Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 606

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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 606
Jin Cheon-hee pondered this.
‘Learning such a precious martial art and then working as a blacksmith? I can imagine future generations would find it strange.’
Perhaps it was a case of shared misfortune.
By that logic, I had learned precious martial arts only to use them making spicy chicken fried rice.
‘If I make spicy chicken fried rice with the Yeolyang technique, every grain of rice becomes crispy like scorched rice.’
Then I’d drizzle it with seaweed and sesame oil.
And if the mood struck, I’d sprinkle cheese all over it?
I couldn’t resist that.
I couldn’t resist it, yet even while enjoying that delicious result, they didn’t look at Jin Cheon-hee as if I were mad.
The blacksmith might be in the same situation.
Perhaps only the supreme martial art was passed down while the blacksmithing technique’s lineage was severed.
She continued speaking.
“In any case, according to the words left behind by that master, it bends rather than breaks.”
“That’s strange. Usually, people don’t consider bending a virtue when something breaks—they simply say it breaks. That’s the integrity of a scholar, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I don’t understand why such words were left behind either.”
….
Jin Cheon-hee gazed at the Bing Jeong Sword for a long time.
‘Rather than break, it bends.’
Did that even make sense?
I had learned one thing about the Bing Jeong Sword, but another mystery followed in its wake.
* * *
Thus, Jin Cheon-hee’s party departed with such a warm farewell.
The martial artists and commoners of the North Sea Ice Palace all bid Jin Cheon-hee a reluctant goodbye.
“So Ui-seon! You must come again!”
“Ilgwang! We warriors will never forget you!”
“Safe travels!!”
“Doctor, you have to come visit us again next time!!”
Did the children even know how far it was from here to Baekrin Uiseon?
They couldn’t have known, but still, Jin Cheon-hee felt happy.
The dog sled was loaded with many supplies.
The emergency rations and medicines brought initially had been completely depleted saving people, but instead, the sled was packed with rare medicinal herbs from the North Sea Ice Palace, gifts from the people, and plenty of alcohol.
“Dog sled on the way there, and dog sled on the way back.”
Woof woof!
Hwang-gu barked with joy.
The other dogs also barked together at the delight of an alpha-level spirit beast’s arrival!
Arooooo!
Woooooo–!
Someone watched Jin Cheon-hee depart.
“In the end, what I’ve done on this land has yielded nothing. Only losses. And I’ve even lost that precious chimera body I cherished so much.”
Cho Cheon-gun.
He was observing this scene from within a different body that he had transferred into.
The plan he had devised at the North Sea Ice Palace had been obliterated in a single stroke by Jin Cheon-hee.
“No, I still can’t figure out why he didn’t go to Cheonbing Mountain. Was it really because of that Jegallim Family’s divination? But if they were that good at reading fate, the Blood Fiend wouldn’t have been born in the first place.”
Cho Cheon-gun cursed the current situation while muttering incessantly.
“At least completing the research on Blood Demon Dragon and Blood Dragon Body is what I managed to salvage from this.”
Yet the losses I had incurred still left a bitter taste.
Saint Germain.
Though his true name was Nailad.
In the Central Plains, he called himself Cho Cheon-gun.
He was indeed a disciple of the true Saint Germain. However, he had been excommunicated due to excessive experimentation.
At the time of his expulsion, his master had personally sealed Nailad’s power and cast him out.
Upon being expelled, Nailad had headed to the Eastern Continent. To obtain the power of immortality.
And, wanting to spite his master, he had been impersonating that name without permission.
Then he caught the Leader’s eye and was initiated into the Hyeolseon Gyoju.
He learned sorcery and mastered the Dual Soul Transmigration Art, heterodox techniques, forbidden arts, and finally demonic cultivation—absorbing everything he could to grow stronger.
“It’s good that I became proficient in the Dual Soul Transmigration Art. But if you keep switching bodies like that, your sense of self will go mad too, Cho Cheon-gun.”
“Geumgwang Seongmo.”
Cho Cheon-gun turned around. There stood Geumgwang Seongmo.
“Where is the Leader?”
At Cho Cheon-gun’s words, Geumgwang Seongmo let out a soft laugh.
“He has lost interest. It seems he was disappointed that we couldn’t reach Cheonbing Mountain. Well, given time, another opportunity will surely arise. Among us, the Leader is the closest to immortality.”
“That’s true enough. He has all the time in the world, so he’s always at peace.”
After saying that, Cho Cheon-gun asked back.
“He’s not angry, right?”
“Who knows? The angrier he gets, the more he laughs.”
“Hmm… What a headache. Geumgwang Seongmo. You receive the Leader’s favor, so you live so peacefully, but my neck is hanging by a thread right now.”
Cho Cheon-gun wiped his neck with a haggard expression.
In that moment.
A snow squall blew. Within the landscape spreading white.
Soon after, the two disappeared somewhere.
037. Plum blossoms caught in the third month, yet the wine cup is already full as the moon
Just as there is a process to meeting, there is a process to parting.
Having received farewells from many, I arrived in the Kingdom of Aisha and prepared for yet another separation.
Prince Han-bing.
“I learned so much thanks to So Ui-seon this time. I couldn’t leave the city because of the Guyang Severing Meridian, but I never expected to have such an adventure the moment I stepped outside.”
He laughed heartily.
“That’s right.”
“How many times in my life have I been a traveling merchant? Ah, if there’s ever another chance to deceive the masses like that, do call me.”
It seemed that the time when the three of them—he, Gongseon Yeong, and the others—had all pretended to be medicine peddlers together was his most cherished memory.
“I cannot do it twice. My entire body is sore.”
I deliberately tapped my shoulder and exaggerated my discomfort, causing the prince to laugh.
“Leave the hardships behind and take the good with you. Oh, Father was trying to prepare something along with the banquet—at least take that with you.”
Pressed by such insistence, I too pretended to relent and enjoyed the banquet.
Prince Han-bing reported to the King all that had transpired, and while he called them the Demonic Sect in the official proceedings,
it seemed he told the full story when the two of them met privately.
“Outsiders cause trouble wherever they go. Tsk! Why do those heterodox faction bastards keep crossing borders and running amok?”
Judging by how he spoke,
“And Gunkuibak… she was my old friend. It feels strange to see her go like this.”
He poured wine for me.
Glug, glug, glug—
“Well, I’m hardly one to speak, having nearly lost my own child. I have no guarantee I won’t change either.”
He lifted the wine bottle.
The wine swelled gently above the cup’s rim without spilling a single drop.
I tilted my head back and downed it in one gulp.
‘Ugh, bitter. And potent!’
Still, it would be disrespectful to refuse wine offered by the King.
As I finished the last drop, the King laughed hollowly.
“I’m half-ruined at raising children, so what right do I have to speak? I’m grateful you healed my son’s illness and broadened his horizons.”
“Not at all.”
“Did Gunkuibak leave any final words?”
“….”
In the end, she had not let go of reason.
As I hesitated on how to answer, the King shook his head.
“No matter. It’s a blessing to even leave a will. That friend committed too many sins. How could she leave a proper testament?”
At those words… I opened my mouth.
“She asked me to entrust the North Sea Ice Palace to the Holy Maiden. Though she is now the North Sea Ice Palace Master rather than the Holy Maiden.”
“There’s no need to say such things just to ease my heart.”
He seemed to regard what I said as mere courtesy.
The others felt the same way.
After the King left, Prince Han-bing spoke.
“Well… Father and Gunkuibak originally trained together at the North Sea Ice Palace. Though they parted ways as the Palace Master and King, the memories from when they were kindred spirits don’t simply disappear.”
“I see.”
“Even if it was merely a kind word, by saying such things, Father could help the Palace Master Gunkuibak with a lighter heart. It must have been a great help.”
Gongseon Yeong felt the same.
“Well done. It’s far better than saying someone left miserably. After all, the dead are gone. The living must live, don’t they?”
At those words, I smiled bitterly.
‘That’s right. Only I heard that testament.’
Gunkuibak had surely bitten at her son while speaking to her daughter.
-Do not burden yourself. The position of Palace Master is now yours.
A timeline that no longer exists.
‘At that moment, I felt as though my blood was flowing backward. How strange…’
It had become a story that never was.
A small comforting lie for the King. And it seemed to have been of some help to our newly appointed Gunkuibak Gungju as well.
‘It’s as if I merely dreamed it all.’
Yet the bloodstains on Cheon Bing Mountain remain so vivid in my memory.
And the chill that seems to bury all of it cuts so deeply into my chest.
‘Now it has all become as though it never happened, and I am the only one who remembers.’
Jin Cheon-hee let out a small, self-deprecating laugh and brought the cup to his lips once more.
‘Ugh… it’s still bitter.’
Yet the stone lodged in his chest was far too large to wash down with water alone.
Jin Cheon-hee suddenly gazed at his missing pinky finger.
‘I’m grateful. Still. Some things are better left never happening in the first place.’
The severed heads of those around him flashed through his mind. So he swallowed more wine.
“It is So Ui-seon who saved the North Sea Ice Palace!”
“I’ve heard the rumors long ago. The North Sea Ice Palace warriors have come to respect So Ui-seon’s words, haven’t they?”
“I hear he’s become quite close with the new Ice Palace Master.”
“Truly, his fortune shines brightly.”
As the banquet grew merrier, Jin Cheon-hee picked up his cup and wine bottle and quietly slipped back to his guest quarters.
Gongseon Yeong and Prince Han-bing would likely be celebrating through the night.
Then, suddenly.
A jet-black cat padded lightly past a peach pit.
Meow—
A familiar cat.
As Jin Cheon-hee closed the guest room door, Yeo Ha-ryun finally emerged.
“Brother.”
“Yes.”
Jin Cheon-hee naturally set the wine bottle on the table, and Yeo Ha-ryun removed his mask.
“Has my brother studied the Way of Wine?”
“I’ve performed the ritual of drinking wine mixed with blood before.”
“No, not that. Well, never mind. Since Cheon Sal-seong could die from overindulgence, most wouldn’t drink together. And it would be difficult for you to taste it anyway.”
Jin Cheon-hee picked up an acupuncture needle and awakened Yeo Ha-ryun’s sense of taste once more.
“Let’s have a drink.”
“Brother… are you sure? I remember you don’t care much for alcohol.”
At those words, Jin Cheon-hee nodded.
“That’s true. But water or tea won’t work.”
“I see…”
Yeo Ha-ryun nodded and poured wine into two cups.
“When we finish this drink, will it be another parting?”
“…”
I, Jin Cheon-hee, look upon Yeo Ha-ryun.
The image of a severed neck flashes through my mind.
Yet even so, I cannot hold my younger brother back simply to ease my own anxieties.
‘If you die, I will turn back time once more.’
I know that even if doing so costs me something precious and twists my vital energy until I nearly perish, I would make the same choice in the end.
But what lies at the end of that path, I cannot fathom—so I merely gaze down at my cup.
Yeo Ha-ryun asks.
“What are you wishing for? Wealth? You already seem to have more honor than you could ever need. A long life free from illness?”
At those words, I let out a soft chuckle.
“Yes. That’s good. A long life free from illness is the greatest blessing.”
Clink!
The two brothers clink their cups together.

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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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