Through the power of the soul, combined with the natural gas, the spirit tattooists depicted the mysterious spiritual patterns on special paper to form spiritual magic figures. These figures were compatible with the Taoism and could remain effective for a long time. As long as the patterns were not obscured, the figures could be used all the time. But most of the figures were one-off and couldn't be used many times for a long time. It was said that the high-level tattooists were not confined to depicting the patterns on the paper but on everything.
The spirit tattooists were divided into four levels: the apprentice, the spirit tattooists, the great spirit tattooists, and the spirit tattoo king. Except the spirit tattoo king, the other each level is divided into nine stars. It was said only the Elder Tattoo ranked the highest as an eight-star apprentice in the Qingyuan school, lower than the spirit tattooists. It was obvious how hard it was to become a spirit tattooist.
So, the Elder Tattoo possessed high status in the school, second only to the Master, because everyone was seeking his help. After all, the spiritual magic figures were still very useful for the warriors－to not only enhance their strength, but also a mean to save life at a critical moment. So, the Elder Tattoo were well-respected in the school and his disciples were so arrogant. They, even two-star apprentices, did not put anyone in their eyes.
Zhang Yan was more and more fond of the profession of spirit tattooist. After all, it was a very profitable career. A spiritual magic figure was worth thousand golds. If learning the spirit tattoo skills and becoming a spirit tattooist, he would not be worried about the spiritual stones, any longer, to cultivate. At that time, more and more spiritual stones would run into his pocket and he didn't have to worry about resources anymore.
When thinking that there would be a lot of spiritual stones running towards himself in the future, Zhang Yan couldn't wait to walk toward the Spirit Tattoo Temple, governed by the Elder Tattoo, a place where the Qingyuan spirit tattooists gathered. Some spirit apprentices and the disciples who wanted to become spirit tattooist would gather here to study and discuss the spirit tattoo skills. The Elder Tattoo would also open lectures there from time to time, teaching some methods of depicting the spiritual patterns, or talking about his experience. Often, some other disciples came there to buy the spiritual magic figures, no, to be more accurate, to seek the figures.
After all, the figures were very rare. Sometimes, even if you had money, you couldn't buy them, so everyone must queue up for an appointment, or ask an acquaintance to buy one. And the figures from the elder were really hard to seek－only the elders in the school could get the figures that the Elder Tattoo depicted on his own.
Zhang Yan came to the Spirit Tattoo Temple and found that most of the disciples here were not high-cultivated, but they were all arrogant. As for Zhang Yan, an ordinary inner disciple, no one, including those who sold the figures, cared about him.
Zhang Yan came to the place where the special paper was sold and looked at the paper on the stand, "How much are these papers?"
The disciple who sold the special paper looked up at Zhang Yan and found he wearing the clothes of the inner disciples. Without ornaments, he looked poor. So, the disciple spoke to him impatiently: "A lower spiritual stone for a piece of lower paper, a medium spiritual stone for a piece of medium paper, an upper spiritual stone for a piece of upper paper, but I have no upper papers now."
Zhang Yan was surprised by the prices－a piece of lower paper would value a lower spiritual stone－it was too expensive. He only held two lower stones. He felt heartbreak for not starting to make money yet, but beginning to lose money first and asked: "What is the difference between the different kinds of paper? Why does the price differ so much?"
"The higher the paper grade is, the higher the success rate is, so the price differs. Do you buy or not? If you don't buy, stay aside and don't bother me doing business. Look at you, do you have a spiritual stone? Go away!" The disciple was pretty impatient and waved his hand to push Zhang Yan aside. But he was only one-star apprentice and possessed the cultivation of only the fourth level of Xiantian State, so he couldn't move Zhang Yan.
Zhang Yan was also angered by his attitude, frowned and stared at him with anger. After several pushes, the disciple knew Zhang Yan's cultivation was not low and threatened: "Well? Do you want to make trouble here? You will be in trouble if you offend us here in the Spirit Tattoo Temple."
Zhang Yan crushed the anger and said coldly: "I won't buy anything from you, an arrogant dog, even if I have spiritual stones. What the hell!" He turned to leave.
The disciple snorted and ridiculed: "You are just a penniless guy! So ridiculous. How can you want to be a spirit tattooist? It's really whimsical."
"Everyone, there is a person who has no money and wants to be a spirit tattooist. Do you think ridiculous?" The disciple shouted.
Zhang Yan wanted to leave, not caring about this flunky. But people around all looked at him, pointed at him and ridiculed: "He doesn't look like a rich guy and how can he want to be a spirit tattooist? Ridiculous!"
"Right! can everyone be a spirit tattooist? We have already thrown into thousands of spiritual stones to be a two-star apprentice. A boy who wants to be a spirit tattooist, without money, is really a joke."
"Yeah. How can he be a spirit tattooist, who can't afford the paper?"
The ridicule of Zhang Yan by the people around pleased the disciple and he showed a smug look on his face, then taunted: "Little guy, hear? If you don't have money, go back and cultivate. Don't think about being a spirit tattooist anymore. This road is not suitable for you poor person."
As Zhang Yangang just wanted to speak, a beautiful woman came from the crowd and attracted the attention of all the men present. Those who prepared to ridicule Zhang Yan all closed their mouths and stared at her. Some disciples even forwarded to accost her and dedicate their own paper.
"Sister Qin, this is the medium paper I just got, do you want it?"
"Sister Qin, this is a tattoo pen made of ten-thousand-year ice silk. Keep it."