Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 25

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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 25
Time passed.
Perhaps it was thanks to the bone-scraping training.
I began my inner energy cultivation earlier than expected.
“I am fine, but you must not speak or move under any circumstances. Do you understand?”
My Master sat behind me as I crossed my legs in meditation.
He placed his hand on my back and infused his energy into me.
The Great Circulation.
It meant energy flowing through the meridians and making one complete circuit through the body.
I felt something enter my body and swirl within me.
‘So this is my Master’s energy.’
Unlike last time when I merely observed my inner state, this was a true Great Circulation.
I could feel my Master’s energy pressing into me far more distinctly.
Was it due to the influence of the Nine Yin Meridians?
Now that I truly felt it, it was cold and heavy.
What began at my back spiraled through every corner of my body.
‘So this is my Master’s inner power….’
It was on an entirely different level from when I had examined it for diagnostic purposes before.
Soon, Jegalling’s inner power reached somewhere within me.
My dantian.
Something had hardened solidly within my dantian, and I belatedly realized it was the inner power contained within the White Pine Sect’s pill.
Gently, yet powerfully.
Jegalling’s inner power began to awaken and circulate the pill’s energy.
My Master spoke.
“Your bone-scraping technique was executed well. All the inner power you absorbed through the pill is now yours. At this level, your dantian will be firmly established with at least five years of cultivation.”
The awakened energy followed my Master’s guidance through the Great Circulation. The White Pine pill completed one full circuit and settled into my dantian.
It was no longer in the hardened form from before.
It felt sticky, like pine resin brimming with vitality.
“Because you have diligently trained the Body Refinement technique, the pill’s inherent nature has been well preserved. We shall stop with the White Pine pill for now, and absorb the Heavenly Pine pill later.”
It seemed eating too much at once was not beneficial after all. Then my Master added one more thing.
“First, after laying a solid foundation. I have several special medicinal pills I created separately, so we shall start with those.”
So that previous statement was cancelled. It appeared there were beginner versions available.
My Master withdrew his energy and removed his hand.
“Now open your eyes. It is time to learn the fundamental technique.”
He began to explain the Jegal Family’s foundational technique.
The Five Elements Heart Method.
Fire, water, wood, metal, earth.
These represented the five forces that composed the world.
I began breathing as my Master had taught me.
Now I had to move my inner power with my own strength, not my Master’s.
‘This is unexpectedly… fun?’
Water nourishes wood, and wood nourishes fire.
Fire creates earth, and earth becomes metal. And metal purifies water.
“The foundation is mutual generation. The reason the Jegal Family’s Five Elements Heart Method is suited to medicine is because it harmonizes with all other inner energies without conflict. There is no inner energy better suited for treating internal injuries and revitalizing vitality.”
“What happens if you circulate energy in the opposite way?”
“We call it mutual destruction. Water collides with fire and extinguishes it, fire collides with metal and melts it. Metal cuts wood, and wood returns to earth.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
My master shook his head at those words.
“That too has its uses. When inner energy runs rampant like demonic possession, we use it to suppress that qi.”
Mutual generation and mutual destruction.
‘In a way, it’s like the boundary between medicine and poison.’
Modern medicine is the same.
Every drug has what we call side effects.
Here, side effects mean actions outside the intended efficacy.
Medicine exists in both the realm of biology and chemistry.
You cannot extract only the desired action.
Sildenafil citrate.
People know it as Viagra. This drug was originally created as a heart disease treatment.
The problem was that side effects were discovered during clinical trials. That side effect was assisting male erectile function.
So it ultimately became a treatment for erectile dysfunction.
There were many alternative heart medications, but there weren’t many alternatives for erectile dysfunction treatment at that time.
‘Diabetes treatments become obesity treatments, and conversely, substances that are originally poisons not meant for consumption become medicine for specific patients.’
I rapidly absorbed the knowledge by comparing it with modern examples.
‘Side effects aren’t necessarily bad. The same applies to mutual destruction. There is no good or evil in medicine. It depends on how you use it. The same applies to the Five Elements that compose this world.’
After interpreting it in my own way and reaching that understanding, my dantian began to move violently.
‘Then the White Pine Sect energy I received must be wood energy. If I ever need to treat internal injuries of the Gongseon Family in the future, I can use water’s properties to create mutual generation, or use earth’s properties to employ mutual destruction.’
One enlightenment led to the next.
Jegalling watched me with astonished eyes as I became absorbed.
‘I knew his aptitude was outstanding, but teaching one thing, he understands ten.’
Jegalling stood guard for his disciple.
‘Right. Whose disciple is he—of course.’
Jegalling thought to himself.
A prodigy has been born in the Central Plains, so he must inform all physicians in Gangho of this fact immediately. What could be more important than this?
My meditation continued for quite a long time.
* * *
I felt the essence of wood in my dantian.
It symbolized life. It changes yet does not change, grows by adapting to water, and gives everything to fire.
Yet it never perished.
Like sprouts that bloom even faster in a burned forest.
When I opened my eyes in the Woon Gong-sil after finishing my cultivation, it was dawn.
The amount of inner energy I had accumulated seemed to have increased by at least fifty percent compared to when I had fully digested all of the White Pine Sect’s resources.
‘Is this the equivalent of seven years of cultivation? I’ve already obtained what others would need seven years of steady training to achieve. I mustn’t neglect my foundational training just because my inner energy has grown.’
It was at that moment when Jin Cheon-hee had this thought that a voice came from behind.
“Quite the dramatic first cultivation session, I must say.”
It was Yoo Ho.
“Oh, where is Master?”
“I offered to complete the protective meditation in his stead and sent him to rest. Enlightenment on your very first cultivation—normally, even after teaching the foundational technique, disciples struggle to understand its meaning for quite some time before it becomes real to them. You should have seen how delighted he was, calling you a true genius.”
The Jegal Family Head that Yoo Ho witnessed had a smile stretching from ear to ear.
Even as he entered his sleeping quarters, he continued grinning in a manner that was almost terrifying.
Gasol, upon seeing the Family Head’s sudden overflowing happiness, even hiccupped.
‘He takes more joy in his disciple’s success than in his own.’
Yoo Ho was already dreading what would be written in next week’s Medical Report.
‘Even if he has a disciple he treasures more than his own eyes…’
Yoo Ho spoke.
“I’ve brought the spirit pills you’re to consume next.”
Yoo Ho opened the box.
It was strange. Normally, when opening a box of spirit pills, a refreshing fragrance would emerge, but there was no scent at all.
Five spirit pills in total.
“Fire-Generating Pill, Water-Harmony Pill, Wood-Sustaining Pill, Earth-Nurturing Pill, and Metal-Fragrant Pill. Five varieties.”
“Do I take them all at once?”
“No, you may consume whichever one you wish from among these.”
It was asking me to choose.
‘A test. To see if I truly understood.’
This was indeed Jegalling’s way. Separate from his love for his disciples, his teaching was flawless.
‘The first pill I consumed was from the White Pine Sect—a spirit pill of the wood element. Normally, one would consume pills of the same element. That’s the fundamental principle of the Five Elements technique.’
The principle was to strengthen one element by focusing on it alone.
I changed my thinking.
‘If I just follow that path, there’s no point in learning the Five Elements technique. It’s about mutual generation.’
I spoke.
“Give me the Fire-Generating Pill.”
Wood energy generates fire, making it flourish.
Since I consumed wood first, now it was fire’s turn.
Yoo Ho spoke.
“So that is your choice.”
Yoo Ho handed me the Fire-Generating Pill.
As I received it, I realized something.
‘A sharp, tingling fragrance? That’s strange. Just moments ago, there was no scent at all…’
In that instant, I suddenly understood.
“…I’ll take the remaining four as well, in order.”
“All of them?”
“Yes. I need all of them.”
The Five Elements Pills work such that five pills function as a single Spirit Pill.
Each individual Spirit Pill provides only a modest amount of inner energy.
Only when all five Spirit Pills are consumed in the correct sequence does their mutual generation create a complete cycle.
The quantity of inner energy matters little.
What matters is establishing the foundation with the five purest elements.
Yoo Ho responded.
“You’re not easily deceived, I see.”
“And who was it that spoke so craftily, as if only one would suffice?”
What begins with wood must complete its cycle and return to wood.
Yoo Ho realized that my understanding ran far deeper than he had anticipated.
“My apologies. There was no malice intended. It was simply that the Master instructed me to test you.”
I had anticipated that much.
Yoo Ho spoke.
“Simply by choosing only the Fire-Generating Pill, the Master would have already marked you correct. How did you arrive at such a conclusion?”
“The fragrance.”
The scent of the Fire-Generating Pill.
When I first observed the Spirit Pills, I found it strange that they emitted no scent. But that was not the case.
Each Spirit Pill contained its own unique fragrance.
When five fragrances harmonized together, they approached perfect absence of scent.
Within that, I sensed something amiss.
‘No matter how I look at it, it’s just like a five-piece set sold at a department store.’
Of course, that realization stemmed from my life in modern Earth.
Once that thought struck me, I reconsidered the fundamental principles of the Five Elements that my Master had taught, and ultimately arrived at a single conclusion.
Yoo Ho expressed genuine admiration.
“Truly remarkable insight, Young Master.”
And he added one more thing.
“Worthy of keeping the entire Baekrin Sect standing guard through the night.”
“…I didn’t ask for that. And you’re going to report all of this to my Master?”
I was beginning to understand.
A master who never leaves his post makes his disciples suffer.
“Of course I must. That’s why he sent me to test you.”
“Ugh…”
I swallowed hard and bit down on the Fire-Generating Pill with a crunch.
True to its name, the aftertaste was spicy. And I felt a burning sensation ignite within me.
It was indeed a Spirit Pill imbued with fire essence.
I quickly turned my awareness inward.
‘I must generate fire essence from wood essence, then generate earth essence from fire essence. After cultivating this energy, I must immediately consume the Earth-Generating Pill.’
The energy swirled violently within me.
I began consuming the Spirit Pills one by one.
The five energies grew stronger, one by one.
Though my eyes remained closed, I found myself intoxicated by the sensations unfolding within my body.
‘A world….’
A world was being born and flourishing within me. A world named the Five Elements came into existence and danced.
And with it, I began drawing in the surrounding energy with a terrifying force.
The intensity of this pull far exceeded the energy of the elixir itself.
Even lost in this ecstatic state, I felt joy and delight.
Though this sensation was entirely new to me, there was no confusion.
‘This is the world within me.’
Within this blissful sensation, the Five Elements True Qi of the Five Elements Heart Method began to settle into place properly.
In an instant, five years of cultivation began to accumulate.
Amidst it all, I concentrated my consciousness.

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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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