Musnuf won. He couldn’t believe it, despite the facts staring him in the face. It was the smiling elder with curly hair that came down and presented him with the first place prize.

Three thousand spirit stones, three bottles of mid-tier essence potions and the talisman of Moon Faeries. He shook the essence potions, they had a weird blue color that deepened the more you looked. These weren’t very high quality, this realm was on a lower standing but nevertheless, these would push his cultivation forward by a great deal.

“I think you can walk back. No more fighting.” He must’ve been thinking that they hadn’t listened. “I will be watching and I don’t want any of you to fight.”

Musnuf gave him a grateful nod and started descending the hill. The other disciple’s gaze’s bore into his back.

“Hold on to that for me, one month is going to fly by.” Musnuf cracked a smile. “I’ll be waiting.” He wouldn’t be. He was going to use these as soon as possible.

One month? You’ll be lucky if you’re alive by then. He had access to a modicum of resources now. Three thousand spirit stones was not much in the grand scheme of things but leveraging it could result in a huge effect on his situation.

He had a new main goal at the moment. He had to get rid of his soul lantern. It was the only way he would get out of this sect. If he couldn’t do that in a month, he would be gone.

He didn’t have much confidence but he could place the heist in about the last week of this month.

I need to absorb, learn and cultivate as much as I can for the next week. He was too drained to feel panic but there was a sense of urgency in his footsteps.

He took out the talisman and started observing it. It had fine, intricate carvings coming together to form a sharp angular face with closed eyes, a single ear and long silvery hair. It only depicted one half of the face.

He turned it to its back and that was where the meat of the matter was. Tiny, detailed runic engravings were carved into the back. It was less a talisman and more, a piece of heavy cloth with all the work on it. I wonder what would happen if I copied it onto my notebook. He noted it in his head as a future experiment.

The Moon Faeries had been eliminated over 700 years ago by the Hegemon of the Black Jade Sect. He glanced up to the sky at the new series of clouds bisecting the sky. It was invisible to most cultivator’s above the Essence Condensation realm. There were exceptions but that was the general trend. He’s going to be a pain in the ass.

He sighed. His brain was going at a breakneck speed trying to find the next thing to do, but his body was just not upto it. His stomach grumbled, but the exhaustion was even greater.

He stumbled into his abode and was fast asleep before his head hit the pillow. It was long, restful sleep for the most part.

He dreamt of the candy store on the way to his school. It had a nice, little corner tucked in his mind. It’d closed during his high-school years and he felt more heartbreak than his break-up.

It had a strange concept with one end stocked with shelves and the other end stocked with rows and rows of candy machines. He walked up to one of them, popped in a few coins, twisted and a little green ball tumbled out.

He opened it up and read the words, “There’s a reason why the God of Death and the Goddess of Spring are married.” They were his words, words he’d bequeathed to someone else. It woke him up.

It was nighttime and that new streak of clouds was still there. The gap of stars in the sky trailing along its length was a sharp indicator of what was to come. His stomach grumbled again and he frowned. He made his way down to the common food area. He suspected that he’d slept through the night and the entire day into the next night.

He yawned and stretched, everything was sore. Everything felt a little out of place. I should head to the potion elder. Suck up as much knowledge as I can.

He left the rewards in the abode. He wasn’t worried about anyone stealing it.

He headed down to the cafeteria and got a nice meal. He ate three time as much but it still didn’t satiate his hunger.

The lessons would start up again in three days. It would be a nice little break for him.

He got the little map tucked away in his room and went through it. He needed a way to get his hands on the soul lantern. Getting the actual article or somehow, replacing the ‘spark’ in it would do.

For that, he needed a soul art and the closest one he had access to was…too far away. It was on a giant floating turtle that would visit the shores in six months. Six months wasn’t enough time and the shores were a three month journey away. For him, atleast.

I need something else….

That’s when he landed on it. It was a risky gambit, not even confirmed or even likely to succeed but he had to try. It would mean that he would use up the rest of the two pages but he had to try.

He started sketching out the rough bare bones of an idea. He felt excited, hesitant and a little overwhelmed about it. It was an understatement to say that it would stretch his limits.

He wanted to create his own art.