Li Yu turned back to the girl.

  "He didn't eat a rock," Li Yu announced. "He’s got a slipped disc. Or the lizard equivalent of such a thing."

  He looked at the harness on the lizard’s back. It was unevenly loaded with heavy water jugs on one side and lighter grain sacks on the other.

  "You’re loading him unbalanced," Li Yu explained gently to the girl. "He’s been compensating with his muscles and by leaning to the left for miles most likely. His back muscles just gave up."

  "Oh no. This is all my fault!" the girl gasped. "Is he broken?"

  "He will be fine, don’t worry. Just knotted," Li Yu said. "Hold his head."

  Li Yu rubbed his hands together, generating a gentle warmth. Then he applied some life Qi to his hands as well. He applied his palms to the beast’s lower back.

  "Relax," Li Yu whispered.

  He used a technique he learned at a road side stall that specialized in making meatballs. The shop owner called the Flowing River Massage.

  ‘Everyone gave everything such grand names, like my staff technique ‘Drunken Monkey Destroys the World.’ Li Yu had thought at the time. It was a technique usually meant for tenderizing meat but applied here with healing intent.

  He pushed Qi into the knotted muscle, dissolving the lactic acid buildup and gently nudging the vertebrae back into alignment. The life Qi also helped to give the creature some renewed strength and helped reduce its fatigue.

  Pop. Pop. Pop as the bones cracked into place.

  The Dune-Strider let out a long hiss of relief. Its legs twitched and then it rolled onto its stomach. It then was pushing itself up. It shook its body, sending a cloud of dust into the air and then licked Li Yu’s face with a sandpaper like tongue.

  "There you go," Li Yu laughed while wiping the grit off his cheek. "Balance your load next time. Two jugs on each side."

  The girl hugged the lizard’s neck. "Thank you! I don't have any money... oh! Wait!"

  She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small glittering object. It was a dragonfly made of spun glass. It looked incredibly delicate but also beautiful. How it managed to survive in her pocket, Li Yu had no idea. Perhaps it was tougher than it looked.

  "My dad makes these," she said proudly with her head held high. "Please take it! It is my thanks to you for helping us."

  "It’s beautiful," Li Yu accepted the gift. "I’ll keep it safe."

  He tucked the glass dragonfly into his belt pouch but actually sent it into his storage ring. He didn’t think he would have the same luck as the girl for keeping it safe on his belt pouch.

  "Just be careful!" the girl warned as she led her lizard away. "My dad made five of those yesterday and three of them disappeared from his locked workbench this morning! Whoever is stealing things seems to like them!"

  Li Yu patted his pouch. "I’ll keep an eye on it. Take care now"

  By evening Li Yu had decided to stay the night in Glint-Edge. He found a room at The Refracted Spoon which apparently doubled as an inn. The room was small but clean. The walls were made of thick opaque glass but the roof had some clear panels that let in the moonlight.

  He sat on the bed and was unpacking his travel gear.

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  "Let's do a gear check," Li Yu muttered. "Paranoia is contagious. There shouldn’t be anyone that could steal something from under my nose but I can’t help but check." He was concerned with the items that he left in his pack instead of his storage ring.

  He laid out his items. The jar of Thousand-Year Soy Paste. The block of cheese. His cooking herbs and spices that he brought along his journey so far. His leftover jerkies that he had in his pack for snacking along the way. Then he placed the glass dragonfly on the table, which he had taken out from his storage ring.

  Everything was there.

  'I have maintained a perimeter the entire day for the entire town to see if I could find anything.' Tekton reported from the bedside table. 'I have not found anyone or anything that could have done this. However, I keep hearing about items going missing or being stolen. Whoever or whatever it is, their mastery in the void or stealth is higher than mine.'

  'That is quite interesting. I haven’t been keeping track of the entire town because I was exploring and enjoying myself.' Li Yu paused. 'But if they are able to avoid your senses, they must be quite special indeed…'

  Li Yu frowned at the thought. He picked up his real staff, Star-Crusher. Since his breakthrough to the Myriad Leviathan Body, the staff felt ridiculously light. He twirled it effortlessly between his fingers while he thought.

  "If someone is stealing things," Li Yu mused, "they are bypassing physical security. The guard’s spear, the blacksmith’s tongs... those are heavy items. Taking them without sound or notice implies..."

  He stopped mid sentence because he realized something ridiculous. Something that couldn’t possibly be happening. It was so outrageous he had to look several times before he truly believed it. He looked at the table. The glass dragonfly was gone.

  Li Yu blinked a few times because he felt like he was in an illusion. He hadn't looked away. In the few moments that he wasn’t looking at it, the delicate glass ornament had vanished from the table right in front of him.

  It evaded both his and Tekton’s spiritual sense. His mastery of the void should have let him know anything that came around him. This was something that should not have happened. The only way this was possible is if they had some sort of special ability, had some special treasure or the most ridiculous was their mastery in void or some other law. A law that allowed them to hide from him, right in front of his nose. That was terrifying.

  "Hey!" Li Yu exclaimed while rocketing up. "I just got that!"

  'What is going on… Is this town haunted?' Tekton questioned. 'I did not detect anything. I did not detect a hand. It simply ceased to be there.'

  Li Yu narrowed his eyes. He reached out with his spiritual sense and void laws. He began scanning the room. Nothing. No residual Qi. No footprints. Then he sensed it, fluctuations in the void.

  "Space manipulation," Li Yu whispered. "Someone—or something—is reaching through space to grab things. That is probably what is happening."

  He checked his other items. The Soy Paste was safe. The Cheese was safe.

  "They took the shiny thing," Li Yu realized. "The dragonfly. The coins. The blacksmith's polished tongs. The metal spear tip."

  'A creature or thing that likes shiny things?' Tekton suggested.

  'Something like that,' Li Yu gritted his teeth. 'But stealing from me is bad for one's health. It’s made its final mistake!' Li Yu thought but then realized he was quite powerless against them if they stole from him, right under his nose.

  He sat back down and was staring at the empty spot on the table. He wasn't angry about the value of the item; he was annoyed by the principle. And he was intrigued.

  "Tekton," Li Yu said softly. "We aren't leaving tomorrow."

  'We aren't?'

  "No. I'm going to set a trap. I need to get to the bottom of this. Nobody steals my souvenirs."

  He lay back on the bed, his mind racing. The town was plagued by a thief they couldn't see, a thief that could reach through locked doors and seemingly thin air. It explained the paranoia, the exhaustion of the guards. But once again, the thing didn’t hurt anyone. It simply stole.

  It wasn't just a pest. It was a threat to the town's livelihood. While it didn’t hurt them physically. It was hurting them mentally.

  "Tomorrow," Li Yu promised the empty room. "We go fishing. But not for fish."

  He closed his eyes and restored his entire cultivation. He let his senses expand. He could feel the vibrations of the town—the footsteps of the guards, the snoring of the guests, the grinding of the sand. And underneath it all, a faint, scuttling rhythm that didn't belong to this dimension.

  The "Quiet Physician" was off the clock. His journey for personal enjoyment had to be put on pause. The hunter was clocking in.

  'Goodnight, Tekton. Keep the soy paste safe. No one steals from us twice in a row.' Li Yu said with a small laugh. He was very interested in tracking down the culprits now.

  Li Yu drifted off to sleep to rest. The faint hiss of the desert wind outside masking the sound of invisible doorways opening and closing in the dark.