Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 32

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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 32
‘Ugh….’
Gungwi’s eyes widened at the sight before him, yet he clenched his teeth.
I could see my daughter’s body, lying on her side, being cut open.
Faced with such a horrific sight, I wanted to stop this immediately, but I endured it through superhuman willpower.
Crack-
Blood flowed between my teeth. But no one paid attention to me.
I watched as Baek Rin-ui-seon’s young disciple skillfully separated the skin tissue, muscle, and fat, exposing what lay beneath.
Baek Rin-ui-seon assisted from the side during the incision. The cut was so clean it drew admiration even from a martial artist, but nothing registered in my mind.
Only for a moment.
I closed my eyes and offered a prayer to the heavens and earth.
There was nothing else I could do now.
* * *
Two Medical Officers each held the surgical site in place with metal rods.
In such abdominal surgery, the incision site can reattach during the procedure, so it must be held open until the surgery is complete.
Jegalling stood across from Jin Cheon-hee, observing and assisting with everything he did. Jin Cheon-hee was the primary surgeon, while Jegalling provided support.
He moved as Jin Cheon-hee instructed while also regulating his meridians to continuously channel qi into the patient.
This was a secret technique used by all sects of considerable power.
Qi enhances medicinal efficacy and breathes vitality into the patient.
Therefore, the technique of manipulating qi in treating patients was considered extremely important.
This was something that did not exist in the 21st century Korea where I had lived.
The Three Great Medical Sects were considered the finest in all the realm when it came to using qi in patient treatment.
Jegalling in particular was the last surviving member of the Jegal Family and was renowned throughout the realm as a prodigy of qi.
The meridian technique he created, called the Medical Life Meridian, was derived from the Jegal Family’s secret teachings on meridian mastery—so refined that even other Medical Guilds deferred to it.
It could be called an absolute meridian technique that accepted others’ inner power and anchored the patient’s life force.
And at the end of such a meridian technique, several people had gathered.
The one sending the most qi to the patient was her father, Gungwi.
His inner power flowed through the meridian technique to his daughter, the patient.
But since there was a limit to what one person could provide, the Medical Guild’s officers also contributed their qi.
Lal
Meanwhile, they watched Jin Cheon-hee’s hand movements without missing a single detail.
Before the surgery, Jegalling had spoken to everyone in the Medical Guild.
-Don’t miss a single thing. Today, I am not your master—that child is. You must all observe carefully.
The Medical Assistants seemed skeptical but nodded in agreement.
And now.
Jin Cheon-hee’s hands moved swiftly as he opened the incision.
When one holds a blade for long enough, one naturally discovers the most efficient line, and that becomes a sword technique.
The young man’s hands were the same.
These were the hands of someone who had performed this hundreds of times.
It was the hand of someone who had done it hundreds of times.
It was bizarre.
This was merely a child who hadn’t lived very long.
I wondered if he was a master of the Banro Hwan Dong technique, but after checking several times, it seemed impossible.
I brought my fingers to the intestines.
During surgery, visibility was crucial, but palpation was equally valuable when possible.
“The tissue damage is far more extensive than I initially thought.”
The young man made his diagnosis and continued. He excised and removed the necrotic sections caused by the intestinal rupture, then sutured the healthy portions together.
The sight of the body’s organs being sewn together like fabric sent shivers down one’s spine.
I had never witnessed such medical technique.
It transcended the merely bizarre—it bordered on the miraculous.
‘Divine technique…’
Jegalling marveled at this. Yet simultaneously, he was astonished. Where could such medical knowledge have been learned?
‘Beyond the known world. No… knowledge from beyond the heavens.’
Jegalling understood well that the world was vast. The empire that ruled what people called the Central Plains bore the name Hua.
The so-called Hua Empire, or the Great Hua Empire as it was also known, had dominated the continent for countless ages.
This colossal empire, so vast that regional dialects had emerged across its territories, shared a single written script throughout.
Because of their writing system and history, the empire’s people believed their continent was the center and entirety of the world.
This was because he had even attempted to apply knowledge from the Western regions to treat what was called the Heavenly Affliction—the Nine-Yin Meridian Poison.
‘Hehehehe. In my twilight years, I have gained a remarkable disciple.’
Jegalling laughed upon witnessing that his disciple had already achieved mastery.
“Master, please apply pressure here.”
At my words, Jegalling pressed the internal tissue with something resembling forceps.
“Yoo Ho.”
Yoo Ho extended his hand without a word. As his hand approached the affected area, blood, bodily fluids, and waste were drawn into Yoo Ho’s palm as if by magic.
A technique I had already witnessed at the Woonryong Pyoguk Buntta!
Thus, unlike before, I spoke with composure.
“Everyone, please maintain your focus.”
And the surgery continued.
* * *
We had crossed the most difficult mountain.
Now only suturing remained.
‘How is the patient even alive in this condition? Truly, the vital energy is extraordinary. Magnificent.’
Even as I marveled internally, my hands moved with an expression that remained utterly unchanged.
‘And what of the Void Absorption technique? It clings like a magnet, not some vacuum cleaner.’
When performing surgery, one inevitably encounters blood, various bodily fluids, and waste matter.
If left as is, the surgery cannot proceed.
Not only would visibility be compromised, but it posed serious hygienic concerns.
Yet now that blood was being drawn into the grasp of Yoo Ho, who stood beside me.
The sight of blood being pulled upward, defying gravity, resembled a special effect from a film.
This was the second time witnessing it since the Woonryong Pyoguk Buntta, yet it remained wondrous.
I explained far more easily and in greater detail than before, and as a result, the surgery was now progressing in an almost unbelievable manner.
At that moment, the Medical Officer monitoring the vital signs spoke.
“Blood pressure is dropping, Young Master.”
“What?”
By now, even if my vital energy was somewhat depleted, I should have been able to push through somehow.
I turned to look at Gungwi. The expression on his closed eyes was pallid. It seemed even Gungwi’s vital energy was beginning to reach its limits.
‘The pulse is dropping now? That’s connected to the continued bleeding… wait. If that’s the case, then this…’
“The blood…”
With an urgent expression, I thrust my hand toward the spleen area.
‘Damn it! As I thought…’
“Young Master, what exactly are you doing?”
I answered Yoo Ho’s question.
“There’s a splenic rupture.”
During surgery, it was a location hidden by subcutaneous fat and muscle, making it difficult to see. I had been focused on the liver and delayed checking the spleen.
I never imagined it would rupture this severely!
‘Good heavens, how are you even still alive, patient?’
Perhaps even that luck had run out now.
Jegalling answered.
“There is no time.”
I asked.
“How long can you hold on?”
Gungwi spoke with great difficulty.
“One quarter hour… one quarter hour at most.”
The liver regenerates.
Even if it doesn’t recover to its former function, it’s possible to manage by abstaining from alcohol and living carefully for a lifetime.
The spleen is the body’s largest lymphatic organ.
Without the spleen, immunity is greatly diminished. It means the body’s ability to ward off bacteria entering from outside is severely weakened.
Even if removed, she could still live.
She could live.
But in an age without antibiotics, no matter how much she endures through vital energy, a life like that of a wandering hero, which she desires, would be impossible for a lifetime.
Illness from weakened immunity would inevitably follow.
Necessarily, she would have to spend her entire life in a safe place, worrying about her health.
In the end, the goal she had yearned for her entire life would be lost forever through this surgery.
She would simply have to spend her entire life recuperating indoors, recuperating and living.
‘She won’t even be able to eat freely for the rest of her life.’
I turned my head to ask Gungwi, her guardian, but from his mouth
flowed
a thin stream of blood.
To save his child’s life, Gungwi was also crossing a dangerous bridge. In this situation,
to continue
If I gave the order, Gungwi’s life would be in danger as well.
In the end, when it comes to this, only the surgeon’s judgment remains.
‘Why must I bear such a burden….’
A child’s life, his future, weighed heavily upon my shoulders.
‘The extent of the damage is what matters.’
Amputate or save.
There was no time to hesitate.
The crossroads had arrived.
* * *
“Hee. You don’t need to carry this burden alone.”
Jegalling spoke to me with a warm voice as I hesitated.
“Though my body is lacking,
as long as
I bear the epithet ‘Uiseon,’ I should be of some help.”
With that, he precisely located the site of hemorrhage and its condition.
“With a wound of this degree, we won’t need to resort to amputation.”
“Will it be possible?”
My Master nodded and spoke thus.
“Examine it carefully later. I will teach you how to do on a person what you did on the tree.”
With that, my Master said nothing more.
His needle pressed deeply into the patient’s flank.
Thunk!
As inner force flowed in, my Master’s expression grew deathly pale.
At the same time, Yoo Ho spoke.
“The pulse is returning.”
‘What…?’
No matter how small the laceration’s location or how favorable its position, he had stopped it without surgical intervention.
It was shocking.
The greatest physician in the martial world. That reputation was not in vain.
‘Good. Then my task is….’
My hands moved swiftly. I had to complete the surgery as quickly as possible.
A moment passed. Gungwi coughed up blood and collapsed. Yet I did not release my hands.
Gungwi’s hair began turning white as snow, as if he were expending even his innate vital force.
Yet no one’s gaze fell upon the collapsed Gungwi.
From now on, maintaining the operating room depended on Jegalling’s inner force and techniques.
While circulating that, he assisted me and continued the treatment.
And… finally.
My final suture formed a knot.
“Master, please withdraw your inner force.”
Now I had to confirm whether the patient could breathe on his own.
Without vital energy, maintaining vitality becomes impossible—in essence, this patient would be no different from dead.
Internal energy cannot sustain itself eternally, and besides, there was no one left in this Medical Hall capable of replenishing it.
My Master withdrew the needle technique.
I felt the flow of air shift around me.
All the Medical Assistants stopped what they were doing in unison and turned their gaze toward the patient.
The child’s small body was pallid.
One of the Medical Assistants reached toward the child’s neck to check the pulse.
“The pulse is maintaining normal rhythm.”
“We did it!”
At the Medical Assistant’s words, I let out a long breath and collapsed to the floor.
‘How many hours was that?’
Gungwi lay sprawled across the floor, unconscious.
The Medical Assistants finally checked on Gungwi.
“She’s fine as well.”
What a relief.
The exhausted faces of the Medical Assistants brightened.
What I had just witnessed was a divine technique I had never seen before.
Even watching from beside him, I could scarcely believe it. It felt as though my eyes had been opened to a new world.
My Master withdrew his hands and spoke.
“Fortunate indeed.”
“I am the one who should be grateful. Master.”
“No. One day, you will treat me in such a manner.”
But for that to happen, I was still merely a fledgling.
Without my Master, I could neither maintain the needle technique nor send forth vital energy to sustain life.
Then something large fell upon my body.

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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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