Possible, but not advisable. V brakes need more cable pull, so use special brake levers. If you change the levers as well you will have no problems. Unless the levers use an integrated gear changer, then you will have to ensure compatability of modern 9-speed changers with your x-speed system.

Its rare for quality alloy cantelevers to stop working. Maybe they just need a bit of simple maintainance and adjustment.