The awful thing was, at some level he knew he didn’t care. His survival came first. His main goal since he’d transmigrated was to give him a chance to survive.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to find Swallow. Her arms were covered in blood upto her elbows, her chest was covered in tiny bits of gray flesh. It was brain matter.

“I dealt with the other one.” She paused and Musnuf realized what she was implying. He turned to the burned, scarred leopard backing away on his haunches. He moved forward and slashed its throat.

The blood was piping hot and heavy. He placed the dagger back into his pouch. The cubs were crying out for their mother.

He picked up one of them and it bit his finger. He almost dropped it. Both of them had golden eyes. He handed one to Swallow.

“What is this?”

“You should keep it, I can’t feed and raise both of them.”

She bit her lip and turned the cub's face up. They had deep expressive eyes bubbling with tears. “But I don’t know how to tame it.”

Musnuf started thinking, he wanted to just give her the manual but he would have to ask Wind. It was his property in the first place. He didn’t want to alienate the man over this.

“Just keep it for now, you just have to feed it and make sure it doesn’t get hurt.” She nodded and that was that.

…

..

.

Musnuf made his way back to his abode. He was tired, his arms were covered in blood. He just wanted to take a shower and go to sleep. The cub was tucked under his arm. It was starting to get cold. The MC had stolen the treasure on a snowy day. If he could place it, it would be anywhere from two to three weeks. The weather was unpredictable and quite harsh.

His head was down and he was looking at the ground. There was someone standing in his way and he just stepped around them. Who was that?

“You can’t just avoid me.” He turned around at the familiar voice and his eyes landed on that off-kilter smile. It was Treasure.

“What are you doing here?”

“We had a date, remember?”

“What?”

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She just sighed with exasperation. “I’m here about the fight. Let’s do it right now.”

“No.” What was she expecting?

“Tomorrow then. A month is too long. I have things to buy.”

“I can’t do it tomorrow either.” He opened the sliding door, he had to get away from her. He was hoping to be gone long before that.

Her expression darkened, she raised her index finger. “One week, that’s it.”

“I can’t do it a week from now, either.”

“Then I’ll go to Elder Rain. He witnessed your promise and he will interfere when its coming from me.”

“Why’s that? Are you his daughter or something?”

Treasure giggled. The change of mood was giving him whiplash. “One week. That’s all you get and Elder Rain raised a platform near the notice hall for us. Go see it, if you wish.” She left with her ultimatum.

Musnuf groaned. He kept the cub and walked down to the notice board hall. There was an elevated platform in the center with stairs all around it. It reminded him of a coliseum.

He hadn’t noticed it, when he left the sect. All of this had been erected while he was off fighting the leopard. How did Treasure manage this?

He could feel a headache coming up behind his eyes. A week wasn’t enough time for him to get rid of the soul lantern. He’d barely started.

He decided to go to the notice board office and request a leave. He might as well put this in motion. He had a hazy memory of some form of cultivation restriction but he’d surpassed.

His plans were crushed before they could begin, “We aren’t allowing for any more disciples to leave.”

“What do you mean?”

The disciple or servant looked up at him with annoyance. “We can only allow fifty disciples out of the sect at the same time. You’re going to have to wait for your turn.”

“Can you put me on the waiting list?”

“Sure.”

Musnuf walked out and groaned. This was just turning out to be the best day. He picked the pup up and raised him to eye-level. “I’m fucked, aren’t I?” The little leopard just looked in his eyes with confusion, then it started tearing up.

Oh no, no…

…

..

.

He dashed back to his abode, placed the cub on the ground and started reviewing what he had to do. It was a formation based method and that got him thinking. He picked it up and headed back to Wind’s abode.

He entered and looked at the couch. He wasn’t there anymore. It was in the evening. He walked back to the library and took out the box of arts.

The one he was looking for was the ornamental body art. The closest analogy he could find was drawing tattoos on one-self. He wanted to combine the control and accuracy of the cosmetic art with the binding formation of the beast taming art.

It was his first foray into combining two separate but overlapping techniques. He used removable ink in case the experiment failed.

The cub was sleeping on the table beside him. He didn’t want to start with it. Instead, he started using parchment sheets to draw out the two complimentary formations. He practised for close to an hour. Time melted away, his worries melted away and the little nub of anxiety brewing in his stomach along with the cold weather was forgotten for a few minutes.

He rolled his wrists around and turned to the leopard. Let's try it.