Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 659

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 659
I continued speaking.
“And now that rumors will spread everywhere about how Ilgwang trained by decapitating the Guan Yu statue, it should help Bunta as well.”
‘Did he deliberately perform such an eccentric act for the sake of spreading rumors?’
“But in doing so, I’ve grown rather attached to it. I’m thinking of making it my attachment doll… no, my attachment statue.”
“Are you developing a new martial technique? One using a weapon like a staff?”
At that moment, Sama Hyeon launches an attack.
Boom!
Despite containing no inner energy, it tears through the air.
Meanwhile, I respond slowly.
My hand, devoid of any force, lightly parries Sama Hyeon’s strike.
Tap, tap-tap!
The blow dissipates anticlimactically.
“Wow, an ordinary person would have had their bones completely shattered by that. Hyeon-a.”
“You’re being dramatic, hyeong~”
I simply laugh.
Instead, I parry Sama Hyeon’s attacks and counter them.
Sama Hyeon unleashes relentless strikes at me while clicking his tongue.
“Did you comprehend a new Shimmoo technique?”
“No. That’s not it.”
“But you seem to have grown stronger~ Gaga?”
Thud!
Sama Hyeon’s palm strike aims for my solar plexus, but I block it with my knee.
However, unable to completely neutralize the force, my body spins once through the air.
Not missing the opportunity, Sama Hyeon continues with a second and third strike.
Remarkably, I parry Sama Hyeon’s attacks with my sleeve as I land.
“Even growing this strong, I still can’t reach Master.”
“You mean when we attacked together back then.”
The time when we both attacked Jang Cheon-gun simultaneously.
Though we say simultaneous, we actually struck twice with a slight interval between them.
According to hyeong, it was Master’s specialty technique.
“Yeah. It’s difficult. It’s the technique I most want to learn, but I can’t master it no matter how much I practice.”
“Simply drawing twice through the air won’t work?”
“It’s different from that.”
Was hyeong’s training while carrying the Guan Yu statue’s head perhaps for the sake of mastering that…?
I cannot tell.
Sama Hyeon spoke.
“If you want it, take the Guan Yu statue with you.”
“Alright.”
I step forward one pace.
When Hyeong switches to the offensive, he becomes terrifying.
Every movement is simple.
Like my Samjae Protection Technique, he assembles, connects, and derives from the most elementary and straightforward motions.
Yet when refined to the extreme and applied with mastery, that very simplicity begins to trace lines faster than most divine techniques.
Sama Hyeon witnessed the culmination of that progression.
Whoosh!
Sama Hyeon’s body flew back cleanly. Since there was no inner force behind it, it didn’t hurt.
Yet the line created by that concise motion lingered in his vision, circling there for a long while.
“You’ve improved considerably.”
Despite speaking from that lofty position, Hyeong sounded quite like a master.
“What was that last kick? I didn’t even perceive it before it came flying.”
Using hands without inner force doesn’t merely mean striking weakly—it means striking slowly so every motion can be comprehended.
Yet despite this, Sama Hyeon never saw Hyeong’s left hand.
The gloved hand, missing a pinky finger, suddenly filled his entire vision.
“A simple lower strike.”
“Not a martial technique? Just the basics everyone learns?”
“Yes. If the attack is honest, it becomes boring. When I strike with my right hand, I must feint with my left.”
Sama Hyeon laughed helplessly at the absurdity.
“Your attacks are that simple yet you can still vary them? And a lower strike? Not even a named technique?”
“There’s no need for every attack to resemble a beast, the tai chi, or lightning. Hyeon-a, no matter how much martial knowledge we acquire or what form we emulate, the vessel containing it all is human.”
“So even if you master the Lightning Fist, you can’t become lightning itself.”
“Exactly. It all happens within human perception. Warriors typically repeat the same motion thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of times to approach the image they’ve envisioned. And when they reach that form, they say: I have become lightning, become tai chi, become wind, become waves.”
“So you’re saying—”
“No matter what, I’m still human. Hyeon-a. Two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two ears. I perceive through a human shell, and a human body breaks and tears when struck.”
It was a profoundly doctor-like enlightenment.
The enlightenment of someone who could stitch together and destroy warriors who mimicked lightning, tai chi, wind, and waves.
“Even if you tried to resemble thunder, you’re ultimately ‘human.'”
“Right. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Lightning has no heart, after all. Neither does tai chi, wind, or waves. They don’t know pain.”
Shimmoo.
What Hyeong was speaking of was an infinitely lofty realm.
And it was also the realm Sama Hyeon would soon face directly.
“If I were truly lightning, I couldn’t use Shimmoo.”
Jin Cheon-hee flicked the Guan Yu head with his knee, bouncing it.
I couldn’t fathom how he could impart such elasticity to it—whether it was made from pig bladder or iron—but that too must be part of Hyeong’s realm.
Jin Cheon-hee continued.
“At the same time, because I’m human, I lose to this simple lower strike. And because the Heterodox Faction suppresses murderous intent, I suffer even more.”
“So you do understand.”
“Of course. When you spar with me without inner force, you never release your killing intent. You never even intended to win against me from the start, did you?”
That’s a difficulty level of drawing a circle with your left hand and a triangle with your right simultaneously.
Deliberately suppressing what you naturally do all the time.
But Sama Hyeon was doing exactly that with me.
Tap.
Saying so, I grasped the Guanyun Statue.
My left hand, missing one finger, remained strong nonetheless.
“Master the simple things perfectly. Then blend in false moves. That’s your assignment.”
“Why don’t you ever use metaphors, hyeong~?”
At those words, I laughed for quite some time. Then I grabbed my younger brother, whose head was a full head taller than my own body, and helped him up.
“I already struggled just explaining the basic stages of Shimmoo. Bear with me even if I lack finesse.”
Then I turned away and said this.
“Tomorrow morning I’ll pack you a bamboo lunch box. With milled grain pills.”
Sama Hyeon realized those words were a farewell.
“Hyeong.”
“Hmm?”
“Cheonbyeon Sword Mastery is a Heterodox Faction technique. An Asura wearing human skin. Can you really call that a person?”
At those words, I answered casually.
“Originally, a person can become an Asura, and can also become a rabbit. That’s why they’re a person.”
The rabbit was likely a reference to Tokyeongbo.
I added one more thing.
“An Asura can’t become a rabbit. Rabbits are herbivores.”
Then I found myself licking my lips, thinking, “Ah, I want to eat rabbit meat. Should I make meatballs and do a hot pot?”
At those words, Sama Hyeon burst out laughing in disbelief.
I was I, and Sama Hyeon was simply Sama Hyeon.
“Oh, hyeong.”
“Yeah?”
“About that Black Heaven Blood Thread on your wrist—I found something better.”
“Is that even possible?”
“There’s a spinning wheel that braids Heavenly Silkworm Thread into a single strand.”
I’d made something similar before. Though it was Spirit Silk.
Multi filament.
Composite thread. Nothing beats it for fishing line, but you’re going to do it with Heavenly Silkworm Thread?
“Are you still jealous of Ha-ryun’s gift?”
No, when was it that we infiltrated Dan Gajang? He’s been holding onto that jealousy ever since.
“It’s quite the divine artifact, gaga~”
“If you’re going to spin Heavenly Silkworm Thread into new thread, it’s naturally a divine artifact. Don’t give it to me—use it for something practical.”
“Wait. I’ll come back with something I made from it to decorate your sword!”
It seemed something incredible would arrive.
And so the next day, I handed Sama Hyeon the lunch box and milled grain pills, then bid him farewell.
“You’ll keep purchasing properties in Doyeondong, right?”
At my question, Sama Hyeon nodded.
“There are many guest inns entrusted to Hyeolseonggyo, and they’re all empty now~”
Sama Hyeon laughed, saying we could open quite a large inn.
Thus, Doyeondong became famous for a time as an inn district where the food wasn’t particularly tasty, but at least wouldn’t upset your stomach.
Not long after, it transformed into an inn district known for delicious food.
And around the time word of that delicious inn district spread, a gift from Sama Hyeon arrived for me.
It was a decorative trinket he had personally crafted by spinning a wheel,
meant to hang from a sword.
Most importantly,
‘This also expands when I infuse inner energy into it.’
When I infused inner energy into the cord portion, it stretched out lengthily.
‘If I strike someone with this, they’d be shredded. Not cut—truly shredded….’
Truly, that was Sama Hyeon.
039. I Won!
“Master! I’ve returned!”
“You’re back. Hope!”
My master came down happily to see his disciple. And his appearance was.
“A, a mushroom?”
“Because of the Nine Apertures Vein Obstruction, I consumed countless elixirs. One of them happened to be a pill from Hyeolseonggyo.”
“A… a mushroom?”
The Mushroom-Headed Master asked.
“What’s wrong, Hope? Are you frightened of your master now?”
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
A nightmare.
I jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat.
My master consuming a Hyeolseonggyo pill, of all things.
‘And mushroom corpses are being spotted not just in Doyeondong but throughout the surrounding areas.’
The medicine couldn’t have spread only within Doyeondong.
Those who had seizures belatedly and lost their lives, or those whose bodies sprouted mushrooms from consuming it even once, were appearing in droves.
‘Huff. Huff.’
Quite a strange nightmare it was.
Hwang-gu, oblivious to my turmoil, simply licked my face repeatedly.
It meant he wanted food now that I was awake.
‘Today I’ll arrive at Baekrin Uiseon.’
I stroked Hwang-gu’s head and got to my feet.
* * *
The main gate of Baekrin Uiseon, which I hurried to reach.
Noeji, Cheonjin, Nanman, and Hwang-gu followed behind me as I entered.
‘Looking at just the distance, it’s not that far.’
But I lost time treating patients who recognized Ilgwang and gathered along the way.
Hwang-gu, Noeji, Cheonjin, and Nanman.
And even the statue of Guan Yu strapped to my back.
Rumors spread far and wide about why Ilgwang had become so obsessed with the statue of Guan Yu.
‘Such is life.’
I went to my room, set down my luggage, polished the Guan Yu statue until it gleamed, tidied my robes, and hurried to see my Master.
Normally I would have bathed first to wash away the sweat, but after that nightmare, my mind was racing.
‘It was surely just a dream.’
With that thought, I rushed to the study.
The faint scent of agarwood drifted through the study.
My Master was just then rolling up his sleeves, writing something with brush, ink, and paper.
Judging by the proper brush rather than the usual pencil or pen, it appeared to be an official document.
“Master, I’ve returned~”
What a relief.
It was just a nightmare.
My Master was serene and dignified as always.
I bowed respectfully to my Master’s profile.
“You’ve arrived later than expected.”
“Yes. There were matters to attend to along the way.”
“Yet you come before your Master drenched in sweat—it seems something quite urgent occurred.”
A piercing question.
I answered honestly.
“I had a nightmare last night.”
“Hmm.”
Jegalling regarded his disciple.
Soon after, he covered the documents and rose his massive frame.
“The hot spring bathhouse has just been completed. Let us bathe.”
“Yes, yes!”
My Master could not abide filth.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————