Zhao Si had come to the fortress to "borrow some fire," not to sightsee.
But he was surprised. He hadn't expected the Fire Monks' fortress to be so sparsely populated, as though a great many people had left.
Considering his earlier capture of Adam the "Fire Thief," it wasn't hard to guess that most of these mountain monks who worshipped fire had used that pretext to leave the mountains.
That wasn't good news, because Adam had already been caught, yet they still hadn't returned.
What did that mean?
Anyone with half a brain could guess: they were colluding with local powers.
Some of the Fire Monks were dissatisfied with their austere, ascetic lives. Others had grown afraid of fire, like the Black Flame Monks, and had abandoned it for Black Flame.
Amon was one prominent example.
These Fire Monks who had left the mountains on the pretext of pursuing a thief hadn't abandoned fire, but their practice was no longer pure.
Sometimes religious asceticism really did hold a certain special significance.
People's hearts were fickle. They might profess belief without truly believing.
But with asceticism added to the equation, both their actions and their outward appearance could express two words: I believe.
Hearts were inscrutable; behavior was readily observable.
Once someone stopped practicing asceticism, outsiders could draw an immediate conclusion-they had abandoned their faith.
The greatest enemy of asceticism was its poor suitability for spreading the faith.
People ultimately leaned toward pleasure. Take the worship of fire, for instance. Unlike the Church of Deep Sleep, whose members slept every day, these fanatics really did burn themselves.
That searing pain could strengthen their faith.
And stronger faith meant greater resolve in their watch over the flame.
But it really hurt.
Anyone who had played with fire knew that the pain of