Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 1005

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 1005
Really? Is it acceptable to eat something of this caliber and die satisfied?
My head spun dizzily.
After bickering with Sama-hye for a while longer, I finally came to accept it.
‘Fine. Let’s meet and talk about this. Why she sent it, and how she managed to make two of them… Ah, forget it. Let’s just say Hyeon has seized tremendous power within the Golden Blood Hall.’
At this point, isn’t she practically at the Bangju level?
Is the Golden King truly intending to pass the Golden Blood Hall to her?
Or is Sama Hyeon engaged in some power struggle with the Golden King?
‘I can’t know for certain right now. But at least it’s clear that all those who sought to check Sama Hyeon within the Golden Blood Hall have vanished.’
As I fell into contemplation, Sama-hye quickly changed the subject.
“Speaking of which, Eun Gong. That large snake—did you meet it well?”
The Six-Horned Venomous Snake.
Though I understood Sama-hye’s ulterior motive to make the transaction irreversible, I graciously went along with it.
‘Come to think of it, spending time with the Six-Horned Venomous Snake was rather enjoyable.’
I brought Cheonilchwi and fed it generously, and it shook its head excitedly.
‘It seemed to know something about the Chimjo poison my left hand absorbed, staring at it intently for quite a while…’
But it didn’t reveal what it was.
That’s fine. I’m researching it myself anyway.
“Yeah. I met it well.”
“Ooh, tell me about it. I’m curious!”
I recounted my encounter with the Six-Horned Venomous Snake to Sama-hye.
Afterward, the two of us went to Uibin and loaded supplies onto the boat.
“You’ll come again, won’t you?”
Dang-a asked.
Today, Dang-a had removed her mask.
Her speech was ordinary, yet it carried the warmth of sincerity.
Sama-hye grasped Dang-a’s hand.
“Of course. My ‘hero’ is here, after all.”
“Hehehehe…”
Dang-a laughed like a child.
The two of them embraced each other tightly and promised to meet again.
Dang-a spun around while holding Sama-hye, who let out a small cry of delight.
‘Dang-a is incredibly strong.’
It made sense.
Given how she wielded that massive blood blade so freely, it would be strange if she weren’t strong.
With reluctance lingering, the boat set sail.
…
How long had it been since I reminisced about memories with the Sichuan Tang Family at the bow of the departing vessel?
Already, the day had grown dark.
Lost in thought while feeling the night air, I suddenly noticed something glimmering falling from the sky.
‘A star…? No, that can’t be right.’
Noeji clicked her beak irritably.
Chirp, chirp-chirp—
Watching her, I understood.
‘A bird. With that kind of radiance… could it be the famous Golden King Bird from Hao-mun?’
A semi-sentient creature raised by Hao-mun.
The fastest, most intelligent, and most expensive messenger bird in existence.
Hao-mun typically only uses them for urgent dispatches.
Naturally, the fee for a single delivery costs as much as an entire house.
And here was this Golden King Bird recognizing me and descending without hesitation?
Chirp?
I could see Noeji deliberating whether to strike it with lightning.
I grabbed Noeji.
“Easy, it’s not a true spirit creature. It’s semi-sentient.”
The semi-sentient Golden King Bird, apparently terrified of Noeji, chirped several times to calm her, then simply dropped the message and vanished.
‘How in the world did it find me here?’
If it’s from Hao-mun… surely word couldn’t have reached Hyeon already.
In any case, I unrolled the message and read:
[URGENT. Qinghai Province, Gande. Namgung Un.]
Namgung Un…?
Blood was smeared faintly along the edge of the message.
I smelled it together with Hwang-gu.
Woof!
It was Namgung Un’s blood.
With Hwang-gu’s approval, I dipped my finger in it and tasted it on my tongue.
Tingle—
‘Poison. Is he poisoned?’
This looked like a dangerous situation.
‘That explains it. I went to help Dang-a and came back, but haven’t seen him since…’
At first, I thought he’d stepped out briefly since there was no message, but when he didn’t appear at all, I assumed he’d returned to the main family.
‘The fact that he left no word made me think something urgent had come up…’
In any case.
I clicked my tongue softly.
Then I went straight to find Hye-a and told her the situation.
“What?! You’re leaving?”
“Yes. Uncle Namgung is in danger. Make sure to tell Master well.”
With that, I scooped up Hwang-gu and leaped into the river.
“Woooooof?!”
I heard Hye-a’s voice from behind, but I was already landing on the water’s surface.
Not water-skimming technique.
Incantation.
Executing the spell with practiced ease—something that would have taken other swordsmen far longer—I reached the riverbank in moments using lightness of foot.
I heard Sama-hye’s cry infused with inner energy: “I’ll take full responsibility later, Patriarch! I swear I know nothing about this!!”
Truly, she was worthy of being the Patriarch of Baekrin Medical Guild.
Even in such chaos, she was making the chain of responsibility crystal clear.
Let the Soggakju take full responsibility then.
I spread my arms in a circular motion and enlarged Hwang-gu to massive proportions.
Woof!
A dog knows nothing of human circumstances.
Hwang-gu was delighted at the prospect of running.
The moment I mounted him, Hwang-gu bolted forward at full speed.
Screech!
Noeji took flight above me for the first time in ages.
My travel bundle hung from the hawk’s talons.
Those two had packed it out of habit as always.
The fact that they’d managed to gather everything despite the chaos showed that spiritual creatures were indeed spiritual creatures.
“Oh, thank you.”
Screech!
Noeji responded in kind.
“Alright, let’s head to Qinghai City.”
I departed.
* * *
Qinghai City.
A region located north of Sichuan Province.
Beyond Qinghai City lay Xinjiang Province, the domain ruled by Ilwol Singyeo, and westward from Qinghai City was foreign territory entirely.
Though Xinjiang Province was technically imperial territory, it was ruled by Ilwol Singyeo, so one could say there was virtually no imperial authority there.
‘And Qinghai City is much the same.’
Gonglun Sect was based here, but they didn’t govern Qinghai City directly.
This differed greatly from Sichuan Province and the Sichuan Tang Family.
For one, this region was home to many nomadic minorities like the Suksin Tribe, and only the provincial capital, Xining, was where imperial authority actually functioned properly.
‘The population was noticeably sparse compared to other regions.’
Riding the Hwang-gu Express day and night, I traversed Sichuan Province and crossed into Qinghai City’s territory within days.
How long had I been riding?
The humid air that had clung to my clothes vanished, and now my mouth was beginning to dry out.
Gulp.
I swallowed water from my canteen.
Qinghai City was characterized by a continental, arid climate.
Because of this, vast grasslands stretched endlessly, making it home to many nomadic peoples and a center for pastoral industries.
In particular, the horses of Qinghai City were recognized as premium goods even throughout the empire.
Additionally, it was famous as a salt-producing region due to its salt lakes.
‘Of course, the Empire’s administrators manage this salt lake directly.’
Salt is a precious resource, so the state monopolizes it.
Upon arriving at Qinghai City, what I felt was this:
‘Indeed, it’s quite arid. Almost like a desert.’
Still, the grasslands stretch endlessly.
Literally grasslands—vegetation spread wide with trees exceedingly sparse.
However, I didn’t dismount in the middle.
I simply continued riding Hwang-gu.
My destination wasn’t Gandeok.
Using the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong, I remembered all sorts of unnecessary details, including that Gandeok was merely one of Qinghai City’s smaller towns.
So why wasn’t I heading there?
Ping, grrrr—
The compass in my hand began to spin.
The Yuanxiang Compass!
One of the Moshan Sect’s treasures.
I was using it to track Namgung Un.
‘Why bother going to Gandeok when I can track Namgung Un directly? What if I arrive and he’s not there?’
A straight path that other martial artists would deem impossible!
After three days of continuous riding without rest, I took about five hours to recover.
Then came another three days of riding.
‘Hwang-gu must be a high-tier spirit beast—his endurance is remarkable.’
But I myself was human and needed rest intervals.
During those breaks, I fed Hwang-gu and Noeji, then ate with them.
I minimized my sleep time.
“Looks like I’m arriving soon.”
I felt the compass trembling at my fingertips.
In the middle of the grasslands.
A single tree appeared, and beneath it sat Namgung Un, his back against the trunk.
On the ground lay the corpses of demonic sect members—unknown to me—spread like a carpet.
‘Did Namgung Hyeong face all of them alone?’
The ground bore blackened traces of lightning passing through.
Marks like those left by a thunder god hurling a hammer stretched in lines, and at their end sat Namgung Un, drenched in blood.
‘His wounds are severe.’
I approached Namgung Un.
“Namgung Hyeong…”
In that instant, his eyes snapped open, and he immediately drew his blade.
Fzzzzzt—
Six streaks of lightning filled the air from different directions without a moment’s breath between them.
‘I can’t block this with my hands!’
I drew the Bing Jeong Sword, channeling the earth element of the Five Elements Divine Art.
The opponent wielded a sword infused with lightning!
Each individual bolt of electricity was fierce and pure beyond measure.
The Namgung Un of the past could never have scattered so much lightning with a single sword strike.
‘Has he grown again?’
No matter how exceptional Namgung Hyeong’s talent was, to grow this strong this quickly.
He must have gained some profound insight during his life-and-death struggle.
Crack!
I managed to disperse Namgung Un’s lightning through the narrowest of gaps.
‘Phew, thank goodness.’
If Namgung Hyeong had been in proper condition, the situation would have become terribly troublesome.
“Namgung Hyeong, are you alright?”
“….”
Namgung Un’s eyes, gleaming with murderous intent, now shone with astonishment.
“Jin… is that you, Jin?”
Namgung Un had been in a place far removed from where he’d sent his letter.
He must have fought while fleeing, fleeing, and fleeing again.
Suddenly, I realized that Namgung Un wasn’t simply leaning his back against a tree.
‘A steed.’
A semi-immortal-rank beast. A horse the size of a house.
It appeared to have been well-maintained as a fine steed, but its breath had ceased.
Hidden weapons and arrows were deeply embedded in the corpse’s back.
From the angle of its neck, it seemed the beast had gazed at its master until its last breath, and Namgung Un had stroked the steed’s forehead in return.
“…You’ve endured much, it seems.”
“Yes. It happened before I knew it. Still, I’m grateful you came. I gambled on whether you could arrive before I died….”
If not for the Wonhyang Ban. And if the letter to me had arrived even slightly later, it would have been a lost gamble.
A probability as thin as a thread.
“You’re fortunate, Namgung Hyeong.”
Namgung Un’s survival probability was less than one in ten.
In the martial world, when a master loses his steed while being hunted, it’s normal for the master to die as well.
“Hmm, I’ve never lost money betting, so it seems that’s how it is.”
In any case.
He spoke without any concern—the very words that would have annoyed anyone who’d lost money.
But I know it’s the truth.
Since Namgung Hyeong said so… he probably really has never lost a wager.
“If you’re so lucky, why don’t you visit gambling dens?”
“I went when I was younger. But I won so much they banned me from entering.”
What more was there to ask?
“Heaven itself seems reluctant to let Namgung Hyeong die.”
“You mean the heavenly fate that was torn to shreds because of you?”
“….”
I didn’t let it show on my face, but my thoughts churned beneath the surface.
‘So Namgung has learned of it too. Well, it was only a matter of time before such information reached the ears of a Gaju of a great clan.’
The Demonic Sect could have revealed it during their clash.
“Just because the Heavenly Secrets have scattered doesn’t mean the Will of Heaven has vanished. That sky continues to do as it pleases, as always.”
“Hahaha. Well said. Tired of it all… that accursed sky… *cough*.”
Blood spilled from his lips as internal injuries took their toll, and his massive frame began to collapse forward.
I rushed forward to catch Namgung Un’s enormous body, checked his vital points, and quickly stripped away his garments.
‘This is serious. To the naked eye, there’s not a single part of him that looks intact.’
With that thought, I began examining his meridians and pulse.
Fortunately, his limbs remained whole—there were no severed parts requiring amputation.
His claim about having good fortune was no exaggeration.
His luck was extraordinary.
Absurdly, impossibly extraordinary.
‘The greatest concern is the internal damage.’
Having exhausted nearly all his inner energy while battling a heart demon, his qi and blood were in turmoil.
‘With injuries this severe from such a fight, normally one arm would already be missing and we’d be searching for it. There’s nothing else to say but that his luck is phenomenal.’
After blood battles, it’s not uncommon to be searching for severed limbs or fingers.
With a clash this fierce, it happened nine times out of ten.
It seemed that only those blessed enough to be banned from gambling dens could keep their limbs intact through such ordeals.
The internal injuries, though…
Internal injuries were unavoidable, but at least I arrived before death claimed him—that too was Heaven’s fortune.
“Truly, why did you push yourself so hard?”
“Family matters must be… settled, don’t you think? Besides, the clan cannot learn of this…”
“…Then am I acceptable?”
“You’re a fool.”
“Pardon?”
“A fool who rushes forward without hesitation when a close friend’s life is at stake—that’s why I trust you. As far as I know, you’re the only one in this Central Plains who would do something so inefficient for my sake.”
A person Namgung Un trusted with his very life.
A true friend.
“Then let that fool treat you painfully.”
“Kekeke, save me, will you?”
Namgung Un coughed up blood again.
At this rate, Namgung Un would die!
My expression changed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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