Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 577

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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 577
Still, I did not answer.
The blue light simply gazed up at me like the moon.
An ordinary person would have felt their soul pierced by such a gaze alone, yet the Northern Palace Lord merely continued speaking.
“Then prove it. Baek-ui Sinryong.”
“…How shall I prove myself, my lord?”
Only then did the young man’s low voice ring across the plaza.
Calm, yet glacial.
It was like the silence of an ancient glacier.
“I am among the top five warriors in this palace. Do you have the will to fight? A duel where life and death hang in the balance. If you emerge victorious, I shall seriously consider your proposal.”
My long eyelashes flickered once.
“Apart from your reconsideration of the alliance with Sadoren, I have another request.”
“What is it?”
“I have confirmed that an epidemic is spreading…. However, knowing its cause, I also know the preventative measures to halt its spread. I ask that you hear my explanation and implement these measures.”
In that moment, the plaza began to stir with murmurs.
“Confusion Fever can be treated?”
“Confusion Fever poses little threat to the young anyway. It will settle on its own if left alone.”
“But what of the elderly and children?”
“Why bother containing a disease that spreads in the slums?”
“To have discovered a cure…. Truly, the title ‘Divine Physician’ is no exaggeration.”
Various voices and thoughts swirled together.
“Silence!”
At the Palace Lord’s command, all fell silent at once.
Soon, the Palace Lord leaned forward from his elevated seat, bearing down upon me with his gaze.
“Indeed. You are just like your Master…. You would cure the epidemic, but what do you ask in return?”
“…Nothing. If I must name something, perhaps increased trade and mutual exchange.”
Again, the North Sea Ice Palace stirred with murmurs.
All of them were conversations to discern So Ui-seon’s true intentions.
And I had driven the nail home.
“I merely wish for people to recover.”
“….”
The Palace Lord regarded me for a long while.
I met his gaze directly in return.
It was strange.
Though Baek-ui Sinryong showed proper courtesy to the Palace Lord, his bearing never bent.
“…You are entirely different from your Master.”
“My Master and I are different, my lord.”
“Do you not respect your Master? Surely you know what he accomplished in this palace.”
I nodded.
“At that time, my Master stood upon a sharp blade’s edge. One more step forward would have meant a thousand-fathom abyss. My Master was desperate for survival, and so this disciple merely respects that resolve.”
“I see. Very well. Then stake the Northern Palace’s sword!”
At those words, my eyes widened slightly.
The North Sea Ice Palace Master smiled faintly, pleased at having landed a blow against this cunning So Ui-seon.
He pointed to the Frost Blade hanging at my waist and continued.
“That sword was originally handed over to you through a transaction with your Master. Therefore, if you, an outsider, wish to meddle in the Palace’s affairs, you must stake that blade and face this martial contest.”
“…!!”
In that moment, the entire hall erupted in murmurs.
I too stared at him with wide eyes.
A sword is a warrior’s life itself.
To demand such a thing—everyone could only gasp in shock.
He continued speaking.
“If you win, things will proceed as you wish. But if you lose, the Palace will reclaim its sword. Will you accept these terms? This brings you no benefit whatsoever. Will you stake your life and the Palace’s blade?”
He was questioning me.
He was questioning the very nature of a physician.
Whether what I wished to do was righteous or merely self-righteous.
Without the resolve to sacrifice something, any path forward would be mere hypocrisy.
The physician answered calmly.
“Gladly. I simply wish to save people.”
A sword is merely a sword.
Had I not resolved to assign it no greater value than that?
Yet why did it feel as though one of my arms was being torn away?
It’s fine. I will win. According to my calculations.
I quietly brushed my hand across the sword’s hilt.
“Kekeke, so you don’t regret losing the Frost Blade, the Palace’s treasure? Or perhaps you’re confident you’ll win like your Master did? Very well. Then let us fight!”
As the Palace Master gestured, his prepared senior disciple stepped forward.
“Yes, Palace Master.”
He was a tall, imposing man.
True to his origins in this region, his physique and hair color differed from those of Middle Kingdom men.
The Palace Master spoke.
“Come forth and bring the Palace’s sword.”
“I obey your command, Palace Master!”
Watching this, I reflected.
‘The logic of Gangho ultimately resolves through strength. Even in Saeoe, it’s no different.’
I observed my opponent with my arms crossed over my chest.
My profile resembled a porcelain doll.
My opponent, by contrast, looked like a Viking warrior, wielding a ten-pound axe in one hand and a thick greatsword in the other.
The blade was at least twice as thick as swords used in Gangho.
“My name is Han Jeong. Let us test our strength!”
Han Jeong announced his name of his own accord.
“….”
I stepped forward instead of answering.
‘Is it a gladius-type weapon? Still, it seems longer than the gladius I saw in documentaries.’
A thick chill emanated from Han Jeong’s body as he advanced.
Icy White Divine Force.
And it was a form of martial combat entirely different from Gangho.
‘I can certainly feel that this place is outside the realm.’
I read my opponent’s footsteps and breathing.
His movements were neither light steps nor aerial techniques.
“I am Jin Cheon-hee, Patriarch of Baekrin Medical Guild. I shall learn from you.”
I spoke thus, yet I did not draw the Icy Frost Sword.
Instead, I simply kept my hand in my sleeve, calmly awaiting my opponent’s first move.
Did they take this as provocation?
The North Sea Ice Palace martial artists stirred restlessly.
“How arrogant! Ilgwang’s reputation was no mere rumor!”
“Mad and arrogant both. You shall soon learn how vast the heavens are! Ilgwang!”
Words truly are faster than deeds.
So that epithet was beginning to spread now.
Following the North Sea Ice Palace martial artists’ clamor, my chief disciple Han Jeong’s killing intent grew denser.
With each step he took, his two weapons generated force.
The force of Icy White Divine Force.
‘He possesses a powerful strength that freezes and cuts through. Moreover, if it enters the body, the extreme yin force would freeze from within, perhaps?’
Though I had never directly received instruction in Icy White Divine Force, I myself wielded the Icy Frost Sword and, through studying my Master’s Nine Yin Meridians, knew the nature of extreme yin force better than anyone.
A child who hates winter paradoxically understands winter better than anyone.
‘Because of extreme yin force’s properties, poison wouldn’t work well either. Icy White Divine Force can freeze even poison itself. Of course, that only applies to ordinary poisons…’
Whoosh—
My left arm moved.
‘What about the Hyeongyeong poison in my left arm?’
But if I did that, would these people accept the outcome?
In the Middle Kingdom, that too would be considered skill.
But I couldn’t be certain how the realm beyond would view it.
Without technique.
‘I would suppress through pure force.’
Nothing was as clean as a direct confrontation.
Only then did I leisurely take a step forward.
A variation of Cheonma’s Sovereign Technique.
Five Elements Sovereign Technique—!!
Five Elements force extended from my body.
Brilliant particles of true force swirled and rotated, creating a fierce and powerful energy wave.
Boom!
An explosion erupted around Han Jeong as he walked forward.
At the same moment, his feet sank into the ground up to his ankles.
The explosion sent his body reeling, and his thick chain armor was being torn away!
The martial artists observing gasped in astonishment.
“A chain made of cold iron torn apart so easily!”
“And he only took a single step—how could such an explosion occur!”
“Is it sorcery!?”
The Cheonma Overlord Palm was originally a martial technique that pressured opponents through formless energy.
However, the Five Elements Overlord Palm went further, triggering the mutual generation and restraint of the five elemental energies to deliver shock to the opponent.
There was even a time in the past when I repelled all those who rushed at me with the Five Elements Overlord Palm at once.
‘The Five Elements Overlord Palm consumes less inner energy than the Cheonma Overlord Palm, but it’s still more than sufficient to use.’
From that position, I took a second step forward.
My opponent gritted his teeth and shattered the ground beneath him as he launched upward.
Then he immediately hurled his axe.
“Die!”
The axe, infused with martial force, came flying.
Only then did I draw the Bing Jeong Sword.
Remarkably, the blade was drawn so smoothly that no sound of unsheathing could be heard.
A variation of the Tai Chi Wisdom Sword, my own style.
Tai Chi Flowing Water—!
Clang!
Using the Wudang martial techniques to gently deflect the axe, my opponent immediately fell back, gripping a thick greatsword with both hands.
‘Indeed. Worthy of being called a premier disciple. Such seamless offense and defense flowing like water.’
I inwardly admired the movements and flexible techniques that no ordinary person could ever follow.
‘An excellent opponent.’
The Blue-Eyed Physician changed his stance.
Beast Instinct Blade.
A secret technique obtained from the Imperial Palace Treasury.
I had trained with it in the past, but had never used it in actual combat.
The reason was simple.
One of the drawbacks of the Beast Instinct Blade was the sudden amplification of physical strength—a power that could truly be called monstrous!
Careless use would cause aftereffects to the bones and muscles, but at my current level, I could compensate with inner energy.
My muscles suddenly swelled, and I thrust the Bing Jeong Sword upward as if detonating an explosion.
The two blades finally—
…collided.
Boom-crack-crack-crack—!
Strangely, it was not I who received the blow from below, but Han Jeong who struck from above who was sent flying.
Han Jeong flew far across the arena, roughly twenty zhang, before crashing into the ground.
The martial artists stared in shock, their eyes wide.
“What kind of power is this!”
Han Jeong’s arm lay broken, and his legs were shattered as well.
He forcibly trembled as he pushed himself upright.
“Ugh…. I… will not lose.”
I paid no heed to his fighting spirit and asked the Patriarch.
“Have I not won?”
No matter how strong his resolve, with both arms and legs already shattered, the match was decided.
I thought it would be best to end the martial contest here.
However, the Patriarch’s thoughts were different.
“This is a life-or-death duel.”
“…Pardon?”
“Do not make this Patriarch repeat himself twice.”
“If that is your will….”
I advanced toward my opponent with the Bing Jeong Sword hanging at my side.
Han Jeong seemed to be drawing upon his innate true energy, and I could feel his power surging explosively throughout his entire body.
“Krraaaagh! The North Sea Ice Palace will never—I will never lose!”
Within that madness-laden roar, I muttered quietly to myself.
“How troublesome.”
His fighting spirit mattered little to me.
The victory was already decided—why must someone throw away their life?
A Doctor could not comprehend it.
And yet.
In an instant, my body accelerated.
The Hyeon Geuk Tae Bo—a divine-class footwork technique discovered in the Imperial Palace Archives.
As that distant martial principle manifested, even the North Sea Ice Palace Master’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“…So genius begets genius after all.”
I appeared beside Han Jeong in a flash.
Flutter—
As if time itself had frozen, the young man stood motionless and struck Han Jeong’s head with the Chil Ma Geum before he could even react.
Boom!
His skull rang out as Han Jeong lost consciousness instantly.
The powerful energy he had been drawing from his innate true energy vanished.
“….”
“Th-this is…”

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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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