No, he would not.

Victor felt a sense of pride. Like most martial artists on Nexus, Victor held the Old Man of Pui on a certain pedestal. The Old Man had been the sole person flying the flag of martial arts for the past few decades and he had even treated Victor as a peer when they had their meeting after the briefing. The Old Man seem to be genuinely happy that there was another mystic warrior on Nexus and had been open about his techniques when they had their meeting. The two exchanged techniques, knowledge, ideas, and the Old Man had even introduced his son to Victor.

Martial Arts was not dead, not as long as Nexus had men like the Old Man of Pui around.

“Yes, the Old Man deserve to be called a legend,” Victor happily admit, “but Reunion, you said something about mistakes and unorthodox techniques. What do you mean?”

“Well, in Qi Flow, the most important thing is the body. Like I said earlier, most cultivators practising Qi Flow use their bodies to interact with the Qi, and the way to do that is through a set series of movements. These movements are their techniques, that is why the Art is sometimes call Qi Dancing. Learning the dance is so important it takes up most of the cultivator’s time, and most cultivators try to commit the dance movements to muscle memory. The Old Man has none of the movements. He has no techniques.”

“What?” Victor’s heart trembled. “The Old Man had been winning without any cultivation techniques? How is that possible?”

“It takes cultivators years to properly research a new technique. On most cultivation worlds, there are entire clans and sects devoted to researching them. The Old Man is just one man. He has no tutors, no manuals, or even a point of reference for cultivation, so how could he possibly learn techniques on his own? He would need to invent them on his own, and that’s near impossible for just one man.”

Victor was in shock as he remembers all the accolades the Old Man of Pui had. “But…he wins! He had help take down villains on the A-list! He had beaten supervillains on the B-list before. Solo. How did he do it without any technique?”

“With great skill, and superb fighting instinct.” Reunion said with a smile. “He may not have any techniques, but please remember that he is a cultivator. His speed, reflexes and agility has been enhanced. His fighting instinct is superb. He is amazingly hard to hit in combat, skipping in and out of range of attacks at will, and when he attacks, the Old Man just transferred his available Qi into that rapier of his and overwhelm the defenses of his opponents with speed and power. I guess if you wish to be kind, you can consider that transfer of Qi to his rapier to be a Weapon Art technique but that is about the only thing he has.”

“A Weapons Art?”

“A crude form of it. His Weapon Arts is full of piercing power, and nothing else. No nuances or trickery about it at all.” Reunion sighed in disappointment.

Victor begun to understand. He had seen videos of the Old Man fighting before, and had noticed how tricky he is in combat. Most of the martial art techniques on Nexus are tricks to help martial artists avoid being hit, and the Old Man was the embodiment of that. His defence and control of spacing is great, and his attacks are devastating. A hit from his rapier is usually enough to end any fight. Rumour has it that the Old Man once managed to pierce through the armor of five tanks placed side-by-side during a demonstration.

“Well, if it works, it works.” Victor hesitates for a moment before asking, “How can I, or you, help him with his cultivation?”

Reunion’s eyebrows raised at that. “Okay, that’s a surprise. Why do you want to help him? Isn’t he a hero? Isn’t he a rival mystic martial artist?”

Victor had to chuckle at that. “The Old Man is a genius, even you acknowledge that. I am just a cheater with a System. I have a long way to go before I can be considered a rival of his. Honestly, I don’t think I’m even in the same league.”

“True,” Reunion brutally agreed, “but that doesn’t mean you need to help him. Why do you want to?”

“Because he is the Old Man of Pui.” The blank look on Reunion told Victor he would need to explain further. “I was a martial artist first before I became a villain and the Old Man is the standard bearer of Martial Arts on Nexus. He is the living example of how a martial artist could still thrive in today’s world. And unlike me, he didn’t cheat to get there. Now that he has a problem, and if it is within my power to help him, I would.”

“That’s not a very villainous way of thinking, especially if I take it you mean to help his son?”

“Yes.”

A man in this thirties, Gu Ming was the Old Man’s son and successor. However, he was no mystic warrior, and it was widely known that the Old Man was trying to find a way to make his son one. Most people believe it was futile. Despite his best attempts, no student of the Old Man had ever managed to become a mystic warrior. However, with a System’s help, nothing was impossible. Victor’s hopes were immediately dashed.

“Oh, that’s impossible.”

“What?”

“It’s impossible.” Reunion repeated. “That son of his has no chance of becoming a cultivator.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“Why not? Not everyone could be a cultivator. I am sure I told you that before.”

Victor gave Reunion an incredulous look. “You also told me there are worlds out there where everyone is a cultivator. Now, you are saying Gu Ming can’t be one. Both statements can’t be true at the same time.”