Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 276

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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 276
Something damp touched my forehead.
Woof, woof!
Yelp!
Whine! Yelp yelp!
As I clawed my way back from sleep to reality, the sound of barking continued to assault my ears.
I realized it was Hwang-gu barking.
“Ugh… what… is it?”
My sleep-addled mind barely managed to dredge up a few pieces of information.
First, why had Hwang-gu, whom I’d sent to scout discreetly, returned?
And if he’d come back like this and was urgently waking me, it must be something pressing.
Whoosh—
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I drew the Frost Blade through the void with a spatial grasp.
Snap—
Something pressing meant it had to be about the ‘target’ I’d sent him to scout.
Without needing to invoke the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong, my thoughts branched like tree limbs and deduced the answer.
I wiped my weary face once, and the light in my eyes between my fingers shone a deep azure.
“Which way do I go?”
Yelp!
At my question, Hwang-gu took the lead.
I reached out again and pulled my outer robe to me through the void.
My long hair rippled once in the moonlight.
Irritation flashed across my brow at the nuisance, but there was no time to tie my hair properly.
And finally, one last thing.
‘The horn bow.’
A gift from the Gungwi Elder. I wasn’t sure if I’d need it, but better safe than sorry.
The moment I gripped the horn bow, lightning crackled.
Snap—
‘I must have tensed without realizing it.’
Spiritual energy leaked out.
I reined in my power and slung the horn bow across my back.
Then I followed Hwang-gu and immediately broke into a lightness technique.
“Hwang-gu, to the rooftops.”
In that instant, Hwang-gu’s body moved like a shadow across the pillars, launching upward in a single bound.
At the same time, my long hair swept across the moon in Hwang-gu’s wake.
One person and one beast rose as gently as a crescent moon and landed.
Snap—
The moment I touched down on the roof, I asked.
“Which direction?”
Yelp—
Hwang-gu pointed with his nose like a compass, indicating a direction.
Growl—
“Got it.”
I said no more and climbed to the very top of the spire of the foreign building.
True to its foreign architectural style, the roof was rounded.
They called it mosque architecture, if I recalled correctly.
Unlike structures from the Central Plains, it was easy to slip, yet I ascended the spire without a single misstep, moving with fluid grace.
I executed movements so seamless they would require hundreds of practice repetitions, showing no fear of the great height as I focused my inner energy.
My qi circulated from my dantian through my thighs and calves, reaching the Yongquan point at the center of my soles.
In that instant, my thigh muscles swelled momentarily.
Amusingly, what dwelled within my body was the Samjae Stepping Method.
I concentrated my inner energy following the most fundamental passages of this footwork technique.
Yet the essence of this technique was different.
I fixed my gaze on the target and steadied my breath.
Deep breathing calmed the mind, and I felt the air against my skin.
Bones as the bow, muscles as the bowstring, body as the arrow.
It was the most fundamental archery principle that all members of the Gungwi Order learned.
My modified version—
Thunder Dragon Bow First Form
Hundred-Zhang Strike—!
Remarkably, what I launched from the mosque roof as my platform was my own body.
Whoooosh—!
My body traced an arc through the air.
In that fleeting moment, my hand did not forget to seize Hwang-gu.
Arooooo—!
Hwang-gu cried out with delight, his wolf-like howl echoing.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Woof woof!
Gone was the appearance of a military hound urgently rousing his master—now he looked like a puppy out for a pleasant walk.
“Void Treading Step?”
An unnamed martial artist muttered in surprise, watching me.
It was an understandable mistake.
Seeing someone traverse the sky like a meteor would naturally lead to such a conclusion.
However, what I had done was merely utilize the mysteries of the Five Elements True Qi, the Thunder Dragon Bow, and the Samjae Stepping Method to launch myself forward in a straight line.
Strictly speaking, it was merely the process of plummeting directly toward my target.
Yet the astonishing speed and the sight that seemed more like flying than falling amazed not only the martial artists from the Central Plains but also those from foreign lands.
‘So many are awake at this early hour?’
Thud!
I landed on the mosque at the midpoint, then hoisted the now-smaller Hwang-gu onto my shoulder and launched myself from the spire once more.
Then, placing the small yellow dog on his shoulder, he climbed back up the spire and threw himself off.
Thud–!
The moment I propelled myself backward, I felt the spire’s tip crumble beneath me.
‘Tsk, it’s more fragile than King’s estate. Can’t be helped.’
Yet the distance I could cover remained largely unchanged.
With movements bordering on artistry, I continued flying in a straight line.
In less than a moment, I reached the edge of Wannung and the desert beyond the slums came into view.
Hwang-gu leaped from my shoulder and puffed out his body.
Growl!
Then he immediately bolted across the desert.
At the same moment, my eyes caught sight of a cyan hawk floating in the sky.
In this darkness, it should have been invisible to ordinary sight.
Only I, accustomed to Noeji’s form, could spot the single hawk slipping between the constellations.
‘He’s hesitating—whether to abandon reconnaissance and intervene, or continue scouting as planned.’
They were, after all, merely extensions of my will.
The judgment rested entirely with their master.
Hwang-gu raced across the desert without hesitation, and I followed, using the Three Talents Footwork to dash across the sands.
‘Sand pouring down from all directions. Then…’
Tap-tap-tap–
My movement, utilizing the Wood principle’s subtlety from the Five Elements Divine Art, was no different from running across flat ground.
Wood grasps earth and holds it steady without tremor.
Easy to say, but applying it through lightness technique was extraordinarily difficult.
Especially Wood—typically an elemental foundation used like an anchor weight to fix one’s legs firmly to the ground. Using it for lightness technique was madness.
Yet the genius born from Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong believed this was the answer, and his movements flowed without obstruction.
‘The Three Talents Footwork is perfect for this. Its simplicity makes adaptation easy, and it can contain multitudes.’
Most consider the Jegal Family’s Heavenly Foresight to be the supreme footwork.
Combined with Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong, its ever-changing nature approaches prescience—truly worthy of the title divine art.
Yet what I use most frequently is this very Three Talents Footwork.
It’s like butchering cattle.
Sometimes a single angular cleaver fits the hand better than twelve different bone-carving tools.
Thus my movements were faster and lighter than the bandit horde.
Clang–
Hwang-gu showed no surprise, as if he’d expected this all along, neither slowing nor hesitating as he led the way.
It was as though a single mind allowed human and beast to communicate.
What entered the edge of my vision was—
“Blood?”
A trail of blood the sand hadn’t fully absorbed stretched like a path across the dunes.
My azure eyes captured the blood, its direction, and calculated the surrounding footprints.
Following the shape and traces of that long blood trail, my thoughts cascaded like light, reaching a conclusion instantly.
‘This is a stab wound. From behind—struck in the back. From how the sand is carved, the person ahead was running. Which means…’
Someone had stabbed them in the back while they fled.
‘Who could it be?’
Two rising factions came to mind.
Both were possibilities.
Since things were already diverging from the original story.
And far across that desert.
A single point appeared in my vision.
A woman lay curled up on the sand.
Beneath her, sand soaked with blood pooled like a bowl.
No beast was visible—only the woman, half-buried in the sand.
‘What in the world happened here?’
Rather than puzzle over it, saving the person took priority.
I rushed forward and checked her pulse.
Then I immediately applied pressure points to stop the bleeding.
‘Fortunately… she hasn’t been injured long. She’s lost consciousness, but it looks like she dodged desperately at the moment of the strike, so the vital point was missed.’
Questions abounded.
The sand showed signs of combat between multiple people, yet no bodies were visible.
And… why had they left her behind?
In that moment, my eyes shifted to a blue glow.
‘No, that can’t be. The enemy must be nearby. They likely came to check if anyone would help. In other words, they’re using her as bait.’
This entire chain of thought took less than 0.1 seconds.
‘But if I waste time here, this person will die.’
Whatever the enemy’s scheme, I couldn’t avoid it.
The dead cannot return a second time.
“Hwang-gu.”
As the enlarged Hwang-gu presented his back, I quickly lifted her onto him and began securing her with rope so she wouldn’t slip.
Hwang-gu’s back would be far steadier than carrying her myself.
If I could just return like this, I could save her.
‘When I read this in the novel, I thought it was tragic. But I never expected things to unfold like this in reality.’
She was different from the others I’d saved so far.
A future colleague of Yeo Ha-ryun, and a shield who would protect and die for him.
But perhaps readers wouldn’t want the story to end that way.
‘Besides, the background hasn’t changed much from the original, so she’ll have nowhere to return to now.’
And this one—despite becoming an assassin in the assassination cult, she’s virtuous.
She could have carved out her own place with ruthless determination, but ultimately couldn’t, so she’s alone.
‘Don’t die.’
Crunch—
I tightened the rope knot, securing her completely to Hwang-gu’s back.
“Come out now.”
As I finished speaking, shadowy figures with swords emerged from the darkness.
“Gangho warriors conceal themselves by methods we cannot fathom, yet how did you detect us?”
Among the shadowy figures with swords stood a veiled old woman.
A strange silence that carried no trace of human presence.
To his question, I answered calmly.
“Even a monkey would sense something amiss about this situation.”
“Krkrkr, true. Yet you martial artists of Gangho prioritize the qi you feel above all else, do you not? Do you not trust your own martial prowess?”
‘Well, those from Gangho do tend toward that inclination.’
Those who trust a single technique of their own martial art over a hundred words and a thousand thoughts—that is what it means to be of Gangho.
I reached out and grasped a weapon.
Surprisingly, it was not the Frost Blade, but a bow.
Abandoning the divine weapon and taking up an ordinary bow carried considerable meaning.

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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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