Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 458
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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 458
Silence.
Strangely, I felt no murderous intent whatsoever.
Even as the blade pierced through, I lacked the awareness that I was being stabbed—a strike devoid of intention.
Yet it was undoubtedly a sword.
A blade infused with supreme martial mastery.
But merely a Swordless Path—quiet as winter’s night, moonlight gliding silently across a snowy field.
The blade approached his heart, gently parting his flesh and piercing through.
Thud—
In that instant, no one perceived what had transpired.
By the time awareness returned, the Icebound Blade had already cleaved through the heart.
What bloomed from Jin Cheon-hee’s hand was a truly bizarre Heartless Technique.
“Grraaagh!”
His body trembled violently.
Jin Cheon-hee released the blade and staggered backward several steps before collapsing to the ground.
He had exhausted every ounce of strength, leaving him without even the power to move.
“You… you… this cannot be…!”
He shook uncontrollably, then drove the blade deeper into his own heart like a madman. His chest froze solid.
Yet he did not die. He continued to move.
“It must be me… only me… only me…”
In that state, he withdrew the blade. The wound, frozen solid, did not bleed.
Then the heart too must be frozen.
So how was he still moving?
“I will slay you and drink your blood. Then I shall not perish…”
“Without my permission, what are you doing?”
Then.
A voice that should have been inaudible reached his ears.
Kahuray Khan turned to look behind him.
There stood a tall man of pristine white.
And a woman’s voice as well.
“This is exactly why I despise organizational work… Sigh. At my age… my bones are rotting away… How did I end up teaching my granddaughter at this stage… what is this… ugh…”
And a woman in her seventies, breathing heavily, bent at the waist beside the fair-faced man.
“Hope. You’ve finally made it this far. As for what comes next, we’ll speak of it later.”
And there was light.
Merely lines of light, straight and true.
After the light faded.
Kahuray Khan’s head rolled across the ground, severed from his body.
Blood lingered on my Master’s fan before being flicked away.
As though such filth had never touched it from the beginning.
“Kahuray Khan is dead! Surrender!”
Jegalling’s cry shook the battlefield.
* * *
The enemy commander was dead?
In an instant, the Suksin Tribe fell into chaos.
Meanwhile, the encampment my Master had established began pushing forward like an incoming tide, and within that confusion, oddly enough, only Kahuray Khan’s corpse remained serene like the eye of a typhoon.
“Distasteful as it is, we must claim the enemy commander’s head. There’s no helping it.”
My Master continued.
“Hope, will you be using the body as a specimen?”
I answered.
“Well… he’s not merely an ordinary enemy… Since he was the Khan of the Suksin Tribe, wouldn’t it be better to leave the decision to His Majesty?”
“Indeed. That falls within the realm of politics.”
My Master seemed disappointed, as though a plaything he’d intended to give his disciple had vanished.
‘No, but still. Eun Wang-ya seems more inclined to properly collect the corpse and send it to the enemy camp rather than impale the commander’s head on a spear to humiliate them.’
Of course, there would be some… political exploitation… in between. But executing such matters is also considered a military king’s virtue, so there’s no avoiding it.
That was when it happened.
Crack—
Kahuray Khan’s severed head, its jawbone moving of its own accord, opened its mouth?
Whooooom—
That thing lifted its own head, rising into the air.
A voice rang out as though multiple people were speaking simultaneously.
[I am./This one is./I am./This body is.]
That disorganized voice was deeply unsettling.
[I am Hyeolseon. Ah, how long it has been since I smelled the lower realm.]
Shudder—
My hair stood on end. My muscles tensed and contracted.
My heart pounded wildly, and the moment I saw it, I found myself unable to move, seized by the urge to look away.
This was not a normal reaction.
What in the world was this?
A terror washed over me as though I were being dragged into hell by that presence alone.
With trembling hands, I drew the Bing Jeong Sword.
‘Hyeolseon! How did it manifest!?’
I stared in shock at the floating head suspended in the air. Still, I could dimly grasp the intention.
Judging by the fact that only its voice descended, it didn’t seem to have come to fight.
Yet it was certain that it intended to leave some kind of message.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t be floating just a head like this.
[You covet it, child of the Heavenly Reversal. I am a beast of the Dharma-ending Age…]
Splat!
In that instant, Hyeolseon’s head exploded.
A small energy sphere shot from my Master’s hand like a bullet, detonating Hyeolseon’s manifested head like a watermelon.
Splatter—
Brains spilled across the ground as the head vanished without form.
“….”
Just as everyone was about to panic, unable to adapt to this situation, my Master spoke.
“Yes…. It seems I must take the Hyeolseonggyo seriously from now on.”
“Master, wasn’t he trying to leave behind some important final message? Hyeolseon…. Still, Hyeolseon…?”
“Hahaha, Hope. Did you think Hyeolseon would reveal the location of the Hyeolseonggyo headquarters? From my experience in Gangho, that’s complete nonsense.”
My Master showed no mercy.
‘I see. Just as expected. So that’s why Hyeolseon didn’t send a message to my Master.’
Normally, wouldn’t one listen out of curiosity to what someone might say?
No one expected my Master to burst open the head of Hyeolseon the moment he descended.
And it was the Khan’s head, no less!
The head of an enemy commander of high diplomatic value!
My Master spoke.
“Listen well, Hope. Dialogue is established through mutual respect. A foolish wretch who smiles strangely from the start has no intention of respecting me through conversation, so I simply burst open his brains like this.”
“Hoo?!”
Sama Hyeon’s eyes gleamed.
I quickly interjected.
“Hyeon-a, that doesn’t mean you should just tear faces apart! Don’t let the sect learn this.”
Regardless of what Sama Hyeon learned, my Master continued.
“In any case, self-introduction is the beginning of dialogue. The fact that Hyeolseon introduced himself first upon arrival was somewhat commendable.”
Yet the fact that his head was burst open remained unchanged.
My Master fanned himself with his fan, pondering before speaking.
“There’s no help for it. Let’s at least take the body instead of the head, Baesong Dangju.”
“Ah…. Damn….”
“I would be grateful.”
“At my age, you’re asking me to move something this large?”
“I could move the head myself, but since the freshness of a corpse is important, it must be done this way.”
Baesong Dangju Tugoe grumbled, “If you don’t assign me a proper instructor, I’ll make the Medical Guild look like beggars.” My Shifu laughed carelessly, covered his mouth with his fan, and whispered something to her.
“Really? Ahem…. Then there’s no choice. I’ve stolen things much larger than this back in my day, you know? It’s my specialty. My specialty.”
Seeing her suddenly grin from ear to ear, forgetting her irritation from moments before, it seemed my Shifu had promised her some enticing reward.
“Well then, Hope. Let’s go.”
“….”
“Hope?”
“Hyeong?”
“Hyeong-nim?”
“….”
Was it because the tension had eased?
Was it because I had looked directly into Hyeolseon’s eyes?
Or was it because I had exhausted my last reserves of strength in the battle with the Khan?
I lost consciousness and collapsed.
Thud—
When Jegalling turned to look back, his brothers had collapsed alongside him this time.
The extreme exhaustion that had reached its limit stripped consciousness from the three young men.
Tugoe spoke.
“I’ll only carry one. Just one of them!”
An exhausted disciple and two others.
Jegalling gazed up at the sky.
“….”
Cold eyes reflected the heavens. His bearing was sharp as a blade, yet Tugoe’s thoughts ran differently.
‘He’s definitely cursing while looking at the sky. No doubt about it.’
* * *
At the same moment.
Yeo Ha-ryun had Won Cheon-gun by the throat.
“Gasp, cough! …So you truly are Cheon Sal-seong… How vicious… Viciously strong.”
“….”
Won Cheon-gun’s form, with limbs torn asunder, was so gruesome that even Yeo Ha-ryun’s subordinates grimaced.
Yet Yeo Ha-ryun’s expression remained unchanged as he stared at him.
“Nooooo! Why, why do you maintain your reason so completely! Surely Cheon Sal-seong should….”
“Is there any other information worth obtaining?”
The one beside him spoke.
“Brother, it is nearly impossible to extract information directly from the Hyeolseonggyo. We gain far more through their clothing and movements.”
Ilkana.
The princess of Serim Kingdom who received education under Jin Cheon-hee had become a subordinate of Yeo Ha-ryun.
Though she had not yet earned the trust to be called his right arm, her abilities had become incomparably sharper than before.
Moreover.
Having endured Baek Rin-ui-seon’s foul temperament and honed her foundations as a strategist, her intellect surpassed any talent Yeo Ha-ryun had ever employed.
“Torture seems unnecessary. Do you have any final words?”
Yeo Ha-ryun showed magnanimity to his enemy with a leisurely expression.
The very bearing of a protagonist itself.
Won Cheon-gun mocked his own predicament.
“Ugh…. You… Your righteousness will ultimately be offered to Hyeolseon.”
“I’ve heard your final words.”
Crack—
Yeo Ha-ryun snapped his neck, ending his life.
Yet it does not end there.
A hand edge, sharp as a blade, severs Won Cheon-gun’s head clean.
Ilkana spoke.
“Despite receiving Hyeolseon’s blessing, he could not match you, Brother. It appeared you deliberately induced him to receive that blessing.”
“Indeed, I needed an opportunity to test the achievement of my martial arts.”
Yeo Ha-ryun spoke thus and closed his eyes.
After a moment, he opened his eyes as if his decision had been made.
“There will be many to kill.”
The instant those words left his lips, Cheon Sal-seong began to dance with delight within Yeo Ha-ryun’s mind.
Cheon Sal-seong, as always, possessed the purity of a young child.
It was pure slaughter.
Yeo Ha-ryun felt Ilkana’s gaze turn toward where Jin Cheon-hee stood.
“Should I not offer my respects?”
At those words, Ilkana’s expression grew stern.
“Ah, brother. I am always grateful to Jin Cheon-hee, but that master of his… I would rather not see him.”
“The strategist has endured much hardship.”
Only those who have experienced Jegalling’s vile nature truly understand it.
Thus, at this turning point in history, hidden from all eyes.
A singular path for the Demonic Cult alone was forged.
Soon, the cry of a raven echoed from a distant place.
To an ordinary person, it would sound like nothing more than the common call of a bird.
But to them, it was a signal of the Demonic Cult.
“It seems those from the Cult sent to handle the heads of Hyeolseonggyo have finally arrived. You all may withdraw.”
At Yeo Ha-ryun’s command, his subordinates vanished like shadows seeping into darkness.
Thud—
Soon, Yeo Ha-ryun’s form too grew increasingly faint before vanishing without a trace.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art reaching its zenith.
From the beginning, he scattered and disappeared from that place.
All that remained were corpses and an altar.
Yeo Ha-ryun and his subordinates had erased themselves so perfectly that it was as if they had never been there at all.
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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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