The Northern Warrior stood far away from Baiyi. He had no idea that the Fifth Walker had seized the time to have a conversation with the voices in his head, as he himself could not possibly hear the conversation. To the Northern Warrior, Baiyi was acting proud again, looking down on him even after he had gotten serious; in fact, to him, Baiyi was so proud, he was giving him, the Northern Warrior, time to recover his depleted combat chi.
The Northern Warrior sneered in fury. When his combat chi was restored to 80% of its total amount, he finally spoke.
“Fie. Despite everything, a’m still met wi’ utter scorn from ye. Yer grave shall be engraved wi’ a cautionary stoory o’ hubris ‘n’ ego, Sir,alang wi’ yer deepest regret. O’ that, a’m sure.”
“Gods, you really think you’re some kinda big cheese, huh?” Baiyi replied, feeling amused. “Ah well. I guess it falls to me to educate you — on what “the Gap of Unequal Power” really means!”
Baiyi’s body suddenly began to emit a torrent of combat chi, which quickly encased his body, just as the Northern Warrior was doing. Unlike the Northern Warrior’s scalding green combat chi, Baiyi’s combat chi was a deep azure. The combat chi seemed like it was made of ice, yet it flickered like flames.
The Northern Warrior’s face paled as soon as he saw Baiyi’s combat chi. Then, he exclaimed in disbelief, “F-Frozen Fire?! B-bit that’s impossible! There is na wey ye cuid hae kent th’ unsung secret o’ th’ Azure Cloud Sect!”
“Oh, please; you sure it’s impossible?” Baiyi retorted, snickering. “This was never the Azure Cloud Sect’s creation, anyway.”
Baiyi stowed the War God’s Sword back into his pouch and proceeded to copy the Northern Warrior’s previous actions — condensing his combat chi to form a Northern long saber. He sought to duel with the Northern Holy-level warrior… the Northern way!
As Baiyi’s long saber twirled in the air, his combat chi began to distort before taking the shape of a gigantic bird which was unfurling its wings.
The Northern Warrior’s face turned as white as a sheet of paper. His lips trembled as he stared fixedly at Baiyi; he had even forgotten to attack! All he managed to mutter was: “How… Howdifur cuid ye possibly kno th’ sacred dance o’ blades? Wh-what manner o’ kinship dae ye hae wi Th’ Martial Saintess?”
In the past, before the Northern Warrior’s glaring feud with his junior, he was once the most promising student of the Azure Cloud Sect. He was the focus of the sect’s training, earning prestige because of his potential. This also earned him the right to know the deepest secrets of the sect, which it had guarded for a long time. This was how he came to know about the existence of the strange combat chi form called Frozen Fire; a fighting way so potent, the sect treated it as their ultimate, sect-saving technique. The Northern Warrior also learned that it was a technique made by someone else…
There was a legend most Northern warriors knew by heart. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful maiden who was rumored to possess the charm of a goddess; somehow, this maiden only had a passion for martial arts. She was not ranked high, but her true prowess was immense. She desired only the paragon of power, so she traveled the land, challenging fighters she deemed valuable, collecting martial art techniques that she found interesting, and leaving many fables and tales in her wake.
She hailed from the Northern Land, so she resided there for a very long time. With her innate talent, she invented her own form of elemental combat chi named ‘Frozen Flame’. She also went on to invent a complete set of an entirely new sword-fighting style called the ‘Kun-Peng’ 1 ; that was all she needed. Armed with Frozen Flame and Kun-Peng, the maiden defeated every fighter the Northern Land had to offer, until everyone that was worthy had been challenged. She even managed to do the impossible — defeating the entire Azure Cloud Sect alone.
In the end, in exchange for her Frozen Fire, she obtained many martial secrets from the defeated sect.
Thus, her landmark track record earned her the title of “The Martial Saintess”, and she became an idol and an inspiration to countless Northern warriors, both new and old. The maiden herself, however, was rumored to be very reserved and even cold; she only wanted to be referred to as ‘The Warrior’.
Then, one day, she disappeared without a trace. Some people speculated that she finally met her match and was erased completely by whoever that may be; some people speculated she had achieved the arete she was looking for her whole life, and so she had retired into the mountains; however, even more people speculated that she had simply married a very fortunate man, had a happy family, complete with her own children, and was living a normal life.
No one could have guessed the truth. The Warrior had been suppressing her power for a very long time, too long. She eventually could not suppress it anymore, and when the immense power gained from her previous breakthrough was unleashed, the Laws instantly erased her from reality and hurled her soul straight into the Void. Similar to an unstable esper who gained too much power, and because of this, the esper promptly gets sent into a singularity 2 .
It was a pity that the famous warrior had now become a little piggy who spent the majority of her time ‘hmphing’ and huffing to blow some steam away from a chronically-unaware idiot, Baiyi. She had even managed to infect another Voidwalker with her bad habits — a Voidwalker who was known as the most powerful assassin when she was still alive.
This was the tale of the 28th Voidwalker — a tale that a Northern folk like the foe Baiyi was facing, knew. He just never thought that one day, he would live to see the legendary arts, Frozen Fire and the Kun-Peng Sword-fighting style, in action.
“A’ o’ ye — Withdraw! Nobody gets intae mah wey!” The Northern Warrior commanded his teammates.
He seemed to have completely forgotten the objective of his mission. He raised his blade before his chest and gave a salute that Northern warriors give to one another. “Tae see both Frozen Fire ‘n’ Kun-Peng is my greatest honor. Prithee, shaw me.”
‘Never having the chance to learn the secret technique of the Sect. Seeing the legend reanimated before my eyes. The shame of being forsaken before I ever had the chance. The grief of being leashed by the nobles like a hound.’ At that very moment, he finally remembered what it meant to possess the pride and honor as a Northern Warrior.
“Captain! We’re here on an assassination mission—” Sorcerer Terrier was perplexed as he sullenly reminded their leader.
“Quiet.” That was all the Northern Warrior uttered.
“Urgh…” Sorcerer Terrier shook his head quietly. ‘Can’t ask brawns to have brains, can you?’
“I’m as honored. Prithee, after you!” Baiyi replied as per the Azure Cloud Sect custom, and the large phantom bird spread its wings wide open, ready to soar into the sky.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!” The Northern Warrior gave a low warcry, releasing every bit of combat chi from his body. The long saber in his hand was swung so fast, it was only a blur to the naked eyes, and with every swing, it created dangerous gusts that sounded like a tiger’s roar.
Baiyi and the Northern Warrior moved at the same time, lunging at each other. All the bystanders could see was a large bird tearing through the skies, while an enormous wild tiger rushed forward, with a thunderous roar. Both beasts — no, both long sabers collided in mid-air. The arms of both opponents had moved so fast, everything the bystanders had seen were blurry afterimages.
A huge explosion brimming with combat chi engulfed Baiyi and the Northern Warrior, and shattered the earth around them, leaving only gaping dark ditches and crystalline dents in its wake.
None of the spectating members of the assassination team could even tell what was going on in the battle. The archer stood at a distance, gripping his combat chi longbow, and beads of sweat dripped down from his forehead. The uneven flow of air, disrupted by the unstable combination of combat chi emanating from the battle, was starting to make breathing harder even for the archer. He could not believe that he had been engaged in a battle with someone like that.
More laughably, he could not believe that he had considered Baiyi only a mere sorcerer, the entire time.
“The Northern Land. The home of the heroes…” the archer sighed. Then, unable to contain himself, he muttered to no one in particular, “But this Hope… Who are you, really?”
Meanwhile, Nergal, who seemed fond of talking, was stunned silent. He almost could not hold on to his daggers as the battle ensued. The only thing he could do was to ask himself, dumbfounded, “What the f*ck did we do to meet someone like that?!”