Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 177

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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 177
A week had passed since I began staying in the annex with Cheonwoo.
I was lost in thought while washing Cheonwoo’s clothes.
‘Have I mastered all the fundamental techniques? Though I haven’t fully awakened to the secret arts yet.’
My achievement had reached approximately the eighth stage from the seventh.
It was a miraculous pace of progress.
‘Now that I think about it, Elder Jeong Gwang has been quiet. He used to act like he’d devour me.’
He doesn’t appear to be doing seclusion training.
Even for an elder of his caliber, it wasn’t unusual to suddenly disappear somewhere for cultivation.
Though Elder Jeong Gwang was in a state where he couldn’t use one arm, sometimes solitude was necessary for enlightenment.
There was no particular concern about it within the Mudang Sect either. Moreover….
‘The other elders who followed Jeong Gwang would likely want him to vacate his position.’
No matter how much Jeong Gwang left his post, the rot wouldn’t be excised all at once. It meant those people would remain as they were.
In this fight between Jang Mun-in and Elder Jeong Gwang, Myeong-gil Jingin—who had never cared about power—intervened and sided with Jang Mun-in.
Now they would need time to calculate whether to join Jang Mun-in’s faction or not.
That’s why they weren’t even looking for me.
‘I should go retrieve the secret manual attached to the back of the Primordial Heavenly Worthy statue soon….’
With internal instability and me no longer being an outsider, I could move about freely.
‘This is why background matters for getting by in society.’
Behind me stood Gwon Je of the Mudang.
Instead of shouting where I was going, all the elders were making an effort to avoid meeting my eyes.
The genealogy was twisted, yet they couldn’t speak casually to such a young boy—a peculiar situation.
Normally I would have told them to speak freely, but this time I let it be.
I held grudges for a long time. And if they naturally avoided me while I needed to search for the secret manual, that was perfect.
‘Should I go?’
I wrung out the laundry and shook the moisture away with a sharp snap of my qi.
‘Hmm. My younger brother is tall, so his robes are large too.’
Cheonwoo believed the training hermits who helped with chores were washing his clothes. But I had been secretly washing his garments while cultivating.
I tossed the washed clothes toward where the training hermits had folded the laundry.
The flying garments folded sharply with a crisp sound.
This way the laundry would reach the annex where Cheonwoo was staying.
Since it would arrive by the hands of the training hermits, he still wouldn’t suspect anything.
‘You’ve grown enough now.’
With that, I turned my steps toward the temple building.
‘The oldest and largest Primordial Heavenly Worthy statue.’
While its exact location wasn’t explicitly stated, there were only two places where such a large wooden statue of the Primordial Heavenly Worthy could be enshrined.
The place I found was open to worshippers.
It was a temple situated in a remote location with few visitors.
‘It seems they only clean this place once a week?’
Places that received many donations were polished frequently and gleaming, while those that didn’t were barely cleaned once a week.
It seemed to symbolize the Mudang Sect as it stood now.
‘Secret technique. I’ll guard it well!’
I offered a proper Daoist bow and lit incense.
Ding—
“….”
One minute passed like that.
I cracked my eyes open and checked if anyone was around.
Woof! – No one, Master!
Hwang-gu was truly useful.
I patted Hwang-gu’s head and immediately crawled up to the back of the Primordial Celestial Worthy’s head, reaching out my hand.
At first, I couldn’t grasp anything. I fumbled around for quite a while.
Then something caught on my fingertips with a soft snag.
I pulled it out.
Shhhhh—
A silk scroll, not a book, came sliding out.
The ancient scroll bore these characters:
[Taiji Wisdom Sword]
“…?”
Upon reading it, I muttered to myself.
“Hwang-gu, have my eyes gone bad? This looks like the Taiji Wisdom Sword to me?”
Woof?
“Right, you can’t read. But why does this look to me like….”
I rubbed my eyes.
“It still looks like the Taiji Wisdom Sword…doesn’t it?”
The Heavenly Demon Supreme is an unfriendly novel to its readers.
I knew a secret technique existed, but the original work never explained exactly what it was.
What was discovered in the original was a secret technique found in the burnt remains.
The Mudang, rotted through by the Heavenly Demon’s blood—a hermit whose name was never mentioned in the novel betrayed the Mudang Sect and joined the Demonic Sect.
The traitorous hermit set fire to Mudang Mountain, which was like a parent to him.
The fire demon burned countless halls and temples, and in those ruins, traces of the secret technique were discovered at the back of the head of what had been the Primordial Celestial Worthy.
-So it came to this… it came to this. The Immortal Sage made arrangements to save the Mudang from crisis, yet even this has become too much for the Mudang of today. What can be done? What can be done, I ask! How could a child burn his parent! How could a hermit of the Mudang set fire to Mudang Mountain!
A scene appears where the Head Priest of the Mudang, now reduced to ash, clutches the ruined secret technique and coughs blood. The Heavenly Demon’s affliction had overwhelmed him.
The specific nature of the secret technique was never mentioned, but it was clearly something extraordinary.
‘I was planning to consume it anyway since it would be unusable after burning….’
So what was lost was the Taiji Wisdom Sword….
‘No wonder the Head Priest coughed blood over this.’
Upon seeing it, the Head Priest collapsed outright and ultimately couldn’t even maintain his position, dying in the end.
When I read it then, I thought, ‘I understand, but still, he’s the Head Priest. No matter what, the future of the Mudang is at stake—he shouldn’t collapse like that. Tsk tsk.’ I clicked my tongue.
Now I understand.
The Taiji Wisdom Sword is counted among the strongest martial arts that appear in most martial arts novels.
A swordsmanship technique that ranks within the top five among all divine martial arts.
And whether it’s the new or old martial world, it’s strangely common for such techniques to be put into practice.
Because only when they’re put into practice can the protagonist later acquire them as fortunate encounters.
The Supremely Heavenly Demonic Art was merely put into practice.
Thinking about it now, the rival sect leaders needed to grow and give Yeo Ha-ryun headaches, so the weakening of the Mudang Sect felt like a balance patch for that purpose.
‘Well… I’ll gratefully accept this.’
I had prevented one future where Jang Mun-in coughed blood and died.
‘I hope he’ll overcome the burning hall through his own will.’
Since I never saw the Taiji Wisdom Sword burning, he should survive even if he stays in place.
I commanded Hwang-gu.
“Alert me immediately if anyone approaches.”
Yelp.
Hwang-gu responded very quietly and took up a forward-facing guard stance.
Since we could communicate with each other, Hwang-gu had become even more perceptive.
There was no need for detailed explanations.
I looked at such a reliable Hwang-gu once with trusting eyes, then quickly turned the pages of the Taiji Wisdom Sword.
I planned to use the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong to commit all of this to memory.
‘This is absolutely incredible…?’
I was reading it, but the content was difficult to comprehend.
It was natural. I had only just mastered the basics of the Mudang Sect, and the Taiji Wisdom Sword was the supreme technique of the Mudang.
It contained supreme knowledge that could only be understood when those who had seen its depths advanced to higher realms.
I read through it several more times, and once I was certain I had memorized everything, I closed the book.
Thud.
Now the question was what to do with this Taiji Wisdom Sword.
‘Should I burn it?’
Treating this secret manual as if it never existed from the start.
If I went that route cleanly, it would be to my advantage.
I had already experienced trouble just from learning the Dual Thought Technique.
But when I actually tried to do it, the martial arts enthusiast within me cried out.
‘Really? Even seeing the beautiful edges of this secret manual, you’d actually do that? The Taiji Wisdom Sword! The real Taiji Wisdom Sword!’
Far from burning it, my hands trembled so much I couldn’t even fold the corner of the book’s pages.
This wasn’t a matter of reason. It was a matter of passion.
‘What belongs to the Mudang Sect… should be returned to the Mudang Sect.’
Keeping it all to myself didn’t suit my nature anyway.
Even if it did, the martial arts enthusiast within me had seized me by the collar at the thought of setting fire to the edges of this beautiful ancient text.
‘Thinking rationally, the Mudang Sect might notice when I master the Taiji Wisdom Sword.’
Myeong-gil Jingin, who would test me, would either ascend to immortality or be absent from the human realm, but that’s what I thought.
‘Sigh, but this secret manual has such elegance, just like the Dual Thought Technique manual. This is how fortunate encounters are supposed to be. Right.’
I gently caressed the cover of the Taiji Wisdom Sword with my hand.
Just feeling the texture made me happy.
* * *
“You’re giving me something you won’t eat alone?”
Myeong-gil Jingin’s body stiffened upon hearing my words.
“What belongs to the Mudang Sect must be returned to the Mudang Sect.”
“….”
At my words, Myeong-gil Jingin was overwhelmed with emotion and fell silent for a moment.
“How did you know the secret manual was there?”
“It was mentioned in the late Elder’s final testament.”
I couldn’t say I’d seen it in the original work, so I invoked the name of the departed Myeong-deok Jangno. At those words, Myeong-gil Jingin’s eyes glistened with tears.
“Myeong-deok… you foolish thing. How did you bear such a heavy burden alone? Doubting the Mudang while being too simple-minded… yet unable to leave the Mudang either.”
Myeong-gil Jingin lost himself in memories, recalling his time with Myeong-deok Jangno for a long while.
“The Tai Chi Wisdom Sword is an ancient martial art whose lineage was severed long ago and has fallen into disuse.”
“The Mudang Sect is synonymous with the Tai Chi Wisdom Sword, yet it has fallen into disuse?”
I asked with a deliberately surprised expression.
“Such things are common in Gangho. The successor of a divine technique or secret art dies a violent death in Gangho, or is killed through conspiracy, or falls into demonic possession… secret manuals are merely safeguards left behind for such contingencies. Several generations ago, the successor of the Tai Chi Wisdom Sword passed away, and I heard even the secret manual disappeared.”
“Passed away?”
“There was a conflict. A violent death that cannot be spoken of outside, one too shameful to even mention.”
Myeong-gil Jingin spoke with a reddened face.
If such a violent death had occurred, few in Gangho would be ignorant of it, yet if it could not be spoken of, there was only one reason.
“Did a conflict arise over the Tai Chi Wisdom Sword?”
It was a violent death that occurred within the Mudang Sect itself.
Once one had received the Mudang’s Way, it was difficult for such a violent death to occur from mere greed for wealth or fame.
Therefore, I naturally deduced the cause could only be one thing.
And my deduction was accurate.
“Even with just the Dual Thought Technique, there are those who forget the Way entirely—so how could it be different with the Tai Chi Wisdom Sword? The martial arts of our sect demand much of one’s character and aptitude, making transmission itself difficult. However, that hardly serves as consolation to those who fail.”
“….”
“They abandoned posterity for martial arts, cast aside their names, and gave everything to the Mudang, only to be told to practice Tai Chi in the future—would they accept that? The Tai Chi is something anyone can learn without risk of demonic possession.”
“That is….”
“Of course, that’s an extreme example. Normally, we transmit even advanced techniques beyond the level I taught you. But if someone without the aptitude or character forcibly learns beyond that, their body and mind will be destroyed. That is why the Mudang is selective about people. It is to protect the practitioners.”
“It seems difficult to accept.”
It meant that despite sacrificing everything to remain in the Mudang, one’s limits were predetermined.
No matter how hard one strived, one could never become stronger than those who learned the Dual Thought Technique.
The Tai Chi Wisdom Sword was an even greater problem.
A true martial artist would beg to be taught it, even if it meant accepting death.
“That is… an old problem the Mudang has carried.”
Myeong-gil Jingin wiped his brow with a disheartened expression.

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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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