Young Master, are you a cultivator

Alex's breathing was steady, his eyes shut tightly.

He was trying with all he had to grasp hold of the Qi flow within him, but it was like water poured into a cracked vessel.

The Qi entered his body, swirled in his meridians, and… vanished. Dissipated into nothingness.

After nearly an hour of effort, Roulan slowly drew back her hands. The glow between them flickered out.

Alex opened his eyes, blinking away the dizziness.

Roulan shook her head faintly, the lines at her brows drawn close in disappointment. "Forget it, Young Master. There's… no point in forcing it."

He stared at her, not fully understanding.

She met his eyes and spoke more firmly. "For the past hour, I've been injecting my Qi directly into your dantian. I was trying to stimulate it, to awaken any dormant Sea of Qi that might still be there. But it's like throwing seeds on stone. Your dantian is… completely dry. There's nothing."

The room fell into a quiet silence.

Her voice softened slightly, not out of pity, but out of formality. "I'm sorry, but you truly have no potential to cultivate."

Alex sat back, leaning against the edge of his bed, exhaling a long, tired sigh. "Alright… I understand," he said, his voice calm but edged with resignation.

Roulan stood and dusted her robes lightly. "Then, if you'll excuse me, I will take my leave," she said, her tone returning to that clipped, formal neutrality she always kept around him.

She had just turned to leave, but then something clicked in his mind and he shouted. "Wait."

She halted, looking over her shoulder. "Yes?"

Alex met her eyes. "Can you show me some fighting techniques?" he asked, not blinking.

Roulan frowned slightly, brows drawing together. "Fighting techniques?" she echoed. "What's with you today, Young Master? First, you ask me to test your cultivation potential, and now this?"

Alex stood up slowly, brushing his sleeves back. "I'm serious," he said. "Show me something, practically. Spar with me, or whatever it is you do. Maybe, I could learn something."

She crossed her arms, now genuinely confused. "Forget it, Young Master. If you had any talent for cultivation or even combat, your family would've trained you themselves. But they didn't. That should tell you everything."

He didn't argue. Instead, he looked down at his hands for a second, as if recalling something unpleasant. "They stopped bothering the moment they realized I didn't have a Sea of Qi," he said. "And… well, I was always surrounded by bodyguards, protectors. They made sure I never needed to lift a hand. But that's not going to be the case anymore, is it?"

Roulan's expression flickered for a moment, surprised at how the Qin family treated him. But then again, it is in the line of many spoiled young masters who are deemed to be useless by their respective families.

Alex continued, stepping forward, his tone quieter now. "The reason I asked you to pour your Qi into me earlier wasn't just to check if I could cultivate. I had another purpose for that."

He tapped his chest with two fingers, right over his heart. "I was observing how long I could hold the Qi you gave me before it dissipated. Turns out… a few minutes. Not long, but not nothing either."

Roulan narrowed her eyes, now watching him more seriously. She didn't understand what he was trying to say.

"So I figured," Alex went on, "if I can't generate Qi, but I can hold it, at least briefly, then maybe, in emergencies, if I'm given Qi from someone else, I can use it for something like a technique or a spell."

He looked at her, his expression calm but resolute. "If I'm ambushed and you're not fast enough… or you're down… or someone else is dead… I want to know if I can do something besides waiting to die."

There was a long pause.

Roulan stared at him, trying to decide whether this was one of his usual foolish whims… or there was some truth to it.

Well, the morning incident left a good impression on her.

So, she had the urge to believe his words. Or atleast give him another chance.

But then her logical mind took over, and she reacted. "There's no way you can't use someone else's Qi as your own. That's not how cultivation works."

Alex didn't argue.

Instead, he slowly raised his hand and extended his palm outward, a small, unreadable smile tugging at his lips.

The holographic screen appeared before him. With a thought in his mind, it scrolled down on its own, stopping at the Skills section.

[Celestial Sword of Destiny, Activate]

In the next instant, light erupted from his palm.

A radiant sword materialized in mid-air, pointing at her.

Roulan's eyes widened in pure shock. Her body instinctively shifted into a defensive stance.

"W-What?!"

With a silent motion, Alex gestured forward, his two fingers extended in a subtle but deliberate command.

The glowing sword trembled, then shot forward like a streak of lightning.

"You…" Roulan reacted instantly. Her Qi surged around her, forming a quick defensive shield of energy, but it shattered the moment the sword touched it.

The blade pierced through her barrier and struck her chest. She flinched…

But there was no pain. No blood or injury. But she felt suppression from her body to her soul.

She couldn't move. Even Qi froze inside her, locked in place.

Then, just as suddenly, the sword vanished in a burst of fading light.

Roulan gasped, stumbling a step back as the suppression lifted. She stared at Alex, her face pale, her voice hoarse.

"Young Master… what was that? Are you… a cultivator?"

Alex gave a sheepish smile, one hand scratching his cheek. "No. I'm really not."

He turned his palm toward her, fingers flexing lightly. "That sword… It's my uncle's technique, the Celestial Sword of Destiny. Since I don't have Qi, I can only use it by channeling someone else's Qi. In this case, the trace amount of Qi you left in me earlier, which was just enough to summon it for two seconds."

Roulan stared at him, stunned, buying his bluff. "So… you really can use other people's Qi?"

He nodded slightly. "Seems like it."

Roulan remained silent for a moment, absorbing the revelation. Her expression was unreadable, equal parts being wary, astonished, and thoughtful.

Finally, she asked, "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

Alex's smile faded a little. His voice was quite honest, although a pure white lie. "Because it's strange in this world to possess a unique constitution that can use others' Qi. And if people with wrong intentions found out… who knows what they will do. That's why I wouldn't even dare to reveal it to my family."

Roulan's gaze lingered on him with surprise. "And you trust me enough to reveal such a secret?"

Alex's smile returned as he replied. "I believe I am a good judge of character."

Roulan blushed a little, but then she exhaled, brushing her robes with a practiced hand. "But I am obligated to inform Patriarch Li," she said, her voice turning serious. "Perhaps… he can find a way to help you."

Alex's expression didn't change much, but his gaze sharpened subtly. He asked. "Can you… not tell the other elders and the others, then? It's best if only my father-in-law knows about this secret."

Roulan blinked, mildly surprised by the request. She hesitated for a moment, then replied carefully, "I can pass your request to the Patriarch. But whether it remains a secret or not… that's for him to decide."

Alex nodded in understanding. "Fair enough."

With a short bow, Roulan turned and left the room in swift strides, urgency marking her every step. The door clicked softly behind her.

As her presence faded, Alex's expression darkened

His fingers clenched into a fist. "It looks like I'm not destined to hold Qi, after all," he muttered to himself.

But at the very least, he could use this excuse for his ocular powers and the skills he acquired from the library.

And if he frames it this way, like he was using their Qi, mimicking techniques through 'mysterious means', then he also has an excuse when he copies their techniques with his Heaven's Eye.

Seeing this in a positive way, he chuckled under his breath, "If I could replicate the Emperor's Celestial Sword of Destiny from memory… then what's to stop me from copying every high-tier martial art in this land? Haha…"

His gaze shifted toward the window, where the sun dipped low beyond the tiled rooftops of the Li Clan estate.

As dusk settled over the estate, the lanterns in the corridors were lit one by one, casting warm amber hues across the walls.

That evening, dinner had passed smoothly for Alex, an unexpected change after the tension-filled events of the day.

His father-in-law didn't bring up his Qi mimicking technique or the fight with the brother-in-law at all. So, that means the matter is resolved. Or so Alex thought. 

Now, with the evening deepening into night, he sat alone in the Li Clan's study room, surrounded by shelves of neatly arranged scrolls and tomes. He wasn't bothered that he hadn't seen his wife all day.

Even during dinner while he was having dinner with the rest of the family, she was absent, and Roulan told him that the tradition of the Li Clan doesn't allow husband and wife to see each other for three days after their wedding night. He had questions to ask her, especially about the second personality. But he could only accept the clan traditions and bear it for now.

A single candle flickered beside him, casting a wavering light on the open book in his lap.

The cover bore the name Cang Wuxian, a famous historian or philosopher, perhaps; he wasn't sure.

The original Qin Wei, the body's former owner, had shown little interest in scholarly pursuits.

Court etiquette, dynastic politics, military formations, the noble class structure, all of it had been meaningless to him.

But, as a transmigrator, Alex would definitely want to know all the details in order to understand the world. More so, if he wanted to travel around.

He flipped another page, brows furrowing slightly as the dense script began detailing the origins of the empire.