A few years ago my wife and I purchased a 50 year old condo that needed some TLC. We've slowly been chipping away at things that needed done and recently moved onto the bathroom. We purchased a new light fixture figuring it would be a pretty easy change... That is, until I removed the old fixture. This is the entire gallery, but I will be outlining each picture so you can follow more easily. http://imgur.com/a/lPzoB

This is the shit fixture in question. It has clearly seen better days. http://imgur.com/ywqqd2M

take out outside plates, so far so good. http://imgur.com/3224zeP

Get the screws off the plate and lift it up... what the fuck. http://imgur.com/vL1yIB9

Why would anyone do that? I need to look deeper. Light! http://imgur.com/cHSkOVq

Is... is that the stud? Could they not get by? I don't understand. http://imgur.com/fBrPrkv

Wire pulled out as far as it will go. It looks like the original builder just gave up. http://imgur.com/Mplisrt

I believe these are my options, but I am not really sure never having done much of anything.

1. Drill through the stud and run more wire from where the fixture is spliced. Install a box centered where I want my new light frixture. A home depot associate told me that I may need to put a cover where the new home is rather than patching it to meet code.

2. Same as above but done by a professional.

What would you do in this situation?