394 Chapter 394 - Probe! Tempo (1/2)

Gu Fei did not ask Eternal Dominion the reason he had made a trip over to visit the Gu Family. He knew the answer without even having to ask.

Now that they were in an era where kung fu was on the decline, the various martial families or factions had to let go of the antiquated traditions of sectarianism, allowing greater movement between everyone in the community. The generation of Gu Fei's father, for example, would often meet up with other fellow practitioners and conduct forums or even organize tea parties for everyone.

Aside from these activities that involved more people, there were also often other more private exchanges and movements. Eternal Dominion's mention of his father and Gu Fei's sparring was one such instance, a meeting which allowed everybody to interact and casually exchange pointers with one another.

There was nothing official about such exchanges, and the people involved would often not place much importance towards them, but everyone would make a mental note of things in actuality. The year, date, and time, who they visited and who they defeated; a certain date where they visited which family and who lost to whom; the number of rounds they went, the tally of the results… Everyone had a good idea in their hearts how each and every encounter had gone. It was just that nobody would say it out loud, even if they fussed over it in their hearts.

Throughout this process, there were even people who had whimsical thoughts and believed kung fu should learn from how sports had developed and organize some sort of kung fu competition, utilizing the ”Home and Away” points system to keep track, or have some sort of East v.s. West divisional playoffs to select strong competitors, and then host a global kung fu meet once every four years.

While the plan sounded great on paper, it was never realized or implemented in the end. After all, kung fu was nothing like most sports out there, due to the fact the skill was used for killing! There were already unavoidable injuries just from the casual sparring they had with one another, so who knew what might result if they actually went ahead with such a large scale, 'put your name on the line', head-on competition setting.

So kung fu could only stagnant until this very day, propagated and passed on in a small circle of practitioners.

Eternal Dominion coming to look for the Gu Family like this was nothing but a private visit that happened frequently, so Gu Fei did not bother to press for more details.

”I was originally looking for you, but it's a pity you weren't around,” Eternal Dominion said.

”Oh, what happened after that?”” Gu Fei had indeed rarely visited home after he moved out and became a teacher.

”After that… Well, I got a few pointers from Uncle,” Eternal Dominion said.

”He beat you up.” Gu Fei suddenly revealed much sympathy across his face.

”No. He gave me pointers,” Eternal Dominion insisted.

”I'm sure they were pointers, but I know how he goes about giving those,” Gu Fei said.

Eternal Dominion was quiet for a moment, before suddenly saying, ”I originally visited in hope of getting some pointers from you.”

”Mmm!” Gu Fei nodded and did not say anything further. He had already suspected something like that the moment Eternal Dominion had mentioned the bout against his father ten years ago. It was nothing as serious as avenging his father's name, though it was in line with such thoughts. A more appropriate sentiment would most likely be him standing up for his father.

Seeing that there was such a coincidental connection between Eternal Dominion and himself, it was apparent that the two of them would have a match here today. Gu Fei was of course more than happy to oblige when it came to fighting, so all that mattered now was how Eternal Dominion would broach the subject.

But who would have guess Eternal Dominion would actually gaze at him with knitted brows. ”Why did you choose to be a Mage!?”

That was like rubbing salt on his wounds, as Gu Fei revealed a look of sadness, shaking his head. ”Let's not talk about that; it's a long story.”

”In that case, I guess I'll have to find some time to visit your family again some day,” Eternal Dominion said.

”There's no need for that!” Gu Fei was flustered. ”This place will do! We're already here! Let us fight here and now, to the death; There's no need to hold back!”

Eternal Dominion was hesitant. Considering that the Fighter job class he was using had quite an advantage over the Mage, he felt the victory he would get would not represent his skill.

Gu Fei did not seem to mind, however, and had even guessed what Eternal Dominion was thinking, chuckling, ”We're just playing around.. There's no need to mind too much.”

”In that case… I'll just not use any of the in-game skills, then,” Eternal Dominion replied. The skills that a Fighter job class possessed were in the punches and kicks he dealt, experts like him would have no problems executing a perfect combination of their kung fu and skills, exactly like he had just displayed his Advent of the Cloud Dragon on Svelte Dancer. He could have easily activated his Fighter skill, Seismic Toss, afterwards, but Eternal Dominion had not done so, showing mercy to the lady.

Seeing that Gu Fei was a Mage and already had a disadvantage when it came to their job class, he made the decision to not use any of the in-game skills he had in his arsenal.

”Oh, then I won't use my spells either,” Gu Fei nodded in agreement.

Every skill that a Fighter had could easily be incorporated into his kung fu techniques and moves, but how could a Mage's spells, work in that case? Eternal Dominion wanted to make a comment when he heard what Gu Fei had said, but he decided against it at the last second.

”Unarmed then?” Gu Fei asked, as he stowed his sword back in his dimensional pocket.