The day had ended, and now night had fallen. Tiny, twinkling stars scattered across the sky, looking incredibly beautiful. But amidst all of them, one thing was missing; the moon.

  “Tonight is the night of Amavasya (new moon)(1).”

  Sharv said, gazing at the sky.

  He had read in ‘The Wall Between Spirits and Man’ that after a person dies, their inner soul transforms into a spirit on the midnight of the next Amavasya.

  This meant that on the night of Amavasya, the souls of the deceased take on a real, tangible form.

  Some spirits are sealed to a specific place or object, like Vijay’s soul, which had been imprisoned within ‘The Wall Between Spirits and Man’.

  Such imprisoned spirits remain bound to their location or object until someone frees them. Otherwise, they have to wait for time to pass. The longer they stay sealed, the stronger they become.

  Eventually, the spirit becomes so powerful that it can break free from the seal entirely.

  Because of this, many Tantrics, monks, and other types of spiritual masters, when they seal a spirit, never let it go easily. They continually strengthen the seal with the passage of time, so the spirit cannot escape.

  But Sharv's master; that women became one just after the moment she was dead, out of the bead.

  That was because, the time duration inside and outside the bead was different, it was because of the technique Domain Control.

  So when the seal broke off, and she died in there, a months time already passed inside the bead. Though not a single day was passed outside in the real world.

  Thus; she became a spirit in there only and then got out straight in her spirit form only.

  ‘Has my uncle’s soul formed by now?’

  The thought crossed Sharv’s mind.

  And it wasn’t a wrong thought. Who knew maybe his uncle’s soul had already formed. Maybe it was wandering in search of revenge.

  Or perhaps his soul didn’t care about revenge at all…

  “Hehe! Still… it doesn’t matter.”

  Sharv whispered to himself softly.

  Even if his uncle’s soul didn’t seek revenge, and had passed on from this human world to join Brahman, it wouldn’t make any difference to Sharv.

  He would still hunt down the Black Spear King. After all, the Black Spear King had taken the last piece of his life and family from him. Sharv would never let that go, no matter what.

  Even if he had to do anything, no matter the cost, he would do it. Only then would the fire inside him finally calm, and he could live in peace...and die in peace.

  Step! Step!

  Sharv and the remaining participants were now walking down the hill, weaving between paths. In front, the Death Hall Master and the guards were leading, and the others followed behind.

  After the second trial ended, everyone had assumed that the third trial would begin immediately. But that didn’t happen.

  The Death Hall Master announced that the remaining trials would take place tomorrow. Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

  After such a tiring day, they finally had a chance to rest and now that chance has come.

  Sharv walked among the group, with his master hovering in the air beside him, one hand resting lightly on Sharv’s head. Since she was a spirit, her weight was almost nothing; Sharv didn’t feel a thing on his head.

  ‘So, tell me, have you remembered everything I taught you?’

  Sharv’s master asked. Sharv replied:

  - Yes… I’ve remembered most of it, just… I’m having some trouble with the flow of prana in the nadis after it moves into the palm.

  ‘Huh?! I’ve explained this to you so many times and you still have trouble? What type of person are you?’

  Tak!

  Sharv’s master lightly punched the top of his head. Even without a weight, Sharv could still feel it; though he could withstand it.

  ‘What’s so difficult about it? You just need to remember the flow through the nadis of your palms, that’s it!’

  - Yes, that’s the problem… How can I remember them? It’s not like I can always know where each nadi is.

  ‘Ahh! I didn’t realize that teaching could be this difficult!’

  They were actually discussing a Martial Art Technique.

  Sharv’s master was about to teach him one of her own Martial Art Techniques, which made Sharv excited and eager. But there was one obstacle.

  He couldn’t practice the technique in front of everyone here. So far, he could only understand the theoretical part of it.

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  He couldn’t perform it practically, which made understanding the technique extremely challenging.

  The biggest difficulty was understanding the flow of internal energy; Prana through the body’s nadis.

  ‘Martial Arts sounds easy when listening or watching superficially, but thinking through the entire process inside the mind is extremely difficult.’

  Sharv thought.

  His master intended to teach him a Claw-based Martial Art Technique. Sharv could remember the entire process in his mind, but the problem was, he couldn’t practice it.

  Theory and practical are vastly different.

  Especially when it came to controlling the flow of Prana through the nadis. No one could truly understand it without doing it themselves.

  Because…

  ‘The human body has roughly around 72,000 nadis. To perform this Claw technique, I have to use only a select few nadis that run through my shoulder, then hands and then fingers.’

  And if, by mistake, Sharv directed his Internal Energy; Prana into the wrong nadis while performing the technique, it wouldn’t work.

  And if he was even more unlucky, and the flow of internal energy went into a nadi that the body didn’t need, it could become a matter of life and death in combat.

  ‘If only I could get a little free time…’

  Sharv didn't even realized that they had stopped walking for a while.

  They were now standing in front of a large building, lightly dusted with snow. It looked like a small castle, just a little old.

  “Everyone will stay here tonight and sleep. Tomorrow, the remaining trials will take place. And remember, don’t even think about removing the white strip from your face unless you are told to. Otherwise, your life will be forfeit. Understand?”

  The Death Hall Master said in his deep, commanding voice. Everyone stiffened, shocked, and serious.

  While all this was happening...

  ‘!!!’

  Sharv’s master suddenly sensed something strange.

  ‘This… this much negative energy?!…’

  She could feel a powerful surge of negative energy rushing toward her from the side.

  ‘Shit! Too late!!!—Disciple! Hurry and put me back into my vessel!’

  She rushed in front of Sharv and shouted.

  ‘?!’

  Sharv raised an eyebrow.

  - Why? What happened? Did someone sense you?!

  He asked, completely unaware of the negative energy rapidly approaching them.

  ‘I said hur!...’

  The woman shouted, and before she could finish, Sharv immediately pulled her back into her sacred thread—her vessel.

  ‘What happened to you? Why are you panick...’

  ‘!!!’

  Vijay was about to ask when... He too felt a heavy wave of negative energy. A chill crawled down his spirit form.

  ‘Such overwhelming negative energy?!’

  Vijay now understood exactly why the woman was acting like that.

  ‘Now do you understand?!’

  The woman yelled at him.

  Sharv could hear the conversation inside his head. He wasn’t a fool; he knew someone had sensed his master. The only thing he didn’t know was who, and how.

  ‘I should stay aler…’

  ‘!!!’

  He was still thinking when, he too felt something approaching from his side… something with an enormous amount of negative energy.

  His pupils shrank.

  Goosebumps spread across his entire body.

  - What is this?... This much negative energy? Just what rank could this spirit be?!

  Sharv asked his master and Vijay.

  But instead of an answer, he heard something else.

  ‘Disciple! Listen carefully! The spirit that’s coming, do NOT look at it. Don’t even try to sense it! Act as if you cannot see it at all. If it comes near, just pretend you’re feeling a bit cold from it's presence and nothing more! Understand?!’

  Swoooosh!

  Just as his master finished speaking, an intense wave of negative energy passed right beside Sharv, almost brushing him.

  He felt it, yet didn’t react much, except for a slight shiver.

  Shiver!

  “Ugh! So cold…”

  “Ahh! What kind of wind was that?”

  “Why is it freezing all of a sudden?”

  The other kids around Sharv felt a cold breeze pass by, they also shivered. But they have absolutely no idea that a terrifyingly powerful spirit is standing right next to them.

  ‘There’s a heavy amount of lunar energy mixed in with the Death Prana…’

  Sharv thought.

  He felt an urge to turn and look at the spirit, but he held himself back.

  Swoosh!

  Suddenly, that Spirit moved behind him.

  ‘Eh? Where did it go?...’

  A voice echoed in Sharv, Vijay and Sharv's Master's ears. It's an older woman’s voice, maybe middle-aged or even older.

  Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

  The spirit moved through the children, drifting around as if searching for someone.

  “All of you will now move inside. Each participant will get a separate room to sleep in.”

  A guard announced.

  Step! Step!

  Everyone began walking toward the building. As Sharv walked, he finally saw her.

  The spirit’s hair was half black and half white. She wore the traditional clothing of the mountain women. Her face looked like that of a normal woman in her 40's, maybe 45 at most.

  Which meant she must have died around that age. However, how old her spirit was now, after death… that was impossible to tell.

  Step! Step!

  Suddenly, the spirit looked directly at Sharv and floated toward him.

  ‘Strange… I sensed someone’s negative energy here…’

  The spirit muttered. She had definitely sensed Sharv’s master earlier.

  Sharv can easily hear her, but didn’t react strangely at all.

  Every few seconds, he shivered lightly or exhaled cold air, pretending he was only feeling the chill from her lunar energy, just like the others.

  He didn’t even realize when he reached a room.

  Shut!

  He closed the door behind him. The room was of average size, neither big nor small with one bed and a few torches and candles for light.

  But Sharv didn’t care about any of that.

  What worried him was the spirit that had followed him all the way inside. He had no idea why she came to his room only.

  “Haa… what a shitty day… my whole body hurts…”

  Sharv complained as he lay on the bed. He was only pretending. He closed his eyes, but what he heard next made him freeze.

  ‘Eh? This boy… has lunar energy?’

  ‘.!!’

  ***

  In the heart of the Kashmir valley, by the edge of a cold, silent pond, a man sat with his feet dipped into the freezing water yet he didn’t feel even a hint of cold.

  He sat there with an air of effortless authority, a long smoking pipe resting between his lips as faint wisps of smoke curled upward.

  His skin was pale; paler than milk almost as if someone had drained every last drop of blood from his body.

  This man is the Leader of the Crimson Heaven Society.

  Fuu!...

  He exhaled slowly, releasing a stream of smoke from his mouth.

  “The sun has already set… Surendranath still hasn’t arrived…”

  The Society Leader spoke in a low voice.

  He had expected Surendranath to bring that boy (Sharv) to him before the day ended. But that clearly had not happened.

  “Tch! That Surendranath… I swear… Looks like I’ll have to go myself…”

  The Society Leader rose to his feet, pulling his legs out of the icy pond. He could not afford to waste any more time waiting.

  ‘Surendranath claimed he had locked the boy inside the Death Hall’s dungeon. Did those two get into another fight again? Tch! Tch!’

  The Society Leader knew very well about the feud between Surendranath and the Death Hall Master in fact, everyone in the Crimson Heaven Society knew.

  But in front of those two, no one dared utter a single word about the reason behind their conflict.

  Fear kept their mouths shut.

  ‘Well, what do I care? I only need to focus on my objective…’

  He thought, lifting his gaze toward the sky. There was no moon, only an empty night with some twinkling stars. It was the night of the Amavasya (new moon).

  Looking at the moonless sky, the Society Leader let out a small chuckle, thin trails of smoke escaping from his mouth and nose along with it.

  “I shouldn’t delay any further.”

  He murmured. And then without making a sound... he vanished from the spot.

  1. AMAVASYA (????????) :