Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 140

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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 140
‘Where could the children be imprisoned?’
I cut down the masked persons as they appeared, racing through the stone chamber.
I hadn’t killed them, but they wouldn’t be able to grip a sword again.
The deeper I ventured into the cave, the stranger the odor became, clouding my mind.
‘Is it poison?’
I immediately circulated the Five Elements Mutual Destruction Poison to counteract it.
‘This is quite a complex poison.’
It seemed designed to scatter human consciousness and induce brainwashing.
Poisons that harm the body are easy to neutralize. Those that scatter the mind are troublesome. And the deeper I went, the more I heard the sound of bells ringing in a steady rhythm.
Dong, dong, dong—
It sounded like something a Hyeolseonggyo sorcerer would create.
If this sound held mystical significance, focusing on it would cause one to lose consciousness in an instant!
‘It would’ve been easier to deal with the formation like before.’
That exhausted the body but not the mind.
In that sense, having Samjeolchuho guard the entrance and break through while I infiltrated was the right choice.
Even someone with high poison resistance would lose their reason and wander in a daze if they weren’t careful.
Once wandering in that daze, one becomes an empty puppet obedient to the sorcerer’s will.
How far down had I gone?
To the place where the scent was thickest. I had arrived.
Deep underground, a Hyeolseonggyo temple stood.
And in the center, a genderless old master stood with young children behind them, all wearing vacant expressions.
“Seo Baek-ryong, I’ve been waiting. Kekekeke….”
The old master laughed with a sticky sound, looking down at me from the altar.
“Your eyes still gleam with spirit—it seems you haven’t fallen to this sect’s blood shadow poison. Quite impressive to endure such a potent fragrance, even more toxic than opium.”
I gripped my sword tightly and calculated.
‘If I shout “So you’re remnants of Hyeolseonggyo!” again, it’ll get annoying. Better to play dumb.’
I cried out like an apostle of justice.
“Remnants of the Demonic Sect!”
“The Demonic Sect… the Demonic Sect, I see. It’s natural to think that way. Think whatever is convenient for you. You’re going to die anyway, so it doesn’t matter what you believe.”
“…What do you mean…?”
“Though your birth date and time don’t align perfectly, the Yoseon are quite fond of your appearance. And apparently, you’re a virgin.”
‘How does this bastard know I’m a virgin?’
Did he overhear my conversation with Samjeolchuho? But even so, I never said I was a virgin.
I had only been evasive about it.
“That expression confirms it. You are indeed a virgin! The Yoseon desire your flesh!”
“I am not a virgin!”
“Hah, there’s no point in lying. Om mani padme hum… svaha….”
He muttered strange sounds before saying this.
“What?! How do you still possess over half a century of virginity?! I heard you were just a young brat who hasn’t even shed blood yet!”
I paused to reflect.
Was my past life as a lifelong virgin also being counted against me?
It wasn’t as though I had chosen to remain single.
The work had simply been too grueling, too exhausting, too relentless—leaving no room in my mind for anything else.
I had been the official slave of the hospital system created by the Republic of Korea’s cultivation framework. And I had died just as my life was beginning to find some breathing room.
A murderous intent welled up within me.
It was a rare occurrence in my existence.
I spoke.
“What does it matter if I’ve been a virgin for ten years, twenty years, or half a century! Stop your wicked deeds and release these children!”
“Not even a cultivator, yet you possess such a luminous spirit—remarkable. Kekeke… The Goddess would be most pleased with an offering of you.”
The old man shook his staff.
Ding—
“If you do not lower your sword at once, I shall slaughter every child in this place.”
I replied calmly to his threat.
“To stain a sacrificial altar with blood without proper ritual form? That would be desecration of the sacrifice itself, would it not?”
“…Your mind works quickly. You…”
“Until the appointed time arrives, you cannot lay a single fingertip upon the sacrifices. Especially not upon the altar itself. Without the auspicious day determined by the Eight Trigrams, you can do nothing.”
“But stopping you is well within my power!”
The old man rang the bell attached to his staff loudly.
Dong, dong—
A rhythm different from before. Then a black-clothed Hyeolseonggyo disciple erupted from the ground.
I blocked the masked person with my blade.
Clang!
A sound as though striking metal.
I altered my technique and tore away the mask from the black-clothed figure.
The face of a corpse was revealed.
‘A jiangshi…!’
A smile played across my lips.
‘How long I have awaited this moment… or rather, how thoroughly I have prepared for this day!’
When one speaks of martial arts films, is it not the jiangshi?
I had run countless simulations in my mind on how to face one.
I circulated the Five Elements Divine Art, channeling ice energy into the Bingjeong Sword and fire energy into the Heuksong-un Sword in my other hand.
The Dual Thought Technique of the Wudang School created two separate intentions for me.
Even the Elder’s eyes widened in shock at this sight.
“You manipulate two Five Elements energies simultaneously?”
I targeted the jiangshi’s joints with cold energy to restrict its movement, then reversed to apply fire energy, shattering its arm.
Crack-snap!
Next, I slashed the creature’s shoulder joint with cold energy.
The movements resembled those of a butcher rather than a martial artist.
Only one who knew precisely the locations of human bones, muscles, and cartilage could perform such minimal, efficient movements—I dissected the jiangshi with surgical precision.
‘Hmm, as expected, no blood flows from the wound.’
I glanced at the severed cross-section and immediately turned to face the next enemy.
‘The skin is steel-like, yet the joints prove vulnerable to cold energy. I can observe that when frozen tissue is shattered with fire energy, it sustains damage easily. A side effect of extreme skin and muscle reinforcement, perhaps. My hypothesis appears correct.’
It was the same mindset as my Master, who rolled about pursuing knowledge.
‘To effectively capture corpse demons, a systematic combat method must be employed—first freezing the joints with cold energy, then rapidly penetrating soft tissue with fire energy… Ah, this needs to be developed as a proper technique!’
The Dual Thought Technique allowed me to burn with scholarly passion even while fighting.
Had Yoo Ho heard this, he would have declared that I had ultimately gone mad for medicine, but this was a critical matter to me.
‘Once the thesis is complete, I must show it to my Master. Since my Master has spent far more time in the martial world, he will have overwhelming experience fighting corpse demons and can help verify it.’
As I destroyed the corpse demons swarming toward me one by one, I committed information to memory for statistical purposes in my thesis.
‘To use this as evidence in the thesis, I need at least one hundred corpse demons as samples. One set: one hundred samples using the conventional method of targeting the head. Another set: one hundred samples attacking joints with cold energy as my hypothesis suggests, then severing soft tissue in one motion with fire energy. A total of two hundred corpse demons are necessary.’
Thud!
I launched myself against the wall, then dove into the midst of the corpse demons like executing a wrestling triangle jump.
‘Additionally, I would need to invite other martial artists to attack corpse demons the same way to create samples… but that’s impossible.’
I would need a martial artist who wielded a sword exactly as I did and possessed outstanding martial skill.
Yeo Ha-ryun.
Would Hwang-gu manage to find him?
‘By rough calculation, there are approximately two hundred fifteen corpse demons in this place. Since they’re all created in the same location by the same Hyeolseonggyo, they’re suitable as samples. However, I lack the inner energy to face all of them.’
Clang clang clang!
Taeul Danseonggeom—Taeul Bunguang!
The four afterimages from before split into eight, attacking the corpse demons.
No matter how much inner energy I possessed, capturing all two hundred fifteen Hyeolseonggyo corpse demons and that beast was realistically impossible.
I would exhaust myself to death before then.
I folded back a corner of my grand blue dream regarding the thesis.
‘It doesn’t have to be now. I can complete it later. If successful, many martial artists will be able to safely handle corpse demons.’
Creating a sword formation to maintain the array, opening and closing the gates of life and death to lure the corpse demons, constructing a formation using cold and fire energy.
For now, it seems only sects that have mastered fire and ice arts could manage it, but improvements can be made gradually.
When I considered the calamities to come, the lives that could be saved through this method would be infinite.
‘Perhaps one day, even those with shallow understanding could face corpse demons.’
I mustn’t rush.
Since there would be opportunities later, when it was eventually completed, I planned to send dispatches to the Martial Alliance and Little Heavenly Demon.
I shifted the direction of my thoughts.
‘The old creature before me appears to be a Necromancer, by my estimation.’
A Necromancer.
His goal was to become a Corpse-Freed Immortal.
In Daoism, beyond Heavenly Immortals and Earthly Immortals, there exists the Corpse-Freed Immortal—one who sheds the body after death and becomes an immortal, or so it is said.
I cannot know precisely what specific method allows a human body to become an immortal.
What is certain is that it differs from when a martial artist comprehends the Way of the Sword and ascends as an immortal.
And this Necromancer before me seeks to achieve corpse-freed immortality by manipulating corpses.
He intends to create the ultimate corpse demon through a special grand method before his own body ages, enter it, and enjoy a state akin to immortality.
A method befitting a branch of Daoism—the Hyeolseonggyo, which reveres the Golden Crow Dao.
As an executive of Hyeolseonggyo, his rank surpassed even the Black Lightning Blood Demon.
Having mastered corpse manipulation techniques with the goal of becoming a Necromancer, he had learned the Corpse Manipulation Divine Art and the Demonic Spirit Sound, a sound-based technique.
In Gangho, he was known by the epithet Demonic Necromancer.
People believed the Demonic Necromancer was part of the Demonic Sect, but he was not.
He belonged to Hyeolseonggyo.
‘In martial arts novels, Daoists are always portrayed as troublesome opponents.’
Regardless of strength or weakness, they were complicated and intricate.
Rather than matching weapons blade to blade, they countered through countless methods—sound techniques, talismans, sorcery, corpse puppets, and more.
My heart trembled.
‘How fascinating.’
My opponent was a fully prepared Daoist.
To rely solely on this Daoist’s inner energy would be foolish—the space was saturated with poisonous mist, hundreds of corpse puppets filled the chamber, and an altar laden with various sorcerous devices stood ready.
Even the sect masters of prestigious families would need to prepare their own graves.
Everything was flowing to my disadvantage.
That I had endured this long was thanks to the Five Elements Divine Art, the Dual Thought Technique, the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong, and the phantom combination of the Taeul Danseonggeom.
‘Still… how intriguing.’
Fleeing was not an option.
If I retreated now, my opponent would be even more prepared next time.
With the new moon approaching, all the children would perish.
Now was the only moment to sever my enemy’s lifeline.
Yet I faced the Demonic Necromancer not with fear or resolve, but with scholarly curiosity.
Clang—
As the Demonic Necromancer rang the bell, a devastating sound technique erupted.
I hastily activated the Wind Rock Art to defend my ears, but one eardrum ruptured.
Had I been even slightly slower, the vestibular system would have been disrupted, creating a form of vertigo, and the Demonic Necromancer would not have missed that opening.
‘Normally, one would cough blood at the seventh stage of such an attack.’
Perhaps thanks to the wooden puppet Yoo Ho had crafted.
My external martial prowess was sufficient enough that I could absorb one such blow with my body if necessary.
I observed how the Demonic Necromancer released the sound technique.
Clang—!
The bell rang again.
The devastating sound technique caused even the corpse puppets to momentarily cease their movements.
I defended immediately.
This time my ears remained intact, but I could not block this sensation of my internal organs vibrating.
Yet the extreme perception I had gained through the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong and the Dual Thought Technique stimulated my mind.
‘Ah… so that is the principle.’

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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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