19 Flame of Eternity

The stone stair case is similar to a typical medieval stone stair case: stone steps, torches burning on the wall neatly arranged, walls made of big slabs of stone. Despite the number of torches, the end of the stair case couldn't be seen and it is pitch black, the vision is greatly reduced and Bluetail can't see more than a few meters ahead of him.

"Incredible right?" Smiled Bottle as he saw the look of disbelief on Bluetail's face. He then started to walk down the stair slowly and Bluetail followed.

They walked in silence, both appeared to be in their own thought. For some reason Bluetail doesn't feel fear and doesn't doubt anything, only curiosity. Maybe the calm and serenity of the temple made one feel secured and relax his guard. Bluetail's thought is gradually become blurred, until his mind is empty. It is like he is in meditation state but still walking. His pupil lacked its luster and looked a bit dull.

"And another member has joined our rank." Smirked Bottle. He wasn't surprised to see Bluetail in this state, it is probably not his first time seeing it.

Bottle led the confused Bluetail out of the underground passage, into a big but somewhat gloomy hall. There are hundreds of cat souls lay there neatly and orderly in the hall. Bluetail noticed some of Laptop's aggressors as well as some cats he knew among the crowd. Without any exception, all of their head are turned to the center of the hall and they are purring some special sounds. Those cat monks formed circles upon circles around an altar in the center of the hall, it is very similar to a group praying and worshiping a deity in the center.

The object of worshiping is actually a burning flame on top of the altar and it is no ordinary flame. The flame is as big as a small house and brightly lit. That's not all, the most astonish things is the flame is bright white instead of orange red, and the flame seem to exist by itself. There isn't any candle nor wax, no oil nor thread, nothing to maintain the flame bit it continues to burn brightly. The flame doesn't even touch the altar but floating up high!

Despite the huge burning flame in the center, the room still appeared cold and gloomy for some reasons.

Bluetail followed Bottle to head to the center of the hall. They stopped in front of the altar.

"Bluetail, our group is called Flame Watcher. Our mission is to protect our holy object: the Flame of Eternity. Are you willing to become one of us?" Asked Bottle indifferently. Bottle himself knows for sure that Bluetail will say "yes". After all, nobody had ever said "no" before so why Bluetail will be any different? He himself had experienced this before, everyone come here will be put under the effect of confusion mysteriously except the group leader himself. However, he didn't expect that Bluetail would give him a different answer.

"Why should I join the Flame Watcher?" Asked Bluetail.

Bluetail's eyes have regained some clarity. Right after he heard the Flame Watcher and the Flame of Eternity, he woke up from the confusion as his brain screams danger. Bastet had come across this group before and as he has watched all Bastet's memory, Bluetail naturally knows about the Flame Watcher. He simply asked this question to buy some time.

The Flame Watcher have only two missions. First is to protect the Flame of Eternity and second is to nurture it. They consider this flame as their holy object and worship it like a god. They believe this flame will bring them peace of mind and luck to help them breakthrough.

Bluetail is even clearer about Flame of Eternity. It has nothing to do with peace of mind and luck, it is actually a sinister object and particularly to cat race as the flame absorbs soul energy to maintain its existence. The reason Flame Watcher recruit more members is to make them chant a specific verse, this verse will draw out the soul energy from singer's body and transfer this soul energy to nurture the flame. Every cat souls here should have experienced a sharp drop in their soul points. Why didn't they stop? They simply don't know that their soul points have dropped instead of increasing.

The one who try to cultivate the Flame of Eternity here is a sinister one. He knows that nobody will offer their soul energy to nurture the flame, thus he used his special power to put people who isn't belong to the Flame Watcher under control. That's why Bluetail temporary lost his clarity when he entered the underground passage and almost agreed to join this group. Sort of a weak mind control that only work on low cultivation cats. He simply made all cat souls here think that their condition is the same or even has a slight improvement.

Moreover, cats that Flame Watcher want to recruit are those at Soul Splitting stage and at the end of their last life without any chance to break through. At this point, a cat had lost pretty much all of his hope to reincarnate. Now imagine someone said the Flame of Eternity can help you break through, who wouldn't try to grab into that hope? Even if some cats have doubt about all of this, they simply can't give up their belief in the Flame of Eternity.

This is also why the hall is so gloomy and cold, it is filled with soul energy from the cat monks to supply the Flame of Eternity!

Bottle is startled. This is the first time someone asked something other than directly joining the group. He isn't stupid and immediately guessed something, however he still answered to be sure.

"The Flame of Eternity will help you break through the next realm! All you need to do is calm your mind and cultivate in front of the flame while praying. This chance only come one and it's your as long as you say yes." Said Bottle.

Any normal cat will surely fall over this temptation and say yes right away, however Bluetail knows the trust so he can't do it. But if he doesn't do it then Bottle will surely know that he isn't under mind control and all of them will come beat him up. Bluetail is sure that he can't teleport out like the last time he did because Bottle can interact with those statues outside, which mean this hall wall can obstruct soul! He can't even fake the agreement as the mind control is stronger on the member, he is afraid that he will lose his clarity forever.

Bluetail is in dilemma.