Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 384

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 384
Whether I board the same boat or decline is secondary.
‘I should do what needs to be done.’
A medical exchange.
The next day, doctors from Oh Dok-mun came to find me.
They proposed to teach me about the properties of rare poisons and antidotes that Oh Dok-mun had prepared, along with their applications.
“Of course, we’ll include some of Oh Dok-mun’s poison-neutralizing techniques as well.”
‘Ohhhhh!’
My eyes gleamed like blue stars at this unexpectedly generous proposal.
But where there is giving, there is also taking.
“However, you must teach me the secret formula for creating Baekrin Divine Elixir.”
‘Hmm?’
This was somewhat unexpected.
In truth, teaching the secret formula for creating Baekrin Divine Elixir—penicillin—was difficult even if I wanted to.
First, aside from the various devices needed for production, the Five Elements Divine Art was essential.
Ultimately, to maintain available oxygen in this martial-style cultivation tank required the functions of the Five Elements Divine Art, and the cooling and filtration processes also required it.
‘It’s not impossible. But in that case, I’d need to learn at least eight alternative martial techniques to replace the Five Elements Divine Art.’
Since only the Five Elements Divine Art doesn’t use ice or wind techniques, I could bring in martial artists who had learned other corresponding techniques.
‘However… if I do that, the essence of the Five Elements Divine Art would easily be revealed during the production process.’
The transmission of martial techniques is an extremely sensitive matter in the martial world.
Just how sensitive? Sensitive enough that someone would sever the limbs and bury a person in some underground cave for it.
And one more thing.
‘Realistically, the values don’t match.’
The manufacturing and detoxification methods of poison-neutralizing techniques.
Of course, they have great academic and practical value.
However, that’s only when Oh Dok-mun is the sole poison sect.
The Tang Family also maintains close exchanges with Baekrin Medical Guild, and there are ways to obtain poison manufacturing and detoxification methods through other poison sects.
But Baekrin Divine Elixir is different.
It has cured numerous previously incurable diseases, and clinical verification is already complete.
Even considering only financial value, Baekrin Divine Elixir’s worth far exceeds Oh Dok-mun’s poison-neutralizing techniques.
‘They’re treating me like a fool.’
No matter how much of a madman and kind-hearted doctor I am, I’m not soft enough to accept such a highway robbery of a proposal.
So I decided not to accept such an outrageous offer.
I first made clear that since it’s made with the Five Elements Divine Art, transmission is impossible.
I also said that other academic exchanges were entirely possible and asked if there was anything else they wanted.
I had rejected Baekrin Divine Elixir since it was too unfavorable a trade for Baekrin Medical Guild, but I was still willing to accommodate most requests.
However, they answered like this.
“Ahem, truly Baekrin Medical Guild. Your pride is quite remarkable.”
Then I heard a small murmur from behind.
“This is why people from the Middle Kingdom are… tsk.”
It was merely a murmur, but for someone of Jin Cheon-hee’s martial cultivation, it was far from inaudible.
In short, he had deliberately spoken loud enough for me to hear.
Jin Cheon-hee simply continued with his own words.
“I understand that Oh Dok-mun has graciously proposed a transaction in good faith, but that is something we cannot accept.”
“You dare reject Oh Dok-mun’s offer so easily? Are you truly confident you won’t regret this?”
‘Now he’s resorting to threats.’
I thought to myself.
‘As a doctor, I’ve done my best to save lives and tried to live righteously. It seems Oh Dok-mun has picked up on that reputation.’
There was a difference between being called virtuous and being called a fool, yet some people occasionally conflated the two.
‘That’s right. Even in Wanong, rumors from the martial world sometimes get distorted.’
Oh Dok-mun was no exception.
‘Or perhaps they heard the rumors correctly, but interpreted them in their own way.’
After all, there were people everywhere who couldn’t distinguish between a benevolent person and a pushover.
I felt bitter. At the same time, looking at these doctors gathered here, one thing became clear.
‘There’s not a single person here purely interested in exchanging medical knowledge.’
They were simply intent on stealing Baekrin’s secret techniques.
* * *
Thus, the first day of the exchange ended in failure.
By the time I returned to my quarters, the sun had quickly set and night had fallen.
‘The forest night comes so quickly.’
Feeling the humid, tropical weather, I removed my robe and lay flat on the bed as soon as I entered.
‘It seems impossible to bring Oh Dok-mun into this. Setting aside the irrationality of it all, they don’t even seem particularly enthusiastic about medicine in the first place.’
If that were the case, wouldn’t this be meaningless?
While I was thinking this, Sama Hyeon entered.
*Click*
“You’re back? Though you don’t look happy.”
At my words, Sama Hyeon sat down in a chair with irritation.
“These guys have no interest in doing business~”
It seemed he had wandered around looking for something worthwhile regarding commerce.
“Is that so?”
“It’s not just exclusionary… this goes beyond that.”
It wasn’t simply a matter of cultural differences.
We had done everything we could in Wanong after all.
“Maybe… we’re just not compatible.”
Sama Hyeon nodded.
If that was the case, there was no other way. I sprang up from the bed.
“Let’s just finish the formalities and leave quickly.”
“Oh~?”
“If it won’t work, it won’t work. It seems they had no genuine intention to exchange from the start. I’m honestly disappointed we called them here, but what can we do? That’s how these things go.”
“Brother, you recover your composure quickly.”
Even in modern society, people get upset if you call them in for work and only offer them water.
But in an era without trains or airplanes, after traveling nearly half a month from the Tang Family, offering only water would make even a hermit of the highest cultivation spew curses.
However, Jin Cheon-hee’s mind settled quickly.
“That’s just how life is. What can you do about it?”
“You’d probably be good at politics too, Hyeong.”
‘Hmm, it’s not like I didn’t know how to navigate society in my past life.’
But ultimately, the art of navigating society works best when you abandon your expectations of people.
‘When you have expectations, you get disappointed, and then you get angry. It’s better to forget relationships that won’t work quickly.’
Clinging to them only wounds your heart.
The elder from Earth decided to let go of his feelings quickly.
As they conversed, Hwang-gu suddenly sprang to his feet.
Woof? Grrrrrowl!
His initial curious bark was short-lived; soon his fur bristled sharply as he entered a defensive stance, and Noeji did the same.
Crackle-crackle—
Electricity began arcing across Noeji’s feathers.
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
Only then did a chill run down the back of my neck.
Turning around suddenly, a massive eye stared at me through the open window.
My body froze at the sight of the enormous pupil that filled the entire window frame.
It was something beyond spiritual cultivation—a call of pure instinct.
‘A snake…? The window is quite large, but an eye as big as the window itself…?’
The vertically slit serpent eye moved, gazing down at Hwang-gu.
Flinch—
Hwang-gu retreated a step, frightened, yet continued to snarl with his fangs bared.
Even as my body stiffened, my mind raced.
‘The Six-Horned Venomous Snake…?’
Glancing over, I saw Sama Hyeon had also taken a counterattacking stance.
But Sama Hyeon too was visibly suppressing instinctive fear.
‘Why? It doesn’t seem like it’s trying to attack us.’
If it truly meant to attack from this distance, it could have bitten us before Hwang-gu even barked.
With a body that massive, destroying the mansion walls would be nothing.
In that moment, I had the strange thought that the snake’s eye seemed to be smiling.
Uuuuung—
A certain resonance began to emanate from my chest.
Familiarity, joy, reverence.
It was less a voice and more a sixth sense. And this sensation was one I knew well.
In that instant, the tail of the Six-Horned Venomous Snake gently coiled around my waist.
“Hyeon, it’s okay! Everyone, wait!”
I quickly stopped Sama Hyeon, who was about to assume an attacking stance, and shouted to Hwang-gu and Noeji as well.
“It doesn’t seem to have any intention to attack.”
“….”
Sama Hyeon didn’t answer. He simply prepared himself to flay the skin off anyone who dared act recklessly.
The snake, showing no intent to attack, deliberately moved slowly as it carried me out of the mansion.
Only then did I notice something strange.
‘Such a massive body moving, yet I can’t hear a sound at all.’
The rumors that it could devour a Hwakyeong Master seemed to be true.
Indeed, even amid this chaos, Man Seon and the other martial artists failed to sense the Six-Horned Venomous Snake’s presence.
I myself hadn’t known until it was upon me, and Hwang-gu only noticed belatedly.
‘Even now, if I closed my eyes, it would feel as though it wasn’t there.’
I recognized this sensation.
It was similar to Cheonma.
She too existed right before my eyes, yet the moment I looked away, she felt so colorless and odorless that I wondered if she were merely a figment of my imagination.
The Six-Horned Venomous Snake grasped me and slithered slowly toward somewhere.
We arrived at the entrance of a ruined temple.
“Is this your nest?”
Ssshhhhh—
The Six-Horned Venomous Snake flicked its tongue and set me down.
Tree roots had pierced through the temple and grown wild, and I could feel how the once-magnificent structure was gradually surrendering to nature and decaying.
I had the sense that the snake was smiling.
Six horns crowned its head like a diadem.
‘So it really is the Six-Horned Venomous Snake.’
Surely there couldn’t be two creatures this massive.
The moment our eyes met, the sensation I felt was ‘longing.’
The snake rubbed its enormous face against me.
I struggled not to stagger at the sensation, as if a wall were scraping against me.
Why did this snake harbor such longing?
There was no need to ponder deeply.
This ability to sense the snake’s emotions could only be due to the jewel.
Eungryong’s jewel.
When Eungryong had given me the gift back then, I’d swallowed it without much thought—it must have had some influence.
‘Do I smell like something?’
Suddenly, a transparent orb appeared in the center of the temple.
A mysterious aura emanated from it, yet it seemed unstable, appearing as though it might extinguish at any moment.
‘Ah, is it something like a Wish Pearl?’
I couldn’t be certain if it was truly a spiritual being of Hyeongyeong rank, but one thing was clear—the Six-Horned Venomous Snake revered Eungryong.
I didn’t know exactly what that orb was, but I sensed it was the snake’s treasure.
Sama Hyeon, Hwang-gu, and Noeji entered inside.
“Hyeong, what’s going on here?”
“Well… I obtained some fortune in the past, and it seems that thanks to it, I’m perceived as familiar by serpent-type spiritual beings?”
“You seem unsure?”
“I’m not entirely certain myself. There was no sound like this when I obtained the opportunity.”
From the beginning, Eungryong hadn’t even mentioned the basic efficacy of the jewel—the development of Oseng.
‘The more exalted one becomes, the less courteous they are.’
Whether human or divine dragon, they’re all the same.
‘Could this snake be something like Eungryong’s subordinate?’
In the end, it was merely speculation.
Since there was no need to fight, it didn’t matter either way.
When I touched the snake’s snout, pleased by the gesture, it lifted its tail and swayed it back and forth—much like a rattlesnake.
Eventually, satisfied, the snake departed the temple and vanished somewhere deep within the forest.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————