forward.
"Yes, take one more step forward."
Yaohua pinched the palm of her hand to make herself sober up.
Just ahead was the abyss of the karma fire. If she took another step, she would fall!
This evil thing that came out of nowhere was enticing her like this. It must be nothing good!
"How can you think of me like that in your heart?" That voice seemed to be able to see into Yaohua's mind. Now it sounded beside her plaintively. "I've never done anything bad!"
The karma fire had descended into the world, destroying all living beings and causing another heavy blow to the Divine Continent, which had just begun to recover. Could this be called not doing anything bad?
"You don't even know who I am. How can you put such a big label on me?"
Yaohua bit her lower lip. If she knew who this thing was, she would have already thrown a ball of fire at it and burned it to ashes. How could she let it entice her?
Yaohua closed her eyes and got rid of the distracting thoughts in her heart.
But a voice faintly rose in her heart.
Go, go and take a look. Maybe you can find some useful clues.