Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 368

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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 368
In the end, I reduced it by half.
The original quota for the four divisions was two hundred people. I thought that was too many, so I cut it in half, but even that came to a hundred—still a considerable number.
Worried that someone might try to cause trouble with Sibee, Master had them all dressed in martial robes bearing the Baekrin Medical Guild’s insignia, making them instantly recognizable.
‘Right. This time, no one will challenge me to a duel. I won’t need to rescue Pyo Guk or any merchant caravans either.’
Master even prepared a carriage, concerned that my disciples’ faces might be recognized outside.
All I had to do was sit in that carriage, and the martial force would handle the bandits on their own and get us there automatically.
But would there even be bandits bold enough to attack? Wouldn’t they hear about us from a hundred li away and flee with their belongings?
‘Ah… Master.’
I wanted to die.
I wanted to die from Master’s overprotectiveness.
Jin Cheon-hee and Man Seon, the Master of the four martial divisions, would ride in the carriage together.
She maintained her fishing rod in rhythm with the carriage’s movement, true to her nature as a master angler.
“Cheer up a bit, Patriarch.”
“Mm…”
“Considering everything you’ve done lately, this is quite lenient. I thought the Patriarch would impose closed-door cultivation at minimum, but he didn’t go that far.”
Master probably wanted to impose it.
If only there weren’t precedents of his disciple escaping.
“I understand your nature is free-spirited, but it would be wise to exercise some restraint for a while.”
At Man Seon’s words, Jin Cheon-hee let out a small sigh.
Finding it amusing, she chuckled softly and returned to maintaining her fishing rod.
“And there’s one more reason the Patriarch insisted on putting you in this carriage.”
“What’s that?”
At that moment, the carriage slowed.
When I drew back the curtain to look outside, I saw commoners bowing with clasped hands toward the Baekrin Medical Guild’s carriage.
“…What?”
“Cover your face. Someone might recognize you.”
“Why?”
“Though the martial world calls you the Veiled Madman, among the common people you remain the White Dragon of Medicine. And now, people have even begun to revere you as a divine being.”
*Rustle—*
I drew back the curtain and looked at Man Seon.
“What do you mean…”
“It’s rare but not unheard of for martial artists to distribute grain to commoners for relief. However, it’s almost unprecedented for someone to procure medicinal herbs at low prices and sometimes accept payment in forms other than money to provide treatment.”
“I’m merely a doctor.”
“Yes, you may think so, Patriarch, but among the poor, there are those who believe you are the incarnation of Shen Nong himself.”
Shen Nong is one of the mythological figures,
credited with teaching humanity the methods of agriculture, understanding the efficacy of all medicinal herbs, and laying the foundation for medicine.
In martial arts novels, when the protagonist fights immortals in the celestial realm, he’s one of the Three Sovereigns who appears at least once.
“Ah… Now I understand why the three Masters believed I could diagnose illness just by looking.”
“As a result, you have many enemies. When a mere doctor becomes the center of popular sentiment, it naturally invites resistance from the sects and clans that govern those regions.”
‘Now I understand why Master had no choice but to place me in this carriage.’
It wasn’t just any carriage.
Six massive horses pulled it, and iron plating reinforced the carriage’s surface—it was essentially a mobile fortress.
‘Is he planning to raise me like a weed…?’
Given that Master ordered me to go to Yunnan, at least he was sending me off.
The carriage came to a complete halt amid my utter confusion.
“Please save her! Please save her! Doctor! Just save my granddaughter once!”
Looking beyond the curtain, I saw a grandfather cradling an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes.
The child’s complexion appeared deathly pale.
“I should examine her.”
Man Seon responded to those words.
“It could be an assassination attempt. There are cases where people exploit others’ compassion this way. That swaddling cloth could conceal a poisoned dagger.”
“The moment I take the child, I’d be struck by poison.”
“Even masters of Hwagyeong let their guard down when holding infants.”
However, instead of responding, Jin Cheon-hee opened the carriage door.
In that instant.
Whoosh.
Man Seon’s fishing line snatched the swaddling cloth away.
“Hmm?”
Both Jin Cheon-hee and the grandfather holding the child widened their eyes.
She examined inside the swaddling cloth and spoke thus.
“No poisoned dagger. Just an ordinary poor family’s newborn.”
“Man Seon!”
“This is my duty in serving Soggakju. I’ve already made considerable compromises.”
“….”
She answered coldly.
“One cannot survive in Gangho through benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom alone. I hope you’ll tolerate this level of protection.”
In the end, Jin Cheon-hee understood.
Hiding a poisoned dagger in an infant’s swaddling cloth to strike.
That meant the newborn’s life was of no consequence to them.
If that grandfather were truly an assassin as she suggested.
The pale complexion would have been artificially induced through medicine.
“Very well. You do your duty as Soggakju, and I’ll do mine.”
“A reasonable division of labor.”
Jin Cheon-hee took the child’s pulse. Then spoke thus.
“Fortunately, this can be resolved with medicine. Mix the medicinal powder into breast milk and feed exactly three spoonfuls daily.”
“Thank you. Baek-ui Sinryong! Thank you!”
The grandfather pressed his palms together and bowed in prayer toward Jin Cheon-hee.
“Ah, please offer your prayers to heaven, not to me.”
“Yes, yes… I understand! Yes!”
It seems the faith is indeed beginning to take root.
‘After all, explaining that I’m the reincarnation of Emperor Shen Nong who drove away illness would be far easier to understand than saying I scientifically identified the cause after years of research.’
In a place where literacy rates exceed half the population, this was perhaps an inevitable result.
I quickly began writing out a prescription.
‘First, it can’t be expensive medicinal ingredients. The patient will need to take them for at least a month.’
Things that could be obtained through barter if necessary, or otherwise gathered directly from the mountains.
I handed the prescription to the grandfather.
“Take this to any nearby Bunta or a medical clinic affiliated with Baekrin Uiseon, and they’ll prepare the medicine. As for the child, I’ll perform acupuncture on the meridian points, so please wait a moment.”
Watching this, Man Seon reflected.
‘The journey will be delayed somewhat. However… the Patriarch surely calculated this as well.’
How many people had survived thanks to the Patriarch’s nature?
Had she herself not received Baekrin Uiseon’s assistance multiple times during her wandering days?
And now her husband was a doctor at Baekrin Uiseon.
She fingered the fishing rod absently.
‘There don’t appear to be any assassins. However, I must not let my guard down.’
There were always those who repaid kindness with malice.
The laws of Gangho were peculiar indeed—saving a person’s life meant bearing equal danger in return.
That was why the Patriarch was so formidable.
Yet, despite the Patriarch’s strength, having chosen a life as a doctor rather than a martial artist of Gangho, vulnerabilities still remained.
It was Master Man Seon’s duty to compensate for those weaknesses.
She gripped the fishing rod firmly.
* * *
The carriage repeatedly stopped and started.
Yet no one complained that I was being slow.
Most of the martial artists in the entourage had been saved directly or indirectly by Baekrin Uiseon.
To complain about this would be to deny both themselves and their families who had been rescued.
I also sent tasks that could be handled in Bunta to that location to shorten the time.
Of course, even so, it was inevitable that progress would be slower than simply racing down the road.
Yet the reason we could travel at a slightly slower pace than the scheduled time was—
‘Because the gatekeepers were opening the gates without inspection.’
Normally, with this many people and this scale of carriages passing through, luggage would need to be inspected.
But with merely the token badge symbolizing the Patriarch of Baekrin Uiseon, every gatekeeper opened the gates without question.
‘How far has Master extended his influence?’
It would be difficult to achieve this with merely the goodwill of Baekrin Uiseon within Jiangsu Province alone.
Whether military or administrative officials, there had to already be people of his in place.
‘Hmm… I won’t need to produce the Censor’s insignia.’
I rarely drew it except when capturing corrupt officials or borrowing horses at relay stations, but now I could conserve it further.
I spoke from inside the carriage.
“By the way, we’ll be joining up with Hao-mun’s people.”
At those words, Man Seon replied.
“Hao-mun, you say? Ah, could you be referring to that sworn brother…?”
“Yes. Since Oh Dok-mun is from a heterodox sect anyway, I thought it would be good to bring him along.”
Even though Oh Dok-mun’s Poison Sect rivaled the Tang Clan itself among heterodox sects.
Since those people had loose tongues and needed to eat from them, it was obvious that Emperor Geum-wang’s money was flowing through them.
The calculation was that taking Sama Hyeon would be better for preventing petty disputes and conflicts.
‘He seems eager to go himself.’
Where on earth had he heard that Jin Cheon-hee was heading to Oh Dok-mun?
A Hao-mun member running at the same speed as the carriage and delivering a letter through the window was quite a novel experience.
And in the middle of a mountain path at that.
To get here, they would have had to run desperately from that distant village at a speed faster than horses.
‘Hyeon seems to have gathered quite a few people.’
I had roughly picked up on it.
Since my brother had done enough ‘house cleaning’ to judge that things were safe.
I couldn’t imagine exactly how he’d done it, but it was probably neither legal nor virtuous.
His hands must have been stained with blood more than once or twice.
But that was the natural way of the dark path in this world.
What was more surprising was that dealing with such people and getting the cleaning done with some blood on his hands was actually remarkable.
Man Seon spoke.
“First, we’ll board a boat at Hong Taek Lake and head out to the Yangtze River. We can go directly to Yunnan Province by taking the Yangtze, but we’ll need at least ten days of boat travel, so we’ll have to stop by Nanjing midway for supplies.”
Baekrin Uiseon is located in the north of Jiangsu Province. Going down a bit from here brings Hong Taek Lake, which has a port. We’ll board a boat there.
And below this Hong Taek Lake, there’s a waterway connecting to the Yangtze River.
“I see. It’s because we don’t have a supply warehouse at the port in Hong Taek Lake, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right, Soggakju. Nanjing is the center of logistics, so we have a large warehouse built there.”
At those words, Jin Cheon-hee chuckled.
“Well… since many high officials live there… we’ll be able to procure ingredients abundantly from there. We could prepare quite a variety of dishes too…”
At Jin Cheon-hee’s words, Man Seon smiled broadly.
She knew well that thanks to Jin Cheon-hee, all the martial artists were enjoying a happy gourmet lifestyle.
Man Seon recalled the spicy beef noodle soup she’d eaten this morning.
The eggs were soft-boiled and floating on top—somehow there was exactly one egg per bowl of noodles.
The braised beef was moist and tender, soaked in the spicy broth, making the meat juices absolutely exquisite.
The martial artists might find it somewhat troublesome… but with so many people moving and treating others along the way, rumors would have spread at every step.
By now, not a single martial artist among them didn’t know how Jin Cheon-hee had defeated Dorang.
‘Anyone with a brain wouldn’t dare challenge him.’
Thinking thus, Jin Cheon-hee asked.
“What would you like to eat?”
“Anything is fine.”
‘I should make cold noodles this time.’
There are times like that. Suddenly, for no reason, when you just crave cold noodles.
If I use ice magic to float thin ice on the broth, it would really be amazing.
Thinking thus, Jin Cheon-hee gazed out from the carriage.
Man Seon let out a small exclamation of wonder, observing my eyes brimming with tears.
‘Those azure eyes are the mark of the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong. Is he calculating our strategy moving forward?’
The Patriarch and Soggakju.
What grand scheme were they devising against all of Heaven and Earth?
Man Seon had no idea that I was actually preoccupied with how to efficiently produce cold noodles in the Central Plains.
I pondered silently.
‘Dumplings… yes, eating cold noodles together with spare rib dumplings is truly the best, but that requires far too much effort. However… I really want them… Should I compromise and just go with spare ribs? Sigh…’
My face was heavy with emotion, yet saliva was pooling in my mouth.

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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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