Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 386

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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 386
Jin Cheon-hee quickly stepped forward and spoke.
“I apologize for my Medical Officer’s careless words.”
It was best to defuse such situations swiftly.
“The customs of those who live in this land have been passed down through countless generations. To speak ill of them would be disrespectful in its own right. I hope you’ll understand that my concern stems solely from worry about disease. I would be grateful for your understanding.”
With Jin Cheon-hee taking the initiative to calmly settle the matter, Oh Dok-mun found it difficult to say anything further.
“Ahem, if the Patriarch apologizes so sincerely, I shall let it pass. However, please be mindful. The reason the burial ground is positioned so unusually close this time is because the newly appointed Shaman of Oh Dok-mun received a divine oracle directing it there.”
‘Ah, so the Shaman determines the location of the burial ground.’
Then, is this Shaman a trustworthy person?
I hadn’t met them, so I couldn’t be certain, but I could sense their geomantic eye was somewhat lacking compared to their predecessor.
“What sort of person is this Shaman?”
“They divine the fates of the Yunnan clans and read fortunes and misfortunes. The Shaman designates where homes are built and determines the burial ground’s location.”
‘The chief Shaman, then.’
Perhaps Oh Dok’s sudden change in attitude within a single day was due to this Shaman?
If they commanded such trust.
It’s only human nature—even if the Shaman merely mentioned that their dreams felt unsettled, one would worry about it all day long.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“I understand. We too respect their will.”
“We shall forget what was just said.”
Jin Cheon-hee nodded.
The atmosphere became awkward for a moment.
The Medical Officer who had first brought up the burial ground clutched his stomach as if it ached, while Jin Cheon-hee, paying it no mind, focused on the mango punch.
‘I’ll finish the medical exchange by this evening. I should leave tomorrow.’
Drawing from the experiences of both my past and present lives.
I judged that this distance from Oh Dok-mun was precisely the right measure.
“If you’re not going to drink that punch…”
“Please have it, Patriarch.”
“Thank you.”
Thus, eating the punch alone that the Uigak-won had lost their appetite for, Jin Cheon-hee calmly considered what lay ahead.
‘The Shaman… the Shaman, indeed.’
Though strangely unsettling, it would be best to keep my distance.
That’s how an adult draws the line.
* * *
The next morning, Jin Cheon-hee departed Oh Dok-mun immediately.
Having prepared to leave swiftly from the start and laid the groundwork through tactful conduct, Oh Dok-mun had no way to detain me.
‘The Shaman is appointed from among the diviners of each clan, I was told.’
The one who reads fortunes most accurately becomes the Shaman.
After the previous Shaman’s death.
The diviners of each clan comprising Oh Dok-mun gathered together.
Whoever correctly predicted who would die first and the exact time of that death became the new Shaman.
If no one died, or if no one was hit, they would continue divining until someone was. That’s what they said.
‘Strangely enough, usually a Shaman emerges within three attempts.’
Though called a clan, administratively speaking, quite a large population resided in Yunnan.
If you counted the unregistered population, the numbers easily doubled or tripled.
I thought it might even exceed Hangzhou’s population.
With so many people scattered in a cellular network following the clan, that was the current state of Yunnan.
‘The current Grand Shaman seems to have something odd about him.’
Moving the location of the wind burial that the previous Shamans had decided on also seemed problematic.
Just look at Oh Dok’s Medical Guild—people don’t suddenly change so easily.
It wasn’t simply divining fortune and misfortune for next year, but deeply touching administrative, diplomatic, and sanitary issues.
‘Still, that wind burial at the time does catch on, but….’
Whatever I said, since I was a foreigner’s words, they didn’t want interference.
‘That’s right. I’ve done all I can.’
I taught them the mechanisms of bacteria and sanitation and proved it, so now it’s a matter for the locals to decide, isn’t it?
‘I’m neither a politician nor a philosopher. I shouldn’t try to carry too much burden.’
With that thought, I touched the horse’s neck.
How much further had we gone?
The village we had passed began to appear in the distance.
Man Seon spoke.
“Soggakju, the day is growing dark. What do you think about staying in that village?”
“That sounds fine. Let’s do that.”
As we headed toward the village, a loud commotion began erupting from all directions.
“Hyeong, all the villagers are gathered in the open square?”
Enhancing my vision, I saw armed men surrounding and encircling the villagers.
‘Hmm…?’
None of the villagers held weapons for it to be called war.
But it wasn’t peaceful either.
The atmosphere itself was ominous.
As we approached the village, the voices grew louder, but since it wasn’t Middle Kingdom speech, it was difficult to understand.
Lim Un-hyeon, Sama Hyeon’s wife and deputy leader of the Silver Blood Party beside me, spoke.
“With the local dialect and regional accent mixed in, it’s hard to understand, but…. They’re saying those people have caught an epidemic.”
“Hmm?”
“@@$%#&–!!!”
As the unfamiliar language rang out again, she continued translating.
“The ancestors grew angry and spat upon this village. An epidemic is raging….”
Soon her eyes widened.
Yet she translated the words clearly and distinctly.
“Blood and flesh…. In short, they’re saying they’ll kill everyone and offer them to the ancestors.”
“What?”
Mass slaughter.
The Shaman’s orders or whatever—Jin Cheon-hee immediately tried to urge his horse forward.
That was when Sama Hyeon grabbed him with a firm grip.
“Hyeong, this is these locals’ matter. You don’t need to get involved.”
“I know.”
At that moment, the Grandmother at the very front shouted something.
“#^@#$@^@#–!!!”
Why was it? I didn’t understand the words, yet somehow I could grasp their meaning.
Because the Oh Dok-mun disciples had knocked the Grandmother down and begun beating her together.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Screams of agony—why were they universal across all nations?
The irony was that these cultivators of inner energy could have executed such a frail grandmother instantly.
Yet instead, they refrained from using their inner power, kicking her repeatedly.
Their purpose was to make her suffer for as long as possible.
Some even giggled mockingly as they tormented her.
“I’m sorry, Hyeon-a. I’m sorry.”
“Hyeong….”
Crack—
I heard the sound of something breaking in the Grandmother’s body.
“I don’t care about such things. Man Seon! I alone will bear the responsibility. So please stand by.”
Jin Cheon-hee spoke thus and spurred his horse forward.
“Stop this at once!”
As Jin Cheon-hee shouted and advanced, Man Seon scratched his head.
“Well, I see. It seems the Soggakju has forgotten why the Patriarch sent so many people.”
Sama Hyeon asked.
“For this?”
“Yes. The Soggakju was told to cause a scene if he couldn’t hold back, and we’d back him up.”
“True, Hyeong has been holding back for quite a while~”
As the Baekrin Uigak warriors approached following Jin Cheon-hee, the Oh Dok-mun martial artists grew wary.
“This is our sect’s matter. Stand back.”
“If you intend to oppress these people, I will report this fact to the magistrate’s office.”
“Just as expected from a Middle Kingdom man. A lackey of the Empire!”
Whoosh—!
A hidden blade pierced the space. Simultaneously, Jin Cheon-hee twisted his jaw to evade the attack.
But the hidden blade that should have flown past instead curved its trajectory, now hurtling toward the space between my brows.
It was being controlled by a thin thread.
That wasn’t all.
Oh Dok-mun’s ultimate technique.
Thousand Poison Heavenly Flight—!
Countless hidden blades flooded my vision.
Each one coated with different poisons. If even one touched me, my flesh would surely rot.
In that moment, what Jin Cheon-hee drew was not a sword.
‘An umbrella–?!’
An essential item in the hot and humid Yunnan region.
Nothing remarkable about it. Just bamboo with silk stretched over it.
Yet that ordinary umbrella spun with a whirring sound, deflecting every poisoned projectile away.
Cha-cha-cha-clang!
The deflected projectiles embedded themselves in the ground in a radial pattern centered on Jin Cheon-hee.
Several of the poisoned projectiles hissed as they melted into the floor.
They were quite potent toxins.
Only then did the Oh Dok-mun warriors belatedly notice a couple of poisoned projectiles wedged between the umbrella’s ribs.
Thwack!
The projectiles shot forward like bullets, grazing past their original wielders.
Not fatal wounds, but enough to scrape across their skin.
They had been poisoned by their own toxins.
“Ugh! Damn it.”
“Detoxify quickly. Surely you poison masters keep antidotes on hand?”
Just as Jin Cheon-hee said, the Oh Dok-mun warriors immediately popped what appeared to be antidote pills into their mouths and sat in lotus position right there, expelling the poison from their bodies.
Jin Cheon-hee calmly pointed at them with the tip of his umbrella.
“Anyone else?”
Strangely, as he aimed that ordinary red umbrella one could see anywhere, an eerie chill emanated from it—as if it were an ice-blade sword.
While no one dared step forward, hesitating instead, a man dressed lavishly from head to toe came rushing over.
“What is the meaning of this–!”
A rather delicate-featured man who, by his appearance, seemed to be a fox-like handsome man.
He wore ornaments hanging loosely from his forehead to his feet, jingling with every movement.
‘Could this be the newly appointed Shaman?’
The outfit was far too impractical for a warrior to wear.
He looked at Jin Cheon-hee and the Baekrin Uigak warriors behind him, then spoke.
“What business does Baekrin Uigak have here?”
Though his tone carried irritation, he spoke in polite formal speech—likely due to the overwhelming backing of those behind Jin Cheon-hee.
“We came to stop them from killing innocent people.”
“Those people have incurred the wrath of our ancestors. Therefore, by law, they must become offerings.”
“The wrath of ancestors? I heard something about an epidemic.”
At those words, the Shaman spoke quickly.
“It is not a disease. It is a curse. A definite curse brought by our ancestors’ wrath. No doctor can resolve this. Because it is a curse.”
He spoke so stubbornly about the curse that it seemed impossible to convince him with words like science.
“You speak well. Since you call it a curse, I have studied shamanism in Yunnan. What if I attempted to treat it with that?”
“Hehehehe, how amusing.”
At the Shaman’s words, Jin Cheon-hee opened the umbrella he had been holding closed.
Pang-
Then, draping it over his shoulder, he continued speaking with composure.
“If you refuse, then as I mentioned before, I will report this matter to the authorities. I will tell them of the large-scale massacre of innocent civilians. I will also inform them that you attempted to silence the informant.”
“Tch…!”
In typical Gangho fashion, such matters were resolved through death and erasure.
However, my background would not allow such a thing to pass quietly.
My own martial prowess had reached the Hwagyeong realm.
Should a Hwagyeong warrior set their mind to causing trouble, it becomes exceedingly bothersome.
Grind—
The Shaman ground his teeth before speaking.
“Very well. I shall withdraw for now, but I will return another day. If you fail to resolve this by then, I too shall appease my ancestors’ wrath by offering you as a sacrifice in their stead.”

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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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