8 Li Qiang the Changed Man

All throughout the ride to the Capital, Li Qiang spent his free time reading and meditating.

While he gained a lot of knowledge from the previous Li Qiang's memory, he was aware that this was not enough. He knew that the previous Li Qiang did not have the interest to study. Because of this, he was quite lacking not just in the brains department but also in the general knowledge in this world.

While Li Qiang was frustrated, he knew he could do nothing but swallow his emotions and continue to study. Because of this, he devoured the knowledge from the books in a matter of days.

History, magic, potions, spells, and healing.

The more he knew about the world, the more he realized how complicated this place was. He felt small, unaware, ignorant. However, instead of getting discouraged, this self-awareness made him determined to know more.

Moreover, this made discover some abnormalities in his body. While meditating, he realized that the cause of the abnormalities were impurities he ingested. In short, someone was slowly poisoning him. Upon further inspection, he knew that the poison wasn't intending to kill him.

Right now, he was slowly trying to remove the impurities and free himself from this unknown poison.

In a world of magic, Li Qiang was planning to use his modern knowledge and his above-average IQ to survive, remove this poison, and forge his own path. He was aware that someone like him, who everyone deemed as worthless, could only win through his brain.

While Li Qiang had been studying, he also explored a lot of ways to develop his Internal Energy. At first, Li Qiang assumed that the absence of internal energy was because he was ignorant. However, his research led him to believe that people in this world only rely on Elemental Magic and did not know that they could also develop their bodies by using their Qi.

This was a mistake, Li Qiang thought to himself. A magician in this world is practically close to useless when it comes to physical prowess. They rely on their elemental magic too much that they are practically useless without it. Just like what happened when he confronted Dou Lin.

Dou Lin was an Earth Elemental user who can turn their skin into stone to defend themselves. This could make them formidable enemies. However, in front of a fast enemy, they are close to being useless. An enemy who is fast could easily attack them before they have the time to use their armor.

Of course, this could be avoided if the person who can use the armor is just as fast. If his guess was right, then this was also the reason Dou Lin also trained in techniques that made his body lighter and faster. Still, Li Qiang found the man too slow.

While the previous Li Qiang did not have any elemental magic in his body, he had trained well. He was lean, and his muscles were all in the right places. The previous Li Qiang did this so he could impress his… women.

This, coupled with the current Li Qiang's knowledge in martial arts, was the reason he was able to surprise Dou Lin. The element of surprise and his knowledge was the only reason he won against the man in their previous encounter. Li Qiang was also aware that doing such a thing again was close to impossible as Dou Lin was always watching him, observing and taking mental note of his actions.

Li Qiang also discovered that his internal energy or Qi improved his overall physique. As a result, he felt lighter and faster. This was something that he only saw from the xianxia movies on Earth! The thought of learning skills he was not able to learn on Earth made him ecstatic.

What made Li Qiang more excited was the fact that he could pushed the Qi out of his body and use it as a weapon.

"Are you not going to sleep?" Dou Lin's voice interrupted his thoughts. Li Qiang shook his head in response.

"You have been reading all day." Dou Lin added. "Why are you so interested in studying now?"

"Aren't you afraid that someone else would discover your presence?" Li Qiang ignored Dou Lin's previous question.

"Everyone is asleep. Only someone who had higher cultivation than me would sense my presence." He answered. "You have changed a lot."

"Hmmm." Li Qiang nodded and close the current book that he was reading. "I am a changed man."

"Was it because of the accident that almost killed you?"

"It wasn't an accident." Li Qiang corrected him. "But you already know that."

Dou Lin narrowed his eyes at him. As if he was doing his best to analyze the person in front of him. "What happened to you?" he asked.

Li Qiang gave him a knowing smile. "If I tell you. I'm sure you wouldn't believe it." He said. He had been thinking about the reason for his sudden change, and he could only come up with one. Seeing Dou Lin raise an eyebrow at him, Li Qiang continued, "My mother. I dreamt of her. In fact… I saw her when I was unconscious." He said in a soft voice. "We talked."

Li Qiang lowered his head, sadness apparent in his eyes. "She told me how disappointed she had been in me." His voice broke as he sneered inwardly. Li Qiang was a top-notch actor who could lie his way out of everything. He was confident that he could easily convince anyone if he wanted to.

As expected, he heard Dou Lin sigh. "It is too late for you to realize that." Li Qiang immediately nodded as he pursed his lips. The previous Li Qiang had hated his mother simply because… she was not the main wife.

"I have decided to study magic." Li Qiang said. "This is one of my mother's last wishes before she disappeared into my dream." Li Qiang wiped his nonexistent tears. Slowly, his lips curl into a gentle smile as he lifted his face and looked at Dou Lin. "Despite the fact that I cannot use magic, my mother asked me to study for her sake."

Li Qiang tried his best to prevent himself from laughing when he saw the sympathy vanished in Dou Lin's eyes. It was replaced with confusion and questions. If his guess was right, Dou Lin might think that he had gone crazy, or that this is another one of his episodes or one of his peculiar requests that will only expire in a few weeks.

In fact, Li Qiang wanted everyone to think that he had gone insane because of the accident. Li Qiang was already planning to use this reasoning so he could continue reading books without gaining everyone's suspicion.

While Li Qiang hated being laughed at, he was also aware that he does not have a choice right now. He needed to act like a fool and endure this. There are still a lot of things that he needs to do before he could reveal his own personality.

He needed to create his own legacy. And maybe… just maybe… he could use it to find Wang Ruo in this world.

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