Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 35

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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 35
‘A person of Gangho, then.’
Jin Cheon-hee asked.
“Isn’t it regrettable that you cannot witness such things from beside her?”
“There is one thing that troubles my heart. But anything beyond that would be mere greed. If I have any wish at all, it is simply to depart this life without burdening my daughter with debts of gratitude.”
“….”
There is no such thing as a clean severance from the world.
With his strength gone, the likelihood of him dying a natural death was virtually nonexistent.
Now only murder remained for him. The debts of Gangho would find him eventually.
‘Is it becoming similar to that moment in the novel?’
When in the novel he had been defeated by Yeo Ha-ryun and lost even his innate qi.
Surprisingly, he had not raged. He had merely put his affairs in order.
An overwhelming resignation had propelled him forward to the next stage.
Now that his daughter lived, and with the certainty that she would become his successor and surpass him, he seemed to have entered the stage of resignation far more easily.
For him, whose life had changed, the opportunity was only now.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“Would you grant me one request?”
“What is it?”
“I wish to witness Gungwi’s inner cultivation one last time.”
The martial art Gungwi had mastered was the Demon-Slaying Divine Bow.
In terms of sect affiliation, it originated from Buddhism rather than Taoism—the Bow Sect.
Unlike Taoism, which regards becoming an immortal as the highest achievement, Buddhism aims to reach liberation through enlightenment born from desirelessness.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“Would it be presumptuous?”
Gungwi said.
“Not at all. However, the fundamental method involves dynamic cultivation through repeated movements. The problem now is simply that I have no bow.”
Typically, Taoist cultivation is achieved through seated meditation. However, the Buddhist Demon-Slaying Divine Bow reaches a state of selflessness through repeating the same movements, and cultivation occurs naturally.
True to the art of archery, one cultivates while drawing the bow.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“I do not wish to witness anything extraordinary. Let us simply pretend a bow exists.”
“I have never attempted it in such a manner….”
He trailed off, then nodded.
“…I shall do so. Once we leave this place, I do not know when I shall see Sohyeop again. However, should my cultivation appear clumsy, I beg you not to disparage my sect. It is merely that this humble one falls short.”
Cultivation beginning with nothing.
He took a deep breath.
The inner qi in his dantian was barely perceptible.
Perhaps because he had released everything, his mind was unusually calm.
The wealth and inner cultivation he had clung to so desperately had all been exhausted in treatment. It was as though he had lost everything he had built at the cost of his life in a single moment.
Yet because his daughter lived, there was no anger.
‘This may be my final cultivation.’
The one performing the archery stance is Sohyeop, standing barely half his height.
It could have appeared unseemly, yet he harbored no regrets about it.
If it was unseemly, then so be it—there was nothing wrong with that.
Was this not the culmination of everything he had built?
Whoooooosh—
Bamboo leaves rustled like waves passing by. It was the sound of wind.
He drew his left heel backward. Just as with swordsmanship, archery begins and ends with the lower body.
Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of repetitions—he assumed his stance as he always had. And habitually, he reached toward his quiver to grasp an arrow.
Ordinarily, at the level where one releases energy itself, such an action would be unnecessary.
Yet today as well, he moved his hand with the sincerity of prayer.
Thunk—
Was it an illusion?
He felt the sensation of an arrow.
The texture of wood grain and feathers.
He did not think deeply about it.
He simply allowed his inner self to settle into emptiness, into nothingness.
Within the cascading sheets of wind and rain, only the young man’s gaze remained in his chest, guiding him forward.
Within that, he breathed, and he paused.
Eventually, even that action was forgotten.
Humans rejoice, grieve, rage, and delight.
This was not to say one should not feel these things. One must feel them all. Otherwise, one cannot reach true emptiness.
Even the small fear that sometimes wells up from the pit of the stomach must be accepted.
Without understanding, one cannot proceed further.
Buddha is like water.
Water does not refuse. Water swallows filth and cleanses the world.
Buddha is as gentle as a river, as deep as the sea.
If one cannot feel emotion, then it is not water.
Because there is joy, there is suffering; because there is suffering, there is anger.
Anger calls forth sorrow, and conversely, because one knows sorrow, so too does one know joy.
He aimed the bow and drew the string.
Only then did he understand.
Assume the stance, breathe. Control the breath, bring the hands together.
Bring the hands together, then draw them back again.
When the bow and arrow vanish, only the motion remains. And at the end of that motion, what lies there?
He felt that his inner cultivation resembled the palms-together gesture of Buddhism.
Twang—!
From hands without arrow, bow, or bowstring, something flew forth.
It was not inner force. His empty dantian was more still than usual.
He understood what it was.
‘Affliction itself.’
It was a form of meditation.
I realized what action I had repeated tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of times.
It was a single prayer of reverence.
Hundreds of thousands of prayers.
Not offerings to ancestors or immortals, but a prayer of reverence to the Buddha within myself.
-Afflictions are like the wind, like thunder and lightning, and ultimately one must reach the state of transcendence.
-Breaking Evil Divine Bow means simply to abandon, abandon, and abandon again.
Why must one abandon while cultivating inner strength?
I pondered this countless times. Back then, I thought “abandon” meant being able to draw the bow with only inner force, and I believed that was the highest realm.
That was not it.
‘What I needed to abandon was my own heart.’
In that moment, qi began to surge around him.
The realm of Heart Sword—no, Heart Bow—began to arrive for him.
It was a magnificent enlightenment.
The Bamboo Forest trembles following his enlightenment. The torrential storm of wind becomes the sound of applause, ringing out.
I feel the powerful wave of qi.
‘Success! This is even greater than how it was described in the novel!’
Whoooosh—
The way the wind swept past was like the hand of Buddha itself.
If the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara truly existed, her hand would look like this.
Though it certainly resembled afflictions and was violent, yet it harmed nothing.
Bamboo leaves sway in the wind. Yet not a single leaf vein was torn away.
The wind scatters seeds from afflictions and sprouts them, dispersing to save all sentient beings.
From the mud of afflictions, meditation bloomed.
The wind that began from him simply carries only dead bamboo leaves upward. That appearance was like a lotus flower blooming from mud.
Enlightenment became a lotus.
Gungwi’s body stood still. Then slowly he rose into the air as qi began to swirl around him.
‘What! He’s floating in the sky!? Is this some kind of Floating Void Samadhi or something? Wait. But in the novel, Gungwi never reached Floating Void Samadhi when he awakened!?’
The wind brushed past my earlobe.
Refreshing.
‘Anyway… I actually pulled it off? I thought it might work, but…’
I stared blankly at the sight before me, then clenched my fist tightly.
‘Yes! Oh, yes! Argh…! Master, look! I’ve completely revamped Gungwi, who will become our future servant!’
It was while I was celebrating alone like this.
Not long after, I sensed a presence.
“Indeed… Young Master, you truly are unpredictable.”
I turned my head to the side.
It was Yoo Ho.
* * *
He came this close without me sensing his presence at all.
Yoo Ho tucked both hands into his sleeves and gazed at Gungwi and Wang Chae-baek.
“I thought you’d lose your inner strength and become a cripple soon, but instead you gained enlightenment and recovered from your wounds… Judging by your secondary samadhi, it seems you’ll reach a realm several steps higher. Impressive. Young Master, after Gongseon Yeong, now Gungwi and Wang Chae-baek.”
His words were certainly respectful praise, yet his expression remained cold.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“It doesn’t seem like you came here purely to celebrate this situation, does it?”
“No. I’ve been thinking while observing.”
“Thinking…?”
“Whether to kill you or not, Young Master.”
A faint smile played at Yoo Ho’s lips. Yet watching him, Jin Cheon-hee felt cold sweat trickling down his spine.
Fear washed over him—a sensation that mere words like “chilling” couldn’t capture.
Like a frog facing a snake. Within that sensation, Jin Cheon-hee asked.
“Why?”
“Because my Master nearly lost his life. And as long as you exist, Young Master, my Master will continue to overexert himself. Eventually, such incidents will repeat. Until he loses his life.”
“….”
Jin Cheon-hee didn’t answer.
He’d known from the start that a terminally ill patient taking on a disciple was consuming his own lifespan. And sure enough, he’d nearly died saving a patient.
It was a patient he wouldn’t have accepted if not for Jin Cheon-hee.
“If you kill me, my Master won’t stay quiet.”
“Yes. He’d kill me using the most horrific method the human mind can imagine.”
“No, surely not to that extent. I thought he’d just sever my neck cleanly and be done with it.”
“You see my Master too kindly, Young Master. A clean death? That’s not who he is. Even the Demon Sect would shudder at how painfully he’d kill me~ Making salted fish from my own flesh would be just the beginning.~”
Honestly, it was hard to believe.
Wasn’t my Master always the one who smiled warmly before me and said, “Hee, my dear Hee. Want some candy? Or dried persimmons? What would you like to eat?”
I couldn’t imagine such a gentle Master doing such things.
‘Yoo Ho is viewing our Master far too negatively. That fellow’s loyalty is suspicious.’
Jin Cheon-hee thought Yoo Ho’s words were exaggerated.
“So what’s your conclusion?”
“Judging by how you’re asking, you’ve already guessed what conclusion I’ll reach?”
“Haha, your tongue is too long for someone speaking to a man he’s about to kill.”
“You certainly have guts, Young Master.”
“It’s the only thing I have.”
“Your humility is remarkable.”
Yoo Ho laughed coldly and spoke thus.
“Before meeting you, Young Master, how many meals do you think my Master ate per day?”
“…Two meals a day?”
I just guessed.
Yoo Ho answered.
“Once every three days, a single grain-avoidance pill made by the Medical Guild. And even that—a brick-like thing with no taste whatsoever. My Master was, how should I put it, like a blade. Someone for whom emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness didn’t exist.”
“….”
I couldn’t quite imagine it.
Now, he even takes lunch, eating all three meals a day without fail.

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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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