Chương 492: The Layers of Nothingness

The sun beat down on Glint-Edge which should have turned the fused-glass buildings into ovens but that wasn't the case. The locals had a method of rerouting that heat through a series of pumps and vents. The heat was channeled into areas that could use it, like kitchens and ovens. Taking advantage of the situation instead of suffering from it. For the past three hours, he had been playing a game of hide and seek with a ghost.

"North quadrant," Li Yu muttered while pivoting on his foot. He had casted his spiritual sense out like a net across the town now in order to catch these thieves. Li Yu could tell the thieves knew he was looking for them but they didn't stop at all. Not one bit afraid of him.

"The Silversmith's shop." He blurred in an instant and was moving with all of his ability. He burst into the open-air workshop just as the smith let out a howl of despair.

"My hammer! The silver-inlaid one! It was right here!" Li Yu stood in the doorway, his chest heaving slightly. Not from exertion but from frustration. He was too late. Again. This was a scene that had played out too many times now. He could barely detect when they would show up and every time he appeared they were already gone. He could feel the residual ripples in the air. It was like a faint metallic taste on his spiritual tongue, like licking a battery.

The signature of space being folded, pinched and then snapped shut.

'They are fast,' Tekton commented from his wrist.

'There is no pattern. They are not stealing based on proximity; they are stealing based on... whimsy. Which makes things even harder''It's not just whimsy,' Li Yu corrected while walking over to inspect the empty anvil.

'It's arrogance. They are taunting the town. I think they are also taunting me!' This wasn't the first time the smith had seen Li Yu, he had met him once before for the same reason as now. Li Y had already explained to him that he was trying to catch the thieves but so far was not successful. Li Yu closed his eyes once again and was extending his spiritual sense. He didn't look for the thief; he looked for the next intention. The thieves were greedy. Greed had a smell to it that he was becoming accustomed to.

A flare of excitement pinged his radar from the eastern market. A gem merchant had just unpacked a shipment of Star-Sapphires.

"Got you," Li Yu whispered. He didn't run this time. Li Yu anticipated. He moved to the roof of a nearby building overlooking the market. He didn't manifest his presence and tried to hide it as best as he could. Li Yu simply became part of the scenery, a statue of patience. Below, the merchant was holding up a sapphire the size of a pigeon's egg while boasting to a customer. It was indeed a beautiful looking gem. Many people were eyeing it but few actually went up to get a closer look.

Li Yu felt the pinch in reality before it happened. The air above the gem thinned. He had witnessed this scene too many times before. Each and every time he had failed however. Li Yu lunged. His hand snatched at the empty air, his fingers coated in Void Qi to interact with the anomaly. Whoosh. His hand closed on nothing. The sapphire vanished an instant before his fingers made contact.

"Dammit!" Li Yu cursed out loud, not being able to control his frustration and anger. He landed on the merchant's table and startled the poor man into tipping over his display case.

"Thief!" the merchant screamed while pointing at Li Yu.

"No, I was trying to—oh, never mind," Li Yu sighed. He tossed some spirit stones onto the table to cover the damages and vanished again before the guards could arrive. He overpaid so there shouldn't be any problems there. Only his pride and confidence was hurt. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. He reappeared in a quiet alleyway and was leaning against a cool glass wall.

'They are reacting to my physical movement somehow,' Li Yu realized.

'I am moving through normal space to catch something in subspace. It's like trying to grab a fish by reaching through the glass of the tank.'

'Then break the glass,' Tekton suggested.

'Or get in the tank.' Li Yu looked at his hands and realized that he would have to take this a step further. He hadn't done so earlier because he didn't think he needed to. However, after too many failures he would have to up his level.

"If I want to catch a void thief," Li Yu murmured.

"I need to stop being a human in the material world." Li Yu had Tekton guard the area he was in and then he made several hand gestures. After a bit he was gone from where he was. He was still in the alley but now he was in the First Layer of the Void. And much to his surprise it was already occupied. This was the first time he had ran into such a thing. Hovering about twenty feet away and examining a pile of floating loot were the culprits he had been after all this time.

Li Yu blinked a few times to make sure he was seeing correctly. He had expected monsters. He had started to even expect ghosts. What he saw were... two small little creatures? Floating in the first layer of the void were two creatures, each no larger than a grapefruit. The first was a spider. But not a terrifying and hairy monstrosity. It was sleek, with a carapace that looked like polished glass armor. Its eight legs were tipped with glowing violet light and it moved with the elegance of a dancer.

It had eight eyes but they were arranged in a circle, glowing with intelligent, milky-white light. This was a Void-Silk Spider. The second was a worm. But "worm" was a disservice. It was a chubby, segmented creature that glowed with a soft, bioluminescent white light. It looked soft, almost plush, with tiny, vestigial wings fluttering on its back. It had no eyes, just a mouth that seemed to constantly nibble at the fabric of space. A Phase-Tunnel Worm. They were currently fighting over the Star-Sapphire.

There were no words spoken, at least none that Li Yu could hear. The spider was using its front legs to juggle the gem and clicking happily. The worm was trying to swallow it, making indignant squeaking noises that rippled through the void.

"So," Li Yu said, his voice echoing strangely in the grey space.

"You are the ones causing all the trouble." The two creatures froze, surprised that there was anyone else here. This was the first layer of the void after all and unless one had great understanding in Void Laws, they couldn't come here. Only beings at Divine Transformation could touch upon the laws and they did not detect anyone at Divine Transformation around this town. The spider slowly turned its ring of eyes toward Li Yu. The worm stopped chewing on the spider's leg.

For a moment, there was silence as one side looked at the other. Confusion was on the faces of each side. Then, the spider hissed. It wasn't an animal sound; it was a complex vibration of disdain. It clutched the sapphire to its chest (or thorax) and pointed a leg at Li Yu accusingly.

"Mine," a thought-wave projected into Li Yu's mind. It was quick, greedy and distinctly female.

"No," Li Yu said while stepping forward and towards them. His cultivation exploded to its maximum as he was preparing for a fight. These two beings were not simple at all and have evaded him this entire time.

"That belongs to the merchant. And the dragonfly belongs to me." The worm squeaked, a sound like a rubber duck being stepped on and suddenly expanded its mouth. It inhaled. Not air. It inhaled space. A vacuum formed instantly. Li Yu felt himself being dragged forward.

"Clever," Li Yu grunted. He anchored himself with his own Void Qi.

"But I have wrestled with bigger things than you." He lunged forward, his hand sweeping out to grab them. He was fast, faster than he had ever been in this first layer. His Myriad Leviathan Body adapted to this place. It made him even quicker and more in tune with it. His fingers brushed the spider's silk-smooth shell.

"Gotch—" ZIP. Li Yu stumbled. His hand closed on empty grey mist. They had evaded him yet again.

"Impossible!" Li Yu cried out involuntarily. The spider and the worm hadn't moved left or right. They hadn't teleported in the conventional sense. They had gone deeper. Li Yu looked around and then was stunned as the two grapefruit-sized thieves simply faded out of the First Layer. They moved "deeper" into an area that Li Yu couldn't yet go. It made Li Yu's soul ache just from looking at it.

"The Second Layer," Li Yu breathed. He tried to follow them. He pushed his Void Qi against the barrier and utilized his understanding of the Void Laws. CRACK. Pain shot through his head. His spiritual sense and Void Qi rebounded. The Second Layer of the Void was a chaotic storm of raw spatial tears and non-existence. Without a more thorough understanding or perhaps a specific void artifact, entering it was suicide. He would be shredded into metaphysical confetti.

Li Yu stood there stunned, defeated and surprised yet again. The taunting squeak of the worm fading into the depths.

"Damn it!!" Li Yu roared in frustration. These two have been playing him as a fool since he began the chase. They weren't worried about him at all.