Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 674

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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 674
Jin Cheon-hee wiped his blurred vision with his sleeve and urgently called out to Cheonwoo.
“Master…!”
Cheonwoo rushed in with a thunderous sound.
“You rascal, your master is about to die and yet you’re full of vigor.”
“…That’s too much, Master. How can you speak such words?”
“Hehehehe! What a disciple, teasing me right to the end.”
Gwon Je spoke thus and slowly raised his upper body.
Then he spoke in a cracked voice.
“Cheonwoo. Sit in meditation and turn your back to me.”
Cheonwoo immediately grasped the meaning of those words.
“Master, surely not? No, I cannot! I cannot!”
“Hurry! Do you dare defy your master’s command!”
“At the very least, to Jang Mun-in…”
“I’ve already told him. I’ve chosen you. He said to do as I see fit. When has that Sasuk ever listened to me? The other Elders are the same.”
“But there are other disciples. This is too heavy a burden.”
“True. Most are dead, but some still live. Yet among them, you are the only one who never shirked from the dirty work for the Mudang.”
“Master.”
“You went to the battlefield in place of your senior brothers, and you went to deal with the fallen Mudang disciples in their stead. They became apostates who tormented commoners alongside the Black Dao Cultivators. But they were once your brothers in arms. How easy could it be to cut them down?”
“…!?”
Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes widened greatly.
The reason Cheonwoo had never spoken of his own story in such extreme terms.
“Even when all the Mudang Disciples rejected you for it, you remained silent. For the Mudang’s foolishness must be resolved by the Mudang’s own hands.”
In any sect, whether Daoist or Buddhist, there arise those who break their vows and turn to the dark path.
Someone had to go and deal with those who had fallen.
Black Selection. Shortened to Black Select.
In the Mudang, they called those who went to handle such matters by that name.
Yet naturally, those who took on such work were shunned and whispered about even within their own sect.
It was Cheonwoo who had taken on this burden.
Cheonwoo spoke.
“I went merely to gain enlightenment. It was not for the sake of the Mudang, Master.”
Cheonwoo laid bare his inner thoughts. Thoughts that could become dangerous, things that should never be spoken of in the Mudang.
Thoughts he would never have revealed except in such circumstances.
Yet Gwon Je merely laughed.
“Yes. That is my way. When have you ever seen me move for the Mudang’s sake? I have always moved for myself. And thus I was free.”
“That’s why the Elders dislike you.”
“If they were annoyed enough, they would have come at me. Krkrkrkuk-”
Gwon Je laughed, reminiscing about the past.
“Still, it is my domain. Though what I did was for myself, I did not do things that would harm the Mudang. As for what Jeong Hyeong thinks, I cannot say.”
Gwon Je straightened his back.
The exhaustion from moments before vanished like a lie, and in its place stood a Warrior—and a legend.
“Cheonwoo. Sit in meditation at once and turn your back to me.”
“…Master.”
“Now! Do you intend to defy your Master’s command? Cheon Hee. You shall be the witness to this matter.”
Jin Cheon-hee clenched his teeth.
“….”
Blood dripped between his tightly clenched fists.
The giant of the Mudang—he was attempting to leave behind one final trace of how he had lived for those who came after him.
The weight of it felt as though it would shatter the young man’s shoulders.
Was this a footprint?
The end of martial arts.
The end of life.
The sound of a mountain splitting echoes forth.
It was the final echo of a human being.
The echo of one among the ten greatest masters under heaven, who had spent a lifetime honing himself to touch the sky.
Cheonwoo shook his head.
“Master….”
“This is also for the sake of the Mudang. Do you refuse your Master’s final command?”
Yet Gwon Je knew that his martial arts were insufficient for this task.
What was lacking? Was it the Life-Death Knot? Was it innate talent? Was it the Five Luminaries?
Perhaps it was simply fortune that fell short.
Whatever was lacking, there was no compromise. Had he not used all the time given to him?
A hundred years—he had received what was due.
Young Jegal urged him to rack his brains for any means to prolong life, but the elderly man did not look back.
Delusion.
The elderly man knew that if he clung to artificially extending time here, it would become an unforgotten attachment that would consume his entire existence.
Whether success or failure, both were delusion.
That would no longer be himself.
Not Myeonggil Jinin.
Not Mudang Gwon-je.
Yet this good Doctor did not understand.
How terrifying was the obsession of an elderly man facing death—and a Warrior at that.
Suppressing that obsession, the elderly man spoke.
“I wish to leave you behind. That is enough.”
Ah, why is time so fleeting?
Myeong-gil. Foolish Myeong-gil.
A foolish Tai Chi that spent a hundred years yet could not touch the heavens.
An inexplicable majesty poured forth from Gwon Je’s body.
Cheonwoo could not resist and finally sat in meditation before Gwon Je.
“Yes. Good. You wicked, young Tai Chi.”
As he spoke, Gwon Je reassuringly swept his hand across Cheonwoo’s broad back once.
‘Yes. This back of yours.’
At first, it had been a far smaller back than the other children who entered the Mudang sect.
The child was inexperienced in everything.
Though his eyes were sharper than anyone’s, he had only one, and having only one meant his sense of distance fell far short of the other children.
In the Gangho where life and death were decided by a single exchange of blows, the inability to gauge distance was an enormous disadvantage.
‘I thought he would fall away quickly. Cheonwoo. There was a time I believed you would become a lay disciple like the other children, or perhaps flee before even becoming one.’
Cheonwoo’s hands were never clean.
The places where the other children had left.
Tap, tap-tap, tap!
Alone, striking the wooden dummy and reciting the vital points, then striking again.
Splinters embedded in his hands countless times, yet he never showed a sign of pain.
The other Mudang children bullied the strengthened Cheonwoo. As for Gwon Je….
‘That too is part of becoming a warrior. If one cannot overcome even this, it is better not to wield a sword at all.’
He simply watched.
At that time, he had grown weary of the rotting Mudang sect.
Yet he had no intention of overthrowing it first, nor did it truly appeal to him either. He was merely an old man grumbling.
That night, he saw it.
Crack, crack!
Cheonwoo dragging the leg of the Sasuk who had been sleeping, pulling him away.
The Sasuk even had a gag in his mouth, so he could not even scream.
In a way, it was self-inflicted.
For that person had been the instigator, having the other children bully Cheonwoo.
A 20-to-1 fight.
Cheonwoo still lacked a sense of distance.
He could see with his eyes, but his ability to gauge that distance was insufficient.
That is why he targeted the instigator first.
I thought he would at most capture a Jeong Hyeong-level cultivator and beat him, but this one was mad.
Young Cheonwoo could not feel Gwon Je’s gaze.
-What is this? Am I imagining things?
At that time, he had learned little, and how could he possibly perceive Gwon Je, who stood at such a distant realm?
Yet at that moment, he mysteriously looked toward where Gwon Je was.
With his single eye.
Soon after, he shook his head once and dragged that Sasuk away somewhere else.
The next day, that Sasuk used an injury sustained during training as an excuse and descended Mudang Mountain. And he never returned again.
Tap, tap-tap, tap-tap.
And that night, Cheonwoo struck the wooden dummy alone once more.
At dawn, he maintained the horse stance to build basic physical strength, and at night, he struck the wooden dummy in those tedious days.
Whenever Gwon Je went out for a walk, that child was there striking the wooden dummy.
And occasionally, instead of the wooden dummy, he would beat the Sasuk who had tormented him and drag him away somewhere.
And that Sasuk never returned to Mudang Mountain again.
When I came to my senses, none of the children bullied Cheonwoo anymore.
It was only natural.
Because whoever bullied Cheonwoo would mysteriously disappear.
Cheonwoo’s robes were never dunked in the outhouse again, and his shoes were never stuffed with insects.
No one could tell the adults.
Because Cheonwoo never left evidence.
A vicious little bastard. And a weak one too.
Tap, tap-tap, tap-tap.
Rain or snow or thunder—this kid kept striking the wooden dummy.
From Gwon Je’s perspective, he was learning distance by the length of his own arms.
The process of embedding it into his body.
It couldn’t be done through memorization alone—it had to be etched into instinct itself.
Even doing that, he might never catch up to those two-eyed Kang Ho-ins.
Yet this young fool repeated that insane practice.
There was rarely laughter during training.
When letters occasionally arrived from his brother, his mood would improve for a while, and the sound of striking the dummy became cheerful.
Spring passed, summer passed, autumn came, and finally winter arrived.
Then spring came again.
When I came to my senses, I had taken him as a direct disciple and taught him daily.
-I have decided to become a Black Swordsman in place of the Mudang Sect. As the sword of Mudang, I will gather with these hands those who have abandoned the teachings of Mudang.
-Yes. It seems I will meet Sasuks and fellow disciples who have broken their vows for some time.
The rough Tai Chi had grown taller than even an elderly person before I knew it.
With his great height, he looked down upon the world and walked forward with steady steps, as if ignorant of arrogance itself.
Though Mudang cultivates the Way, once a swordsman, killing becomes familiar.
Yet striking down a Black Dao cultivator with no connection is different in weight from striking down those who once shared the same pot of rice.
Everyone began to avoid Cheonwoo.
And at the same time, the scent of blood never left his body.
-What should we do? Shifu.
-I see. This too is the path of a Warrior. I understand.
This cunning yet foolish one began walking the path that Gwon Je had once walked, without anyone teaching him.
Even while claiming he wasn’t doing anything specifically for Mudang.
‘That foolish one moving most for Mudang.’
-It seems my brother has fallen into difficulty. I will go.
-Shifu, what do you think about killing people?
-We are Hermits, so why does killing never cease?
Even Gwon Je did not know the answer to that.
This child chose only the harshest paths, yet never wept.
-Shifu. The pear blossoms are beautiful today.
-I still find Flowing Soft Overcoming Hard difficult. My mind understands how the soft overcomes the strong, but my body has yet to grasp it.
-…Shifu. Do I really look that frightening?
Ah, this dog of a man has always regarded me as his master and followed me.
Other disciples died or fled in despair, but he clung to the end and rolled through the mud with me.
“Foolish child of the Mudang.”
Then I began pouring my inner energy into Cheonwoo’s back through the Striking Palm technique.
“Do not live for the Mudang. It is enough that you do not harm the Mudang as I do. We are not beasts with black hair, are we? So forget gratitude.”
I continued with words that a Hermit should not speak.
“And what I give you is not gratitude either. I am merely repaying the debt for your antics in my twilight years. We owe each other nothing.”
At those words, Cheonwoo spoke.
“…How can you say such things? I have always….”
“Be silent. I will soon breathe my vital energy into you. You must forget me. Keep my teachings and move forward, forgetting me.”
As I poured in my inner energy, I began to murmur softly.
“Though it is said there is only the Supreme Ultimate between heaven and earth, that Supreme Ultimate is different from the yin and yang we conceive—it means pushing and pulling.”
It was a secret formula.
I was transmitting the final enlightenment that Gwon Je had attained to Cheonwoo and Jin Cheon-hee.
An instant that seemed eternal continued.
At last, after transmitting the final inner energy, Gwon Je withdrew his hand.
He sat in meditation with a smile on his face.
The old man had lived for himself until the very end.
Cheonwoo was visible.
The young and violent Supreme Ultimate shed tears from his one eye.
“I see. My hundred years of time were meant to meet you.”
Only now did I understand how terrifying karma truly is.
And yet it was joyful.
Ten years that passed in an instant, ten springs, guide me forward.
And yet human greed is never satisfied.
‘If only I had taken you in earlier.’
Still, it was joyful.
Ten springs gifted by young Rainfall.
Ten springs were joyful because of you.
So do not weep so much.
Young disciple. Young friend.
“…I depart, having enjoyed myself.”
Gwon Je exhales his final breath.
Without leaning, he simply ceased breathing while sitting.
“Shifu!”
Cheonwoo embraced Gwon Je, sobbing uncontrollably.
It was the day the giant of the Mudang ascended to the heavens.

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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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