Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 136

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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 136
Beneath the fallen leaves lay clusters of plump matsutake mushrooms, their earthy forms nestled against the forest floor.
And among them bloomed the flowers of the white ginseng.
‘Perfect timing.’
The white ginseng would serve as a spiritual medicine, while the autumn matsutakes could be used as culinary ingredients.
They were delicious steeped as tea, and equally fine in broths.
Roasted over charcoal fire—that was sublime as well.
“I’ll give some to my Master, and we’ll enjoy the rest ourselves.”
Woof! – Should I hunt some? Master?
How does he always manage to wrap everything in meat?
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“Hwang-gu, keep watch. This time, Cheonjin and Nanman—you two go. Pheasant or rabbit, either works.”
Chirp, chirp! – Sounds good, sounds good!
Chirp chirp! – Meat and mushroom dishes! Today is meat and mushrooms!
Two birds suddenly burst from the medicinal garden and took flight.
Jin Cheon-hee carefully harvested the spiritual medicine and matsutakes.
* * *
When there is labor given, there must be sustenance provided in return.
If you make them work, you must feed them.
In that sense, Jin Cheon-hee paid his debts thoroughly.
The Central Plains-style bonfire matsutake roasting party was nothing short of exquisite.
‘Wild matsutakes truly are incomparable.’
In the modern world, there had been no opportunity to taste such things.
And the luxury of roasting them over an open flame was even harder to imagine.
Then Jin Cheon-hee produced something from his possession.
Butter.
Butter he had made himself.
Jin Cheon-hee had finally achieved the feat of butter-making within the Heukgapoong Cavern.
And right now.
Jin Cheon-hee’s Gangho-style butter melted over the wild matsutakes, sizzling softly.
He popped a piece into his mouth and chewed contentedly.
“It’s delicious on its own, but with butter on top, it has a completely different charm.”
Though Jin Cheon-hee lived ascetically, distancing myself from killing, lust, and dominance like a Daoist sage, my appetite for good food knew no bounds.
I was Korean, after all—where “Have you eaten?” served as a greeting.
Labor without food was unthinkable!
The spiritual creatures who followed Jin Cheon-hee felt the same way.
After feeding them all thoroughly.
Jin Cheon-hee sat in lotus position and consumed the white ginseng.
‘I hope this one carries abundant Metal element energy.’
Among the five elemental forces of the Five Elements Divine Art, Metal was the only one still lacking.
As I circulated my qi, Baek Rin’s essence melted like liquid and began seeping into my body.
‘Wood attribute… My wood qi is insufficient, though not as lacking as my metal qi.’
Even this alone was a significant gain.
Fortunately, unlike my Master, I didn’t possess the Nine Yin Meridians, and my Five Elements qi itself was pure, so even with a slight metal deficiency, the situation wasn’t critical.
My hair fluttered gently in the breeze.
The ancient tree rustled its leaves as if congratulating me on my achievement.
How much time had passed?
I slowly opened my eyes.
“This is incredible.”
Even spiritual medicines lose their efficacy over time with repeated use.
Adding twenty years’ worth of cultivation was cause for celebration, but I was beginning to feel the limits of relying solely on spiritual medicines.
“Let me consume just one more and call it done. This is truly the last one. The last.”
I’d already spent far too long away from the Gangho.
Still, I wanted to endure just a bit longer if I could.
The later-stage masters who gathered at the Dragon-Phoenix Assembly were said to be flying, and I was soaring even higher than them.
This is astounding.
I narrowed my perception and observed my inner world, checking just how much stronger I’d become.
“What…?”
Was this even possible?
Bewildered, I closed my eyes and circulated my qi several more times.
I hadn’t felt it wrong.
“Ha-ryun… I’ve become so… incredibly strong…”
I desperately missed Yeo Ha-ryun.
020. Disappearance
“Something about this place feels… off.”
I arrived at Tangbaek, a small city located on the path to the next spiritual medicine.
I planned to rest here and send my Master a letter along with shiitake mushrooms I’d personally gathered and other gifts.
Within my Master’s inner world, the Jegalling who was a master and the Jegalling who was family were likely fighting fiercely.
This time, I sent the letter and gifts through the Bota Clan’s Buntta branch.
When I stepped outside, I realized there wasn’t a single passerby on the street.
Even for a large small city, there were usually street vendors along such a major road.
The Hwa Empire had vast granaries scattered throughout, making food ingredients always abundant.
Moreover, materials like the earth’s sugar—items that would normally require massive labor during the Age of Exploration to supply—were rare but did exist.
I was amazed to discover that corn existed here too.
Because of this, one might lack money to buy food, but there was never a shortage of food due to absent vendors. Yet here, there were barely any vendors, let alone passersby, and those few who did pass by wore swords at their waists.
‘I wonder if the inn is open.’
The joy of travel lay in culinary delights.
As the weather grew colder, I craved warm soup dishes.
Just then, two martial artists approached me as a pair.
“Greetings. Are you a traveler?”
The two guards exchanged a light fist salute, and I returned the gesture in kind.
“What brings you here?”
Judging by their official uniforms, they appeared to be guards of this region.
The two guards were exceedingly courteous, yet there was a wariness in their eyes toward me.
“Forgive us, but might we see your identification tablet?”
Guards in this era were not usually this polite.
Normally, they would simply demand to see the tablet without bothering with courtesies or fist salutes.
It was likely due to the quality of my clothing, the medicine chest strapped to my back, and the enormous dog at my side.
I retrieved my identification tablet from my robes.
The tablet bore the emblem of Baekrin Uigak and my name inscribed upon it.
“Seo Baek-ryong! You are Seo Baek-ryong!”
The guards’ eyes widened.
‘Interesting. Even in a place this remote, there are those who recognize me.’
The guards chattered excitedly among themselves.
“Indeed, the massive dog, the exceptional appearance, and the medicine chest on your back—we suspected as much.”
“Of course, even so, we cannot neglect to investigate outsiders.”
“What is the matter?”
At my words, the guards clicked their tongues.
“The reason is that disappearances have been occurring frequently of late.”
“Disappearances?”
“Yes.”
The guards wore troubled expressions before speaking.
“It is likely a matter unrelated to Doctor Seo Baek-ryong.”
With only that explanation, they moved on to investigate other martial artists.
I was about to ask for more details when I held back.
From their demeanor, the guards were deliberately avoiding the subject.
‘There is no need for the authorities and the martial world to become entangled.’
There were many ways to obtain information.
I made my way to the inn reputed to have the finest cuisine in the area.
The inn was also sparsely populated.
‘If even this place lacks customers, the other inns must be equally empty.’
The few patrons filling the inn were all martial artists with swords at their waists.
‘What is going on in this place?’
First, I ordered eight servings of the finest broth dish from the server.
Given how much the spiritual creatures consumed, this might not even be enough later.
“And please prepare a room for one night.”
With that, I withdrew silver coins and pressed them into the server’s hand.
“Keep the change.”
“Ah, generous patron! Your magnanimity is remarkable!”
One silver coin—that was the threshold between a common guest and a generous one at an inn.
‘The oiling is done, more or less.’
I grumbled with a bored expression.
“Now that I think about it, there’s no musicians here and hardly any customers. I’m starting to doubt whether this is really the most delicious place in the area.”
“No, sir! It’s not that we don’t have customers by choice… but, but if you try it, you’ll definitely understand!”
“Is that so? The guard mentioned something about a missing person case anyway.”
“Ah, that’s…”
Even the server seemed reluctant to speak.
‘Interesting. I didn’t expect this.’
The guard keeping quiet made sense—in places that strictly observed the boundary between officials and martial artists, it was understandable.
But a simple server at a local inn also refusing to speak?
Moreover, I could faintly sense fear emanating from the server.
‘Should I press further, or not?’
In that moment of hesitation, a voice rang out.
“Young brother. Let me tell you.”
Scrape—
Someone pulled a chair and sat across from me.
It was a tall, middle-aged woman so gaunt that her ribs seemed about to show through.
A sword hung at her waist, marking her as a martial artist as well.
Contrary to her skeletal frame that seemed on the verge of wasting away, her eyes held a peculiar sharpness. Her hair was unusually short—what would be called a bob cut in modern times.
‘This is… at minimum, the Peak realm. Possibly even the Transcendent Peak.’
The energy radiating from her posture and her somehow leisurely bearing.
I realized the woman before me was a formidable master.
She chuckled softly.
“In exchange, buy me a drink. What do you say? It’s a profitable deal for the information.”
“Hmm.”
While I hesitated, she placed an additional order.
“A bottle of white flower wine and half a bottle of rose wine. That should come to exactly one silver tael.”
Calculating it, it came to precisely one silver tael.
She had converted the server’s tip into alcohol.
Soon the drinks and food arrived.
When I declined the alcohol, she understood and immediately poured for herself.
“Ahh, this is what I wanted to drink.”
“You don’t seem like someone who lacks a silver tael.”
At my words, she laughed wickedly.
“Young brother, you don’t understand wine. The truth is, wine tastes far better when drunk with someone else’s money than with your own.”
“I… see.”
I had already determined that the swordswoman before me was eccentric.
Since I would get the information I needed, I simply ate my chicken noodles diligently without further comment.
“First, let me introduce myself. I’m known among many friends in Gangho as Samjeolchuho.”
At those words, my eyes widened slightly.
‘Why in the world is this person showing up here?’
Samjeolchuho the Tiger.
A tracking tiger possessing three seasonal mastery levels.
A master of the peak realm with unparalleled tracking arts.
The Samsalchuseo rats I’ve encountered before are skilled in tracking, but she comes from a wanderer’s background—her tracking arts are the genuine article.
According to some accounts, she’s even reached the grandmaster level.
As a master of such tracking arts, her martial prowess is equally formidable, having reached the peak realm.
‘Ah, so she’s keeping her hair short these days.’
She would later help Yeo Ha-ryun several times, though naturally not for free.
The novel’s narrative described her with long flowing hair, so her hairstyle appears different from that time.
“Samjeolchuho Dae Baek-ha, the great hero. I’ve heard much of your reputation. I am Jin Cheon-hee of Baekrin Uigak.”
“Oh, so you’re the recently famous Seo Baek-ryong! I’d love to make a fuss about it, but looking at you, I can’t imagine you being anyone else. By the way, you actually know of this Dae Baek-ha? How thoughtful of you!”
She laughed brightly, swirling her wine bottle.
“Am I truly that famous?”
“Of course! You defeated Gokgol Hyeolma, Hao-mun’s lackey, in Hangzhou, and even sealed the Bota Clan in Zhushan County, didn’t you?”
“No, the Bota Clan actually closed their gates themselves because of the plague….”
“Well, that’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. Either way, word of your deeds has spread quite far.”
As the saying goes, a small difference makes all the difference, but I’m genuinely concerned about how these rumors got so twisted.

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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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