Chapter 9: Mystique of Spiritual Tattoos

This time to Green-sun Tribe, Lian Rufeng and the rest of the guardians traded some daily supplies that villagers needed urgently. As usual, these supplies would be distributed to villagers at the ancestral hall.

Summoned by Shiao Tianren, all villagers flocked to the ancestral hall soon.

Lin Xun was invited too. But he declined politely. As a new comer, he should be the last person to get a share.

…

Late in the afternoon, Lin Xun sat under the green weeping willow in his courtyard. He was sculpturing a Lycopodium Silver with the pale cyan dagger in the rays of the setting sun.

Duo Duo Duo!

With delicate skills in exerting force, the sharp edge of the dagger roamed the surface of the Lycopodium Silver smoothly like floating clouds and flowing water. Wood chips fell like snowflakes, making unique and rhythmic sounds.

Lin Xun got slender fingers and broad palms. The pale cyan dagger held casually in his fair hand danced like a butterfly in flowers, creating a unique sense of beauty.

A spiritual tattoo apprentice must practice his skills to exert force before learning to inscribe spiritual tattoos, which was inseparable from the exercise of fingers on both hands.

The flexibility and stability of palms and fingers were the most crucial parts for inscribing spiritual tattoos.

After all, inscribing spiritual tattoo was much more than just sketching or painting. It also required a spiritual tattooist to guide the spiritual energy in his body to control the degree of shade, thickness and intensity of the spiritual ink as well as its integrating degree to the tattoo.

For instance, an inscribing pen, a plate of Birthwort Spiritual Ink and a carrier were needed to complete a basic Birthwort Spiritual Tattoo.

The inscribing pen was a tool used by a spiritual tattooist, which greatly tested the accuracy and flexibility of fingers.

It was worth mentioning that the quality of an inscribing pen varied. A superior inscribing pen integrated better with both the spiritual ink and the spiritual energy, while an inferior one did the opposite. The Flaming Gold Master Lu broke off, for example, was a rare and priceless treasure of inestimable value in Lin Xun’s memory.

The spiritual ink was used to sketch spiritual tattoos, which was usually refined with various spiritual materials. Each kind of spiritual ink possessed a special power.

The Birthwort Spiritual Ink was fused and condensed with 16 spiritual materials including birthwor root, white spirit leaves, spirit yorphoon blood, red warbler teardrops…in different proportion.

Inscribing a Birthwort Spiritual Tattoo with a spiritual ink refined this way was the best option to increase integrating degree and chance of success.

The carrier was the place where inscription occurred. It must also be a spiritual item. One could either inscribe a spiritual tattoo on a weapon, an armor or something else like a house, a tea set, a carriage, etc.

For the Light-attracting Spiritual Tattoo inscribed yesterday, Lin Xun used his fingertip as the inscribing pen, bone meal of gold-eating mice the spiritual ink, and the spiritual land, the carrier. With the spirit energy in it, the spiritual lands were apparently a type of spiritual item.

However, the Light-attracting Spiritual Tattoo inscribed in the spiritual land was a bit coarse and shallow without a spiritual source, which could not be preserved after single-use.

A spiritual source, which could be a spiritual stone, spiritual vein, or some other treasures rich in spiritual energy, could endlessly provide energy for spiritual tattoos.

It may look easy to inscribe a spiritual tattoo with just a pen, some spiritual ink and a carrier. However, the complicated and rigorous procedures were anything but simple.

It was even harder to become a qualified spiritual tattooist. That was why a spiritual tattooist was highly and widely respected.

Lin Xun became a spiritual tattoo apprentice long ago when he began to learn from Master Lu.

To this day, he was still an apprentice as he could only inscribe basic spiritual tattoos skillfully with his current cultivation.

And the thing was that Lin Xun had no contact with any other spiritual tattooists besides Master Lu, so he could not tell how good he was at spiritual tattoo inscribing.

Lin Xun asked Master Lu many times about his skills, but the response he got was always a shake of head and a sigh.

Shaking head meant No.

Sighing meant disappointment.

Imagine the blows Lin Xun had been taken for all those years. Fortunately, Lin Xun was not discouraged and got used to it. Instead, he was motivated to constantly compete with himself under such blows, and his ability to inscribe spiritual tattoos was greatly improved.

He demonstrated his resilience in the face of unpredictable obstacles.

It was late at dusk. The sunset glow tinted the green weeping willow with a magnificent gloss.

Willow twigs danced gracefully and rustled with a soft breeze. What an idyllic and tranquil scene!

The cyan dagger in Lin Xun’s hand kept dancing and soon it sculptured a vivid old man with messy hair and wrinkled face. Hands behind his back, the thin old man was looking up to the sky with obstinate and unruly gazes. This was Master Lu.

Every inch of this wood sculpture was delineated by delicate and accurate spiritual tattoos that were impossible to perceive, presenting an integrated yet strange feeling.

Lin Xun stared blankly at the sculpture in his hand. After a long time of silence, he gave out a soundless sigh and destroyed the sculpture with his cyan dagger.

Under the sunset, he stood up and a firm expression appeared on his pale and young face.

One could not live in memories. And he must look forward.

When night fell, all residents in Feiyun Village got the necessities they needed and returned from the ancestral hall.

However, Lin Xun found that the villagers were not that happy. On the contrary, many of them were frowning. And some vague arguments in the ancestral hall could be heard from afar.

Lin Xun could tell that it was Shiao Tianren, the village head, and Lian Rufeng, the head of the guardians, who were arguing. But soon, the quarrel died down.

In the gathering darkness, a rush of clops appeared in the village, which soon died away into the dark and deep mountains.

“It seems Lian Rufeng left by starlight…”

Pondering silently for some time, Lin Xun returned to his room. Just as he was about to meditate as usual, someone suddenly called at his cottage.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

There was a loud knock at the door, which was a bit harsh and rude in the serene night.