It was almost second nature to Victor by now.

The dive, the darkness, seeing the field of grass, the small but growing forest, and the laser pointer; the last was quickly becoming his favourite thing in his inner world. Victor looked around for Reunion, not wanting to waste any opportunity to needle the system. He quickly spotted Reunion, and his eyes widened.

Today, the System was a plain and honest-looking old man dressed in traditional clothes with grey hair and a with well-groomed mustache. The System had obviously inspired by the Old Man of Pui, but the reason for Victor’s surprise was what the System was doing.

Reunion was riding on his spirit bear!

The spirit bear who was usually laying lazily on the grass was now carrying the System and walking around the grass field as Reunion’s mount. Victor felt an unreasonable pang of jealousy. He wants to ride on the bear!

Reunion must have known about his desire because the System turned his head to look at Victor and gave him a slow arrogant wave. He fought against his desire to rush over and pull the System off the bear. Instead, Victor chose to be the mature one and walked steadily towards the grinning System.

“Having fun?” Victor asked when he reached the two infuriating demons. Reunion just laughed.

“What do you think, Master Fist?”

He knew it was a mistake, but Victor could not help but roll his eyes. Reunion’s grin got wider. Victor refused to acknowledge his smile, and got on with it.

“I take it you heard everything. The whole conversation between me and the Old Man?”

“Of course! Considering this is the first time you spoke to another cultivator; I have to be present to see how badly you would embarrass yourself.” Reunion gave a small sigh. “Unfortunately, you got through it very well. I was expecting a great disaster.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” It was now Victor’s turn to grin. He may be smiling, but Victor’s eyes were intense, and he had to ask. “Is the Old Man even a cultivator? He said he did not feel anything, and I believe he was telling the truth.”

“He was,” Reunion said, “and he is a cultivator. He is just practicing a different kind of cultivator.”

“What do you mean?”

“You remember what I told you about specialized techniques?” Reunion asked as he jumped off the spirit bear. A growl escaped Victor.

“You mean the time when you told me I have a demon within me?”

This time, it was Reunion who rolled his eyes. “It is not a demon! It is a spirit beast. You know what? Let’s not argue about that now, it is beside the point. The cultivation the Old Man of Pui is practicing is a specialized form of cultivation like Spiritual Arts, Weapons Arts, and the like.”

“What it’s called? And why can’t the Old Man feel the core of the monsters?”

“That’s simple. He can’t feel them because he doesn’t have a core. He is practicing a combination of Weapons Art and Qi Flow.”

“You told me about Weapons Art before, but what in the name of the Gaps is Qi Flow?” Victor asked before another question came to him. “You said a ‘combination’. Does that mean he is practising two different cultivation arts?”

Reunion instinctively stood straighter and gave Victor a look like he was about to give a lecture to an ignorant student.

“Qi Flow, also known as Bending, Qi Dancing, and a couple of other names, is the art of cultivation that allows you to change the flow of Qi and bend it to your will. The cultivators who practice this technique do not gather Qi, but instead moved the Qi in their environment to suit their needs. The cultivator would need to sense the Qi around him, how it moves and interacts with the world around him, and then use a series of moves and techniques to bend the flow the Qi. The cultivator does not need to gather the Qi to form a core, and that is why the Old Man of Pui do not sense the monsters.”

“Okay, he does not have a core,” Victor understood that part at least, “but is Qi Flow better or worse than Core Cultivation?”

Reunion huffed dismissively at the question. “All the Arts has their pros and cons. In the case of Core Cultivation, you have a container to draw from. It would make no difference to you even if you are in an area with little to no Qi, but the Old Man would be severely hampered by the lack of Qi in the environment. Of course, the reversal is also true. In a Qi-rich environment like that secret island you have, the Old Man of Pui would probably be much more powerful than you.”

“However, Nexus do not have a lot of Qi.”

Reunion nodded. “Correct, which was why I did not introduce the art to you. If Nexus ever becomes a Qi-rich world in the future, the Art of Qi Flow would be very powerful, but currently it is not a viable art to practice on Nexus.”

“Are you sure about that? The Old Man of Pui had been the sole mystic warrior of Nexus for the past twenty years. Superpowers, magic, technology; he had taken on all comers and beat them all. How could he had won if his Art was not viable?” Victor shook his head and objected.

“He is a genius. You are not.”

“What?” Victor raised his eyebrow at that.

“You heard me. The Old Man of Pui is a genius. In fact, I would say that about all the mystics recorded throughout your history.”

“Uh…Reunion, you need to explain yourself.”

“Host, cultivators need to be taught. They need a teacher, books to read, lessons to learn. You have the fortune of having me as a teacher. You have books from other cultivation worlds to learn from. The Old Man of Pui had no one. He had nothing. Everything he knows was self-taught, and he still managed to be a cultivator. Of course, that inevitably leads to some mistakes and unorthodox techniques, but would you argue against calling a man like that a genius?”