Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 436

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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 436
“Who are you?”
“Ah, I’m not actually present at this moment. Instead of serving as my messenger, I promised to grant this wretch a temporary reprieve from death. I am Won Cheon-gun of the Hyeolseonggyo. I was among those who attacked the Martial Arts Alliance in the past.”
bridge
“He’s said to be the source of the military force. He was with us when we attacked the Murim Alliance in the past.”
The Hyeolseonggyo!
Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes widened.
“…So you were behind this war all along.”
“Ohhh… you’re not surprised? I expected your body to stiffen for at least a few seconds. Truly, one who disturbs the heavenly mandate. There aren’t many who have given us such humiliation.”
A voice that hissed like a serpent.
It sounded as though he was wringing his vocal cords just to produce words.
Won Cheon-gun spoke.
“Believe it or not, we didn’t directly start this war. Of course… we did provide some assistance to the Khan of the Suksin Tribe. But accepting that was their choice, wasn’t it? From the beginning, these are people for whom hunting and plunder are virtues. Even without the Hyeolseonggyo, war would have erupted anyway.”
“That’s sophistry. And it seems you have no faith in your allies either.”
“Krkrkk. Right. No matter what I say, a seed of rebellion won’t listen. I like this. The fact that you haven’t gone mad even in this situation.”
“…”
Jin Cheon-hee pressed his weary eyes.
“So, why are you sending this message?”
“Composed, as always… Ah… truly, how beautiful is a soul that has maintained celibacy for over half a century.”
What a bastard.
Mocking my lifelong solitude that’s continued even from my past life like this.
“…If there’s no real business, I’m leaving.”
I had no intention of getting entangled with these people.
Won Cheon-gun spoke urgently to Jin Cheon-hee, who was about to cut off the connection and leave.
“Wait, wait just a moment! First… we of the Hyeolseonggyo are formally resuming our operations. You are someone worthy of being called our sworn enemy.”
“…”
Jin Cheon-hee looked on with a cold expression, as if willing to hear what nonsense he was about to spout.
“Heavenly Mandate Defier.”
“…?”
“That’s what we call you. And those who follow the proper heavenly mandate… they will likely target you. What do you say? Won’t you join hands with us?”
Jin Cheon-hee asked calmly in response.
Not in formal speech, but in casual tone.
“Then can you stop your evil deeds?”
“Evil deeds? We merely fulfill the desires of those who follow us. Immortality, eternal health, wealth and glory, eternal youth. Aren’t these things everyone desires?”
At that question, Jin Cheon-hee laughed softly.
“You split people’s bellies and give their intestines to beasts, divide the remaining flesh among yourselves, rain arrows from outside killing tens of thousands. Can you call this anything but evil? The only way you can justify yourselves is by saying you’re reducing carbon emissions centuries from now by killing people.”
“…Carbon, what?”
In that moment, Jin Cheon-hee’s hand seized Won Cheon-gun’s messenger by the head.
Crack—
Through the cascading hair, Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes gleamed coldly as he looked down at him.
Won Cheon-gun thought that those eyes resembled a cross-section of eternal snow.
Won Cheon-gun smiled faintly.
“Hmm… I’d like to debate with you about why our actions are justified, but… we don’t have much time anyway… I’ll just say a few things before I go.”
Thud—
“Go ahead.”
Jin Cheon-hee tightened his grip on the hand holding the burn patient before him—the spy of Hyeolseonggyo.
It was a bitter feeling to learn that a patient he’d treated with all his strength was actually connected to Hyeolseonggyo.
There was a high probability that all the camp’s information had already leaked out.
‘Fortunately, I don’t even know the detailed medical records, so no critically important information should have escaped.’
Military secrets were being maintained to some degree.
Soldiers only knew where they were stationed, not the bigger picture.
That was what mattered.
Won Cheon-gun continued speaking.
“The Khan of the Suksin Tribe is old. And because he despises his aging body… he consumed our sect’s treasure, the Blood-Life Fruit, to regain his youth. The Blood-Life Fruit is roughly… a fruit that opens when a special ritual is performed using approximately a thousand people as sacrifices, and it can maintain one’s youthful vigor from their prime for about five years. In other words, he wanted it, so we provided it.”
“You didn’t just hand it over for nothing.”
Thud—
When Jin Cheon-hee tightened his grip, Won Cheon-gun quickly spoke.
“Ah yes, we can’t take a loss either, so when we give out one Blood-Life Fruit, we demand approximately ten thousand lives. I hope you understand that. It’s a monopoly, so charging a high price is only natural, isn’t it? Just like how the Baekrin Medical Guild monopolizes Baekrin’s Elixir, Patriarch?”
“Madmen.”
Contempt swam in those blue eyes.
Won Cheon-gun felt his skin crawl facing that gaze.
‘Is this the extent of it? Facing the seed of Anti-immortality directly…!’
Perhaps it was because of a soul that had endured half a century of chastity.
The finest sacrifice, the talent Hyeolseon desired most!
“Haha, mad? Isn’t that just how the world works? Even Qin Shi Huang sought the elixir of immortality and made tremendous sacrifices for it, yet he still died at the hands of those who follow Heaven’s will!”
It was decent information.
That’s what Jin Cheon-hee thought.
Separate from the fire burning in his chest, Won Cheon-gun had a loose tongue.
The information he was providing all helped Jin Cheon-hee plan what he needed to do going forward.
“…”
“Or what? Is what we do heresy while what the Emperor does is righteousness? If your close friend, Emperor Pung, wanted immortality and decided to sacrifice tens of thousands of people, what would you do? Would you kill him?”
Jin Cheon-hee did not answer.
Whatever answer he gave would be meaningless.
Won Cheon-gun, caught up in his excitement, rambled on.
“No no, I’ve gotten off track. The Khan consumed the Blood-Life Fruit, and he simply started this war because he wanted to be younger. Of course, as I mentioned before, even without us, the war would have happened. You’re clever enough to understand. The Khan grew his tribe too large, and the steppes alone can no longer sustain the food supply.”
Plunder and conquest for food procurement.
A war motivation so common it wasn’t even worth memorizing for exams.
“If not the Khan, then the Khan’s son would have done it. This time they’ll plunder greatly, and simultaneously occupy the land, then work the Empire’s people as slaves on farms.”
“And after that?”
“And then they’ll want to wage war again. There will surely be tremendous casualties. Because in five years, the population will grow, and the Khan will want to be young again. Time flows on. Even at this very moment.”
Human greed knows no bounds.
Won Cheon-gun hummed as he sang.
I spoke.
“What do you want from me?”
“If you wish to end this war, join hands with us. Assassinate the Khan, slaughter every nomad to pieces! Use the Suksin Tribe—those who are not imperial subjects—as sacrifices to preserve the Empire’s peace!”
Ah, why does the devil’s whisper taste so sweet?
I never expected to hear such words from someone exhausted by stitching together a patient’s flesh.
“You’re saying… you can end this war?”
“Indeed. You can do it. We are merely beast cubs who know nothing of the Way that humans speak of. But you! You have more than enough capability. You could save tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands. All you need do is kill that Khan. How simple it is.”
It was fortunate.
That I had not smoked the cigarette.
The medicinal herbs within it were so intoxicatingly sweet that while they would numb the pain in my solar plexus, had I smoked it before meeting these creatures, I might have made a different choice.
Certain clarity of mind comes from pain.
Only the suffering can remember certain truths.
It could be called weight of burden or sense of responsibility.
But the more precise word was… the self-loathing and guilt that would follow any choice, and beyond that, the despair and fear that awaited.
An emotion as ugly as a mud pit, yet such is humanity.
I did not wish to wear a crown of thorns.
If I chose a different path here.
I would have dulled the guilt of that choice once more with the power of the herbs.
“…Why me, of all people?”
The pain is vivid.
It came not from my limbs, but from my solar plexus.
A demon of the heart.
Yet it is the mark of my existence as a living being.
What once felt like a thumb pressing down now feels like a sharp stone striking repeatedly.
If struck with a hand axe from the Stone Age, perhaps it would feel something like this.
But the path that lay ahead was not one that could be walked by one who fled from pain.
“My Master would have chosen far better than I.”
My Master walks the path of iron, or so he said.
“He is not the seed of the Half-Saint itself, merely one whose fate was changed through the seed. He cannot match the Half-Saint’s seed itself.”
“And there is one more thing. Had it been my Master, he would have severed your throat the moment that strange voice emerged from the patient’s throat.”
“Kekeke, I do not deny that either. Give me your answer, seed of the Half-Saint. Assassinate the Khan. And walk the path with us. I cannot say what makes the human path superior to the beast’s path, but show me once.”
“…”
I could not answer.
One thing was certain—this was the most crucial crossroads of my life.
Yet that crossroads was so heavy that it was not a burden a single human’s shoulders could bear.
Standing at the corner of hell, I gazed upward as if in prayer.
The sky is not visible.
Instead, a tent made by human hands obscures the heavens.
Blood droplets stained the tent.
‘Ah, I couldn’t clean it all after all.’
Yesterday, one of my patients had screamed and thrashed about convulsively.
Whether from a nightmare or from wounds tearing open, blood sprayed out like some third-rate gore film.
Demon Qi Backlash.
It was one of the phenomena that occurred when vital energy twisted within the body—apparently even the mightiest warriors of Gangho found war unbearable.
That patient ultimately died.
We didn’t have spare blood either.
There was no time to act before he bit through his own tongue and took his life.
Yes. Some deaths leave their marks.
The young man saw those traces upon the path of hell.
If hell had clouds, perhaps they would look like this.
I stared at the black spots clinging to the ceiling and pondered.
There was no need for demonic shapes.
The bloodstains of a warrior driven to madness by the horrors of war would suffice as an excellent image.
And then my conversation with Cheon I-mun came to mind.
As I forced my mind—threatening to shatter—to function, I began to see a connection between these people who spoke of the Heavenly Mechanism’s Circulation and Cheon I-mun.
Regardless of what I chose, it seemed Cheon I-mun would come to kill me next time.
If the author’s words were true, these were people who had even slain the First Emperor—my neck would be far easier prey.
Upon the rails where black and white intertwined, the young man made his choice from somewhere in that gray corner.

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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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