Battling Records of the Chosen One

C4 - Mine Prison

In the humble cottage, an oil lamp flickered with dim light. An old wooden case was open, revealing a pale cyan dagger, a yellowing scroll and a dark grey inscribing pen that was about 16cm long.

An inscribing pen was a tool used to inscribe the spiritual tattoos by the spiritual tattooists, like a Chinese brush. The tip of it was a sharp edge instead of some soft animal hair. For this reason, it was also called the tattoo knife.

Lin Xun preferred this term, for it sounded like "Wen Dao" in Chinese, meaning seeking the basic laws of the nature and life.

For quite a while, Lin Xun couldn't get his eyes off the yellowing scroll and the dark grey inscribing pen, both of which meant a lot to him.

The yellowing scroll was about three-finger thick. Its cover was made from an animal skin, already worn-out, indicating it had existed for a very long time. Just upon a simple glance, one could feel its history.

The inscribing pen was unique and quite different from the common ones. It was more like a sword, which was dull and engraved with mysterious moire patterns. Its tip, like the sharp edge of the sword, gave out an icy coldness that chilled one to the bone.

These were the two most important mysterious treasures of Lin Xun.

In addition, there were some spiritual materials like bones, animal skins, plants and ores in the case, which could be used to refine spiritual tools directly or as the spiritual ink or ingredients to inscribe spiritual tattoos after being specially processed.

They were all collected by Lin Xun during his long journey, and could be sold for a great fortune.

In the corner of the case piled some rugged sticks of thumb size, looking like jade.

They were from a special kind of tree called "Lycopodium Silver", hard as stones, but of little value.

For a spiritual apprentice like Lin Xun, it was the best material for practicing.

Lin Xun took the scroll out of the case with great caution, and sat before the desk by the window.

He did not open it. He was just sitting there, looking at it quietly, and pondering.

Thoughts flooded into his brain and brought him back to the past.

...

It was an isolated prison built within a mine, where a lot of people were locked up.

Lin Xun had been in that prison since he could remember things. The sky was always dark with no trace of the sun, so the prison was always damp.

The atmosphere was stifling, for prisoners died every day, and new ones were kept being sent in.

As far as he could remember, no one had ever escaped from that prison until the day it was completely destroyed.

Strictly speaking, Lin Xun was not a prisoner. He was abandoned as an infant, and had nearly been swallowed by those vicious prisoners who found him.

He heard all these from Master Lu, thanks to whom, he survived.

No one knew about Master Lu's background, yet he was specially treated and highly respected by both the guards and the prisoners.

...all because he was a spiritual tattooist!

He took in and raised Lin Xun, who was asked to do all kinds of things since childhood.

He taught Lin Xun how to read, to identify spiritual materials, to make spiritual ink, and to memorize and inscribe spiritual tattoos. In the meanwhile, he also needed Lin Xun to do all the chores for him, such as serving tea, washing his clothes, making dinner and so forth.