"Deeper," Li Yu screamed internally. "I need to go deeper!"

  He pushed. He forced his understanding of void laws past the breaking point.

  CRACK.

  For the first time in his life, Li Yu slipped through the barrier within the first layer of the void and made it to the second layer. The grey mist had vanished and was replaced by a swirling, chaotic darkness of deep purple and absolute black. He had finally done it.

  The pressure from the hand did not vanish though. It got weaker but it was still coming at him. Li Yu gasped as he tried to push through the third layer of the void. He immediately smashed into the wall and bounced back.

  His understanding of the void was too shallow to reach the third layer. He thought and knew it most likely wouldn’t work, but he had to try. The hand was coming for him and this was the only way out. With no other choice, Li Yu made the decision to forcefully smash his way in.

  The move was suicidal. Without understanding the void laws but existing in such a plane would rip his body apart. However, there was no choice now. The hand behind him was certain death while the third layer of the void was his chance at survival, however slim.

  Star Crusher appeared in his hand and he channeled everything he had. He used his staff and smashed into the third barrier. It cracked and shattered as Li Yu leapt through without a second thought.

  The pain was instant. It was unbearable. He regretted not wearing the protective robes that Granny Tie had given him. Whether or not it would have actually helped, he didn’t really know. His incredibly tough body was barely holding on as soon as it entered this layer. The void layer seemed to just rip through any protective Qi that he was able to muster.

  ‘Damn you and your ancestors!!’ Li Yu roared at the hand. To his slight relief the pressure from the hand had vanished completely. It was now standing still. It couldn’t reach where he was. Before it seemed like the hand was everywhere. No matter where he went it was there. Now, it was just stuck there.

  He didn’t have time to celebrate though. The agony of being here was too much to endure or take. He fought through the pain and void stepped within the third layer of the void. The chaotic energy here was too powerful for him.

  It was like trying to force his way through a bush full of knives. His body started bleeding from all the cuts and destructive force. Not only was it cutting his skin, it also was tearing into his meridians.

  Li Yu gritted his teeth and forced himself to keep going. To keep pushing. After just a bit, he made it through but did not know how far he had actually gone. He immediately tried to smash his way through the barrier of the third layer to head back to the second layer. He needed to get back. He had smashed with Star Crusher but he couldn’t break through like before.

  He tried to smash it again but the blow was even weaker. He was a spent force that was being ripped to shreds. He had already used up everything he could to reach this far. Li Yu now didn’t have enough to return.

  He smashed again and again but each strike was weaker than the previous. His body was getting more and more damaged. Just when he was about to lose consciousness, he saw an ethereal hook fly out from his body and smash into the barrier. The hook seemed to effortlessly break it.

  Li Yu simply fell through the broken barrier that was created. Barrier after barrier broke until he had fallen back to the world that he knew. He laid there, completely broken and battered against the snow. Gasping for breath but each breath he took felt like he was getting stabbed.

  His last thought was to send a pulse through his soul connection with Tekton for help. For the Centipede to find him and help him. He passed out soon after.

  Back at the ridge, the massive hand met a wall it couldn’t pass through.

  "What?" the voice roared loudly and shook the mountains. "The third layer? A mere ant accessed the deep void? But why can’t my hand enter either? Something is sealing it off."

  The owner of the hand was a being sitting on a throne in a realm of shadows. He paused in disbelief. He had expected to crush a bug. Instead, the bug had stepped through a wall that shouldn't have been passable for anyone with his cultivation realm.

  "No matter," the voice sneered. "I will simply—"

  The world stopped. A new pressure descended. It didn't come from the sky. It didn't come from the ground. The pressure was just suddenly everywhere and seemed to come from every direction. It was ancient and heavy.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "All you damn worms have been bothering me lately. Since you insist on coming here," the voice said calmly. "You can leave the arm."

  From the empty air above the rift a figure stepped out. It was a Khaos.

  The attacker in the rift felt a spike of genuine terror. Its instincts were screaming at it. It felt like this was a being that he couldn’t hope to ever face.

  "Who—"

  Khaos didn't wait for him to speak any further. He didn't even raise his voice. He made a gesture with his hand towards the massive runic hand.

  SNAP.

  It wasn't a cut. It was a tear.

  With a sound like a mountain range snapping in half in an instant, Khaos ripped the entire titan-sized arm off at the shoulder. An attack that went through the rift itself and back at the source.

  "ARGHHHHHHHHH!"

  The scream from the other side of the rift shattered glaciers for miles around. Dark, golden and glowing with immense power, blood sprayed into the Northern sky like a geyser.

  Khaos ignored the scream. He waved his hand dismissively and the rift slammed shut. That severed the connection instantly. Khaos waved another hand and collected all of the blood into a gourd.

  The massive severed arm was twitching and floated in the air. It was huge, roughly the size of a pagoda.

  "Filthy thing," Khaos muttered as he was holding the gourd. He looked at the arm. His eyes narrowed.

  "But useful," Khaos mused. "The boy needs sturdy materials for his foundation. This is high-grade. It will do."

  He clenched his fist. The massive arm compressed. It folded in on itself. Bone grinding against bone and flesh condensing into crystal. It continued until it was a small crystallized object the size of a human fist. It was glowing with terrifying potential.

  Khaos flicked his finger and the object vanished into the gourd he was holding. Khaos then disappeared to where Li Yu was. He saw the battered, bleeding but alive boy laying in the snow.

  “You must learn how to deal with dangers yourself. Be able to make split second decisions, endure pain and grow stronger. Every setback is an opportunity to become even better. Good job this time, Li Yu.” Khaos spoke quietly to himself.

  He uncorked the gourd and the blood that he had gathered just moments ago appeared. It became a massive floating sphere of blood. Khaos flicked his finger and it seemed like the sphere of blood shattered and then compressed. The blood itself was stripped away and in its place was a smaller sphere of just pure essence.

  As soon as that had happened, Li Yu’s Koi Soul appeared above his unconscious body. It opened its mouth wide and sucked in the energy from above. The sphere of essence drained and Li Yu’s wounds began closing at a visible speed. Khaos had already disappeared from sight and returned to the Koi Sanctuary.

  Moments later the Koi Soul had finished absorbing the sphere and returned as well. All that was left was the time needed for Li Yu to heal with the massive influx of essence. It was like eating a supreme natural treasure. Not only will it heal, it will push his body even further once it is completely absorbed into it.

  The other side of the rift. In a realm far removed from the Frostbound Dominion. In a palace made of black rocks and refined metal a figure sat on a throne.

  The figure was massive. He was powerful. He was a ruler of realms. And he was currently roaring in pain.

  He clutched the stump of his right shoulder. What surprised and worried him the most was that the wound wasn't healing. No matter how much Qi he poured into it, the flesh refused to knit.

  For a being of his power, regrowing an arm was a simple matter. He didn’t need any kind of special pills or treasures. By using his body’s potential, strength and a large amount of Qi, he could regrow it.

  There was a residue on the wound. A purple void energy that ate away at his regeneration the moment he tired. It was acting like a seal and preventing him from taking any kind of action. Try as he might, he couldn’t remove this residue.

  "What was that?!" the entity roared as his voice trembled with pain and shock. "Who was that man? And I only used a hand! He took the entire arm!"

  His advisors were cowering at the foot of the throne and dared not speak. They had never seen their great leader lose in such a way. They had never seen him so much as lose a battle let alone be utterly defeated.

  ‘Didn’t he say he was going to kill a young man that was interfering with his plans? His arm had been destroyed and he can’t grow it back?’

  The blood pooling on the floor sizzled and was burning through the stone.

  The entity looked at his stump. He felt the lingering intent of the being that had maimed him. It was a warning. A casual and dismissive warning from something that viewed him as nothing more than a nuisance.

  "The residue..." the entity finally calmed down and whispered to himself. Terror was finally overtaking his rage. "It's... Void Qi. The understanding and laws behind it… it touches upon the Dao..."

  He sank back into his throne and the pain didn’t seem to bother him anymore. His mind began to ponder in distress and despair that the pain didn’t even register to him.

  He had planned to hunt the boy down. He had planned to send more of the creatures that the Northern called ‘Ghosts.’ He had planned to conquer that land as a staging ground for the rest of that realm. The sudden thinning of the barriers there made it a good location to attack and claim.

  Now, he only had one plan.

  "Close the connection to that realm immediately!" the entity gasped. Sweat was now pouring down his face. "Seal the pathways to that realm. Do not look there again. Do not go there. If anyone disobeys I will kill their entire family!"

  He gripped his throne with his remaining hand and was shivering uncontrollably.

  "Leave the boy alone. Leave him alone!"