Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 27

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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 27
Jegalling spoke.
“When you’ve completely grafted this wood. The first task will be complete. So… how long should I give you?”
He fell into thought before speaking.
“I think the day after tomorrow would be appropriate.”
* * *
“Isn’t that far too tight a deadline?”
Yoo Ho spoke as Jegalling returned to the Medical Guild. Jegalling answered.
“It is tight.”
“And it’s far too difficult. This is a task three ranks above the first assignment. No one in the Medical Guild could accomplish such a thing with merely First Rank cultivation.”
“Yes. That’s true as well.”
“Then what exactly….”
Jegalling cut off Yoo Ho’s words.
“…It seems my Cheon-hee has grown quite fond of you lately. Your words have become long-winded.”
Jegalling regarded Yoo Ho with a voice devoid of warmth.
“No, it’s just….”
Yoo Ho ultimately said nothing more, his words trailing off.
He was Jegalling’s trusted aide. Even as a favored subordinate, his position as an aide remained unchanged.
Jegalling said nothing further to Yoo Ho.
Yoo Ho likewise asked nothing more of Jegalling.
‘When it comes to teaching, he becomes stricter than anyone.’
Affection and harsh instruction were entirely separate matters.
‘Well, if he fails, so be it.’
There was no shame in it.
No one in the Medical Guild could accomplish such a task within three days of reaching First Rank.
Yoo Ho reflected. Success alone was not the only valuable experience. The experience of failure was equally valuable.
‘Perhaps he’s teaching him about mindset.’
If that were the reason for such an impossible task, it made sense.
* * *
“Manual healing, healing through manual technique….”
With First Rank cultivation of the Five Elements Heart Method, I could barely ignite a dried rice paper. Even a matchstick could do that.
A matchstick would actually be more convenient.
No concentration needed—just strike it against wood.
First Rank water qi was no different.
‘How am I supposed to heal this massive tree….’
I slowly focused water qi onto the tree’s surface.
A bean-sized amount of water qi rose from my dantian and seeped into the wood.
“….”
That was all.
“Not even the bark has healed.”
A scar my Master had created with ease. Yet the tree seemed unlikely to ever bloom again.
“How am I supposed to cut this thick trunk in half with a fan?”
I leaned my back against the tree stump and sat down.
‘Master must know that my inner strength isn’t enough for this. He knew and still gave me the task. Did he assign something impossible knowing it was impossible? Just to teach me frustration?’
That didn’t seem right.
Even if he were teaching me that, it wouldn’t be in this manner.
It was quite a magnificent old tree, but it held no memories for me—just the first ancient tree I’d ever seen.
I didn’t feel particularly sad about this tree withering away.
Besides, I wasn’t an environmentalist, and this massive mountain wasn’t home to only this one giant tree.
“It really does seem like you have no choice but to die. If you’d just been cut down, it might be different, but since you were burned in fire, all your vascular tissue and cambium layer were completely incinerated and destroyed.”
In this world’s terms, it seems they call that being eroded by fire-qi.
‘Even if eroded by fire-qi, there’s still a possibility if the roots survive, but returning to its original form is impossible.’
No matter how many times I thought about it, I couldn’t find a way to solve my Master’s task.
“Hehehehe.”
I embraced the tree and laughed like a madman.
Then a drop of water fell onto my forehead.
Looking up at the sky, it was overcast.
Light flickered in the distant sky. And a few seconds later.
Rumble—
Sound was always slower than light.
“Even the weather isn’t cooperating.”
Two drops of water brought four streaks of rain. Four streaks became a wall of downpour.
I leaned my back against the tree.
“At least it’s good for avoiding the rain.”
Muttering thus, I gazed at the muddy ground.
My gaze suddenly shifted from the mud to the roots. Even now, the tree was drawing in water.
“Ah… that’s right. Water nourishes wood. Wood nourishes fire, and fire has a generative relationship with earth. Earth has a generative relationship with metal. And metal… nourishes water again.”
My Master had said so.
Generative relationships promote qi.
It’s a method used for weakened patients.
“Then couldn’t I use it too? Since what I need is water-qi, wouldn’t water-qi flourish if I cultivate using metal, which has a generative relationship with it?”
An application of the Five Elements Heart Method.
‘Is it… possible?’
Five types of qi residing within my dantian.
I furrowed my brow.
‘But what if I fail?’
I knew all too well how dangerous it was to cultivate in an untaught manner. Yet my mind whispered that it was fine.
That it was possible.
No matter how many times I thought it through, my mind gave no answer but that this was the solution…
I placed my hand on the split in the tree.
“Sigh… If I die because of a tree, I’ll be recorded as the greatest fool in the history of the Gangho.”
With those words, I closed my eyes.
Ironically, the first qi I moved was Earth Qi.
I judged it would be safe even if something went wrong, since it was the most gentle and solid force.
Earth Qi meets Metal Qi.
Whooom—
My dantian resonates within my body. At the same time, I felt Metal Qi combining with Earth Qi and growing progressively stronger.
‘Compound interest?’
It wasn’t addition. It was multiplication. Feeling the exponentially growing qi, I hesitated.
Fortunately, it was manageable.
Even if two beans are multiplied, they’re still beans.
Two beans multiplied together don’t become a watermelon.
I could handle this level without difficulty.
And so I added the amplified Metal Qi to Water Qi.
Whooooom—
Third power.
I felt Water Qi swelling to eight times its original amount—2x2x2.
‘This is getting difficult.’
I infused Water Qi into the tree. I felt the life force seeping inward.
Opening my eyes, I saw a bit of bark had attached to it.
‘Well, I succeeded, but there’s still a long way to go.’
Then what if I started with Wood Qi? If I progressed through Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water in sequence?
That’s 2 to the fifth power.
32 times.
‘So that’s why purity mattered more than quantity.’
Impure qi, no matter how amplified, becomes nothing but contamination.
It becomes increasingly difficult to control and is perfect for inviting qi deviation.
Pure qi is better. The purer it is, the easier it is to handle.
‘That’s why they said to consume the Heavenly Pine Pill later.’
The essence of the Five Elements Heart Method lies in mutual restraint and mutual generation.
If a single qi becomes excessively strong, it’s the perfect recipe for qi deviation.
Everything fits together like a puzzle.
“Alright, let’s do this. You won’t have troubled dreams even if you fail…”
Understanding was complete.
What remained was concentration and boldness.
I repeatedly clenched and unclenched my fists.
This is a tree, not a person. Where could I find more suitable practice material?
There was no reason to hesitate.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
* * *
The next day.
Jegalling rose at dawn and stepped outside.
The rain that had fallen through the night had ceased at some point.
“So he’s sleeping in his quarters?”
“Yes. Shall I wake him?”
“No. He must have been deeply troubled last night. Let him rest.”
Was it right to put such a heavy trial upon a child?
Perhaps it would be better to lower the difficulty to the level expected of other Medical Guild doctors, even now.
Jegalling sighed.
‘When a master’s ambition grows excessive, it ruins the disciple’s talent.’
He walked slowly toward the severed tree.
After walking for some time, his steps halted.
“Is that… the tree?”
Jegalling’s eyes widened. The tree that should have been severed stood there now, exactly as it had been before.
‘Looking closely, the grain is slightly misaligned. There’s definitely a cut mark.’
It had left only a scar.
But that was not all. Blue moss had grown on the base of the tree in the shape of a handprint. Jegalling brought his own hand to the moss-marked handprint.
The hand was far smaller than his own.
‘It’s his. Jin Cheon-hee did this alone, without anyone’s help.’
It was a trace of water qi remaining.
Moss had grown over the water qi left behind after healing the tree.
“To accomplish this in a single day… no, merely half a day.”
Yoo Ho, watching beside him, was left speechless.
‘On his first trial, he accomplished something three levels above… so easily?’
Learning the fundamentals is merely the minimum qualification to take the test.
One must gain insight and apply it. But even reaching that point of inspiration does not mark the end.
One had to fuse inner energies of different natures, amplify them, and still push them in the desired direction.
Inner energy is like water.
When small, it is calm like a spring or pond, but as it gathers, it becomes a swollen valley, growing fierce.
Humans cannot overcome nature.
To block it head-on is madness.
One must guide it as if building a riverbank.
One cannot rush, but neither can one delay. That precise timing far exceeded what a child could accomplish.
“He did it. He actually did it! Ahem… well, since he is to become the next successor of Baekrin Uigak, this much should be expected, shouldn’t it?”
Yet Master’s lips curved upward in an infinite arc toward the heavens.
“Master.”
“Hehe, to possess such talent is not merely my good fortune, but the blessing of all physicians in Gangho. I must inform the next Medical Journal of this fact.”
‘This is bad.’
Yoo Ho thought.
He had already heard that lately the Medical Masters of various clinics had been complaining to their disciples, asking why they couldn’t be like this one.
Each Medical Clinic is connected to the Medical Guild like threads of a spider’s web.
And through the medical bulletins issued to those clinics, Baekrin Uiseon was committing atrocities.
‘Do you know what this ondol heating system is? The direct disciple of Baekrin Uiseon….’, ‘Don’t even compare it to a brazier. The proud formal disciple of Baekrin Sect who developed this heating stove….’ and so on.
The titles differed slightly, but they all referred to one person.
In Korean terms, I had become the ‘son’ in ‘your father’s friend’s son’.
In this world’s terms, I had become the ‘disciple of an acquainted master’ position.
“Hehehehe, hehehehehehe!”
My Master’s footsteps heading back to the Medical Guild were as light as clouds.
“First, I must inform everyone at the Medical Guild of this fact. I can hardly wait for the morning assembly. Yoo Ho.”
The Medical Guild’s first power holder had stepped forward to commend the efforts of its second power holder.
* * *
After pouring out my inner energy all night, there wasn’t a single part of my body that didn’t ache.
What was remarkable was that the more frequently one used inner energy, the more the body adapted to it. Moreover, I could feel the meridians—the pathways through which inner energy flows—becoming progressively wider and more resilient, just as they had been painful at first.
‘It’s similar to overcompensation recovery.’

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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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