Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 229

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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 229
“Regardless, Cheon-hee, such matters are trivial. After all, the Medical Guild’s primary duty at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering has always been treating tournament injuries. You and your siblings ascended the stage, knocked opponents unconscious, and sent those eliminated safely back home—that is what matters.”
“Long live Seo Baek-ryong! Long live!”
“Patriarch! Long live, long live!”
The doctors who had experienced the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering from last year, the year before, and the year before that danced in frenzied celebration.
Their delirious cheering resembled those inflatable tube men of the modern era.
The kind they set up in front of shops during grand openings.
My Master responded with joy.
“Thanks to you, I finally have time to enjoy tea. I cannot express how wonderful this is.”
The two of us entered the tea room prepared within the emergency ward.
Originally, it had been arranged to receive distinguished guests who visited the emergency ward, but it had gone unused for years.
Typically, the only reason nobility came here was to grab their injured children and demand, ‘My child won’t have any lasting effects, right?’ or ‘You fool! If you thought you’d lose, I told you to forfeit immediately!’
During the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, the emergency ward was like a hotteok shop on fire.
An endless stream of patients—a hellish triathlon of suffering.
Doctors lost their minds, patients screamed in agony, and parents of patients—the family heads—lost their senses asking how much they should pay to have their children treated first.
Of course, accepting such payment was absolutely forbidden.
Prioritizing one sect’s disciples meant pushing back another sect’s disciples, which only bred new grudges.
In any case, Jin Cheon-hee and Jegalling became guests in the emergency ward’s reception tea room—something that could hardly be called routine.
We savored the finest dragon well tea distributed by the Murim Alliance as a reward.
“Now that I think of it, you were using a portion of the Heart Demon Realm. What opportunity granted you this?”
Just as Mudang Gwon-je had discerned it, my Master had noticed as well.
‘There’s no point in being evasive.’
Knowing my Master would believe whatever I said, I answered honestly.
“I met the Cheonma.”
The teacup my Master held rippled.
The Cheonma—one of the Three Elites among the ten greatest masters under heaven, also called the Demon Lord.
If such a being had come to see my disciple, it could not possibly be coincidence.
After a moment, my Master gathered his thoughts and spoke.
“Indeed. Only such an opportunity could make that realm possible. Yet, I cannot fathom her nature.”
I revealed everything—how I had met the Cheonma, what I had learned, and all the circumstances surrounding it.
My Master listened to my account with calm composure.
“Causality… Yes, I have read of it in very ancient texts. It was written that those attempting to ascend to immortality typically withdraw from worldly affairs. Since it was merely one obscure passage among many, I had forgotten it.”
Knowledge of dubious credibility, and useless unless one could actually ascend to immortality—naturally, I had paid it no mind.
Yet to hear this tale again from my disciple’s lips…
“She said I am an existence that scatters the Heavenly Mandate. Those who divine the Heavenly Mandate can target me, she claimed…”
At those words, a cold killing intent flickered in Jegalling’s eyes.
“Ha, she said such a thing? Then I shall grind every last one of those bastards to dust.”
“Master, please calm yourself! Besides, even if this room is soundproofed, the corridor outside is the emergency ward…”
At my plea, my Master’s anger subsided somewhat.
“Hmm… Yes. I must compose myself. It seems I must proceed with what I had been contemplating.”
“Progress, you say?”
At my words, Jegalling chuckled softly.
“Expanding our influence. I’ve already issued orders for this, but it seems I’ll need to accelerate matters. Once our power grows sufficiently, none would dare target you.”
My Master had spoken of it.
He would build a fortress to protect his disciple.
That plan was advancing steadily.
‘Just how many things does my Master accomplish simultaneously?’
I myself hardly work little.
Yet compared to what my Master undertakes, the scale was entirely different.
What I do are individual matters.
Saving lives, assisting the Medical Guild, conducting research, writing treatises—whereas my Master handles the affairs of groups and factions themselves.
It was difficult even to imagine how challenging such work must be.
“Thank you.”
“If you’re grateful, then show your strength tomorrow. I’d prefer you didn’t hold back against that one.”
“Master, he’s my younger brother.”
“Hahaha, Hee. In the martial world where children strike their parents and brothers tear each other apart, everything except the master-disciple bond is but illusion.”
My Master still despised Yeo Ha-ryun.
‘And he’s hardly someone to show mercy to.’
I had already achieved my primary goal—concluding the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering without casualties using Allah’s magic staff.
Fighting Yeo Ha-ryun was now merely a bonus objective.
‘I’ll end this Heaven’s Greatest Medical Martial Arts Selection Tournament with my own hands.’
None of you will be victors.
All will be equally disqualified.
* * *
The Nine Great Sects and Eight Major Families that form the backbone of the Martial Alliance.
While martial novels vary slightly in their accounts, the Nine Great Sects in the Supremacy of Heaven and Demon comprise ten sects:
Shaolin Temple, Wudang Sect, Gaebang, Emei Sect, Huashan Sect, Kunlun Sect, Zhongnan Sect, Gonggong Faction, Dianjiang Sect, and Qingcheng Sect.
They are called the Nine Great Sects because only Gaebang defines itself as a “Bang” rather than a sect.
Aside from Gaebang, composed of beggars, the other nine sects are typically religious organizations—Daoist and Buddhist—that have evolved into martial sects.
Consequently, they display relatively less worldly behavior.
In contrast, the Eight Major Families, though pillars of the orthodox faction, are family-centered powers.
They are exceedingly worldly and have clashed frequently with heterodox sects.
The Eight Major Families comprise eight clans: Namgung, Moyong, Hwangbo, Ak, Tang, Peng, Eon, and Gongseon.
In the past, Jegallga held a position among them, but now that seat is occupied by the Eon Family.
‘My Master shows no attachment to the Eight Major Families either.’
What had transpired in the past?
He had never spoken of it explicitly, but at least the revival of the Jegallga clan was hardly a significant goal for my Master.
‘Even accounting for his terminal illness back then, the fact that he still abandons it now….’
He possessed sensibilities different from ordinary people, and his motivations and actions were often deeply twisted.
Yet in this Confucian society, it would have been difficult to shed attachment to one’s family.
‘What more could be said of the last survivor.’
Just as I never pressed Master for answers when he chose silence, he never pressed me either.
To outsiders, it was a peculiar master-disciple relationship indeed.
‘When the time comes, he will tell me.’
I myself harbored secrets I had not shared with Master, so I could hardly demand his.
Regardless, the heterodox sects stood opposed to the orthodox schools.
The Sadoryeon consisted of only eight major sects at its core, which were collectively called the Eight Sects of the Heterodox Alliance.
Hao-mun, Haesabang, Salggeomru, Nok-rim Eighteen Strongholds, Yellow River and Yangtze River Water Route Sect, Blood Father Sect, Oh Dok-mun, and Ghost Spirit Sect—eight sects in total.
‘Among them, Hao-mun possessed the greatest power.’
Hao-mun was unique in being a coalition of five sects, and with its long history, it was now treated as a single sect.
Because of this, Hao-mun alone possessed strength equivalent to three other sects of the Eight combined.
And yet.
Even so, the Sadoryeon was undeniably at a disadvantage compared to the Murim Alliance.
Because of this, no one expected the younger generation of the Eight Sects of the Heterodox Alliance to shine at the Dragon Phoenix Conference.
And it was even more unthinkable that a warrior sent by the Ilwol Divine Sect—known as the Demonic Cult—would advance.
‘In fact, many believed I would not survive the first night and would be killed by a blind blade.’
But when the lid was lifted, the results proved entirely different!
Sama Hyeon, from Hao-mun, the greatest heterodox power, advanced to the semifinals.
And in the finals, the Masked One of the Ilwol Divine Sect appeared—Yeo Ha-ryun had participated without revealing his face and name, so people had begun calling him the Masked One for convenience.
All the younger generation representatives of the great powers were eliminated, and the Demonic Cult reached the finals!
It was an earth-shaking development.
Yet the orthodox schools still held hope.
A rising sage. Young in years yet exemplary in propriety, who had created miraculous medicines that could save countless lives and could even resurrect the dying—a divine physician!
Seo Baek-ryong, Jin Cheon-hee, was here!
“Uaaaaaaaa!”
“White Physician Divine Dragon, win!”
“Uoh! White Physician Bizarre Dragon! Break that demonic cult bastard’s arm!”
And my epithet was upgraded from Seo Baek-ryong to White Physician Divine Dragon, or White Physician Bizarre Dragon!
White Physician—a name meaning the white-robed doctor—combined with the epithet Divine Dragon.
Now it seemed I had no reason to be embarrassed by my epithet anywhere.
White Physician Bizarre Dragon was an epithet born from my peculiar fighting methods becoming known to the world…
Because I fought so strangely and made such bizarre sounds, some warriors attached the character for bizarre (怪) and called me that.
Warriors who had faced me directly also called me the Mad Dragon (狂龍).
“White Physician Mad Dragon! Please slay all those demonic cult dogs!”
I washed my face with my hands.
‘I thought Sama Hyeon would receive an epithet with bizarre or mad in it first?! Or at least Yeo Ha-ryun?’
Why would they attach such epithets to me when there were heterodox sect brothers and demonic cult brothers around?
Amid the roar of the crowd, I pondered.
‘Right, yes. Only a tiny minority call me that. My epithet is White Physician Divine Dragon.’
The character for white (白) from Baek Rin Medical Guild, the character for physician (醫) representing my medical skills, and Divine Dragon (神龍)!
Quite the heroic epithet worthy of a martial arts novel, wouldn’t you say.
Moreover, the way people looked at me had changed from the old days.
With one heart and one mind, they all prayed for my victory.
‘Hehehehe… that’s nice. But why are there more people betting on Yeo Ha-ryun, a Demonic Cult member?’
Perhaps money was more honest than cheers.
No, that couldn’t be. Our martial world friends had integrity—they wouldn’t be like that.
Wasn’t the Demonic Cult the sworn enemy of the Orthodox Faction?
Surely they wouldn’t bet on the Demonic Cult’s victory just to line their own pockets.
So those insane odds piled before Yeo Ha-ryun must have been placed by the Unorthodox Sects.
I decided to trust my Orthodox Faction friends.
No matter how much they wanted to earn, they wouldn’t be crazy enough to wager on the Demonic Cult.
‘The Unorthodox Sects must be rolling in money these days.’
As I stepped onto the arena, the masked Yeo Ha-ryun stood silently waiting.
The inorganic appearance—still devoid of any perceptible breath—created a sense of wrongness.
“….”
I even felt a hint of displeasure.
[I never expected you to be like this.]
I answered Yeo Ha-ryun’s transmission of thought.
[Like what?]
[I knew you’d eliminate them one by one with your own hands and prevent me from forming sworn brotherhood with them. But I never thought you’d stake your own life for it.]
[…You seem to have misunderstood something. But regardless, both Cheonwoo and Sama Hyeon are good people. They’re not the type to threaten my life during the match.]
[How can you believe that?]
A fundamental question. Come to think of it, my Master had asked something similar before.
No matter what I said, I wouldn’t be able to convince him.
In the end, there was only one answer. I had to speak well. But how?
[Ha-ryun. Let me make one thing clear.]
[What is it?]

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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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