Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 658
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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 658
“How did it feel?”
“When you struck my chest… it felt like some of the force scattered a bit?”
I nodded at his words.
“When a strike comes in, even slight adjustments to your body’s movement can disperse the incoming force considerably. You already know how to redirect energy, don’t you? You just did it with your body. Especially if you’re cultivating external techniques, you can significantly reduce the damage.”
“Interesting?”
“It may look like Donggwi Eojin, but in reality, I don’t take much damage. Instead, my opponent will definitely suffer severe injuries. What if I add Immortal Technique or Heavenly Dragon Technique on top of that?”
Immortal
Technique
and Heavenly Dragon Technique were both martial arts that maximized physical wound recovery.
“…That would create an incredible synergistic effect. Ah, so that’s why Beast Sense Mastery is necessary?”
“Exactly. Only the heightened senses achieved through Beast Sense Mastery enable the technique of redirecting force. The ability to react to your opponent’s movements—with that, it becomes even more powerful.”
He really is my older brother.
When necessary, he masters whatever comes his way.
Others might call it a hodgepodge.
But he’s a ruthless pragmatist.
My brother’s focus is on saving lives.
Saving people.
Everything else is merely a tool to reach that goal.
“Your way of thinking is definitely different from the Gangho way, brother. Is it because you’re a doctor?”
“Perhaps.”
Though I gave that answer, I suspected it was actually due to memories from my past life.
‘If I had fallen into the Gangho world as a high school student, I probably wouldn’t be much different.’
The unique perspective gained from countless failures and successes after becoming an adult.
This kind of wisdom comes only from a life lived as an adult.
‘In that sense, maybe I should search for and cultivate the Northern Enlightenment Technique or Chaos Origin Technique? If I could absorb heterogeneous qi without risking demonic corruption, that would be quite useful.’
I fell into thought and nodded.
‘Besides, I need to visit the Imperial Palace Secret Records again because of the Soul Transfer Technique anyway, so I’ll handle it then.’
In typical martial arts novels, when different types of qi meet, they’re described as colliding and exploding.
That’s why martial arts protagonists create killing techniques from such heterogeneous qi collisions.
Sects like the Wudang School deal with yin and yang, and protagonists from the Demonic Cult or North Sea Ice Palace use it at least once.
The Qi Absorption Technique is an evil martial art that sucks away others’ inner energy.
Conversely, because of these heterogeneous qi collisions, one can easily go mad, making it difficult to use frequently.
‘Honestly, if the Qi Absorption Technique worked as smoothly as one might think, it would be completely broken. Just take what others have worked so hard to build—that’s all there is to it.’
But reality is harsh, and demonic corruption is one of the major causes of this difficulty.
As a result, sane martial artists avoid the Qi Absorption Technique entirely.
Even when they do use it, they try hard to only absorb homogeneous qi.
Because things can go very wrong.
Rarely, some high-ranking family members bring in orphaned children, have them cultivate homogeneous qi, then use the Qi Absorption Technique to drain them dry.
But some of those drained children manage to escape and return to repay their debts.
Learning the same type of energy technique from someone of such high standing also meant mastering higher-level martial arts.
‘Heterogeneous energy fusion.’
Not collision, but fusion.
It was fundamentally different from the Chaos Origin Technique.
The Chaos Origin Technique was something I had innovated as a diluted version—the Chaos Return Technique—so I could easily teach it to the Baekrin Group and the Training Ground.
-Since chaos and the five elements ultimately converge into one, this is the Return of All Things.
However, it doesn’t deny mutual generation and mutual restraint. Rather, it achieves unity within them.
The heterogeneous energy fusion I envisioned was a higher and more dangerous realm than that.
‘I’ll take care of that gradually later.’
I spoke to Sama Hyeon.
“Alright then, from now on… you’re going to memorize.”
“Memorize?”
“Learn it by heart. Just memorize the different variations. I’ll teach you exactly three. Then you repeat them.”
My eyes gleamed.
Sama Hyeon asked.
“I’ll learn what you teach me, but will just three really be enough?”
“The simpler something is, the more convenient it is to use. The Three Talents Divination Method only has three directions, but how useful is it?”
At those words, Sama Hyeon’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s not something anyone can do, is it?”
That mysterious and wondrous technique was only possible because I was who I was.
“Anyway! Just learn it! Later, even if you’re supposed to die, you’ll be able to come back alive.”
My eyes shine brightly.
At that sight, Sama Hyeon sighed.
“Understood. I shall memorize it thoroughly and depart.”
I was someone who never gave up when it came to teaching.
* * *
Sama Hyeon repeated the same movements dozens, hundreds of times.
By the thousandth repetition, his entire body was drenched in sweat.
The martial art my brother taught had a deceptive simplicity, yet grew more difficult the deeper one delved into it.
And strangely enough.
‘He doesn’t care about form or posture at all.’
Martial arts are fundamentally achieved by observing nature and animals, gaining enlightenment, and then adopting and mimicking those movements to accomplish greater martial feats.
Oddly, my brother had none of that.
A cut is a cut, a thrust is a thrust.
A deflection is a deflection.
In short, it lacked aesthetics.
Yet despite that, this simplicity somehow captivates people’s attention in a mysterious way.
‘What did my brother call this? Simple? No, it’s different from that word. Modern? It seems similar.’
Sama Hyeon tried hard to remember every single movement and gesture of his brother.
There was no helping it.
For him, she was the first “person” he had ever met.
Die or kill.
Steal or be stolen from.
In the depths of Hangzhou where only these two choices existed, her older brother was the only thing that shone for the siblings.
Is it human nature to resemble the person you admire?
Hye-a followed her brother in her own way.
Saving lives.
Of course, she had heard that even now, there were countless trial and errors and blunders in the process.
‘I have no idea~’
Saving people was beyond her capabilities.
In the first place, she had learned the Heaven-Piercing Sword from that damned Seok Nosa, so she couldn’t leave Hao-mun.
Hao-mun.
A place where one became a death gate and killed people, or became the Golden Blood Hall and earned money, or entered a brothel to sell alcohol or their body.
If you did clean work, it wouldn’t be Hao-mun.
So Sama Hyeon had also dirtied her hands.
Once hands were soiled, there was nothing to fear.
She repeatedly hunted down and uprooted anyone who tried to use her younger sister as a hostage.
She had walked many difficult paths to keep attention from turning that way.
And as a result.
Hye-a and her brother.
She managed to hold onto both their hands.
“Whoosh…!”
Sama Hyeon steadied her breathing again and took a meditation stance.
Suddenly she looked at her brother.
Strangely, he was doing a handstand on a single finger.
His left pinky finger.
A severed finger.
She knew he covered it with a special glove.
When internal energy was infused, it moved like a real finger.
So he was doing a handstand and channeling internal energy into the pinky finger that shouldn’t exist, supporting his body weight.
‘Using internal energy for just a moment during a technique is one thing, but continuously maintaining a certain level of internal energy output must require a completely different level of concentration?’
Sure enough, sweat dripped profusely from her brother’s face.
Yet his closed eyes remained shut.
In this state, balance couldn’t be discerned by sight. He could only maintain equilibrium through the sensations his body felt.
And he was doing it.
Her brother was.
Suddenly something seemed odd, and looking again, he had even balanced the head of a Guan Yu statue on his feet.
The Guan Yu statue at the entrance of the training ground.
It was quite heavy since it was made with gold. And probably just the head alone had a well-balanced center of gravity. It was the perfect size to balance on the soles of his feet.
Sama Hyeon muttered in disbelief.
“Master Guan. Why have you come with only your head….”
Geumhyeolbang Bunta’s Guan Yunchang will be without his head for a while.
Until my brother finishes his training.
* * *
How much time had passed?
Sama Hyeon began to grasp the true essence of the martial arts his brother had taught him.
‘This is a completely different dimension from that strange puzzle-matching exercise to expand perception like during the Hwagyeong incident last time.’
So one must comprehend when the time comes to comprehend.
The movements I thought I already knew well were now beginning to feel strangely difficult.
But I continue anyway.
Whoosh!
Sama Hyeon’s palms repeat the same motion over and over again.
In a way, it might look like the dance of a madman.
‘So this kind of thing saves lives.’
Since my brother said so, it must be true.
Sama Hyeon doesn’t doubt it in the slightest.
Today my brother sits in lotus position.
Instead, he has Guan Yunchang’s head balanced on his own.
Whenever the wind blows, Guan Yunchang’s head rattles and seems about to fall, yet strangely it doesn’t.
‘Why on earth would he train like that…?’
I can’t understand it, but isn’t he the genius of the Jegalling Family?
An ordinary person couldn’t comprehend such profound meaning.
Whenever the wind blows, my brother’s hair gently puffs up and then settles.
I saw his fingertips twitch with small movements.
‘Ah, he was reviewing the previous battle.’
Borrowing Jin Cheon-hee’s way of expressing it, review is more important than preview in all studies.
The same applies to martial arts.
After a battle ends, one must always reflect on it again and again.
Because you survived.
‘Surviving means there was a reason for it. Hyeon-a. You must understand why I survived. Only then can you survive next time.’
Yet why does he balance Master Guan’s head on his crown while doing that review?
In any case, Geumhyeolbang Bunta’s entrance guardian Guan Yunchang is headless once again today.
Everyone is looking at my brother like he’s a madman.
-No, Bangju…? Why does the Heavenly Eye Divine One insist on taking our Guan Yunchang’s head with him?
-Why specifically the head?
-I even offered him a golden toad statue instead, but he refused, saying it had to be this head.
…How would Sama Hyeon know the reason?
Since my brother does it, there must be some profound meaning to it.
Clack—
At that moment, Guan Yunchang’s head sways once before regaining balance on my brother’s crown.
The next day, Hyeong arrived carrying only Guan Yu’s statue and began doing a handstand on his left pinky finger once more.
His head remained in its original position.
Sama Hyeon spoke.
“Lord Guan. Why have you come with only your body?”
Whiiiiing—
Only the sound of wind echoed through the empty training ground.
The eccentric antics of Ilgwang Jin Cheon-hee showed no signs of ending.
* * *
And the day before departure.
Jin Cheon-hee and Sama Hyeon sparred.
They clashed without using inner energy.
“Oh, Hyeon-a. Who made your Guan Yu statue?”
“Does Hyeong want to commission one too?”
Thwack!
Jin Cheon-hee blocked Sama Hyeon’s attack with one hand tucked behind his back.
Without inner energy, naturally Hyeong held a significant advantage.
Even Sama Hyeon harbored no illusions of defeating the Jegalling Family in a battle of technique alone.
But fighting with one hand sealed seemed excessive.
It was an act that trampled a warrior’s pride, yet Jin Cheon-hee continued without hesitation, and Sama Hyeon harbored no resentment.
Sama Hyeon had to continue this exchange by repeating only the three movements Hyeong had taught him.
“Yes. Both the size and weight were exactly as I envisioned.”
So it was indeed about size and weight.
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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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