Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 680

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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 680
The Jeomchang Sect retreated like thieves in the night.
The Mudang Sect Leader chased after them and pressed a gift into their hands.
“Well, well, well! I simply had no choice! It seems young Cheonwoo’s dojo was still inexperienced and showed no mercy with his hands!”
The Mudang Sect’s internal injury medicine.
The Jeomchang Sect Elders coughed blood at such blatant mockery.
The Sect Leader, wearing a worried expression, said, “Oh my, this internal injury medicine won’t be enough! You there! What are you doing! Bring our guests more medicine!” and rubbed salt into their wounds.
Watching this, I reflected.
‘Indeed, serving as a sect leader under Gwon Je requires more than ordinary temperament.’
To lead a martial sect, one needed backbone.
* * *
After the Jeomchang Sect departed.
While the Namgung Family, Ami Sect, and various other factions came as spectators, the ones with fundamental grudges against the Mudang Sect were three: Gonggong, Jeomchang, and Jongnam.
Since the Jeomchang Sect had been defeated and retreated, the expressions of the Gonggong and Jongnam factions were extremely grim.
Do Seon-jin-in and Jin Seongjja.
The two sat in conference.
Do Seon-jin-in set down his grain tea with a loud thunk.
“The young one showed considerable skill.”
Jin Seongjja replied.
“Hmph! Regardless. This time we shall have our revenge.”
“Is that possible?”
At Do Seon-jin-in’s words, Jin Seongjja’s face flushed.
Hearing such words directed at a mere youth was deeply irritating.
However, the current Cheonwoo Dojo deserved such words.
“Since our sect’s secret techniques have reached perfection, entrust this matter to me.”
“Excellent!”
Jin Seongjja raised a finger toward the brightened Do Seon-jin-in.
“However! The Mudang Sect’s profits—our sect shall take an additional share of this!”
This was the heterodox faction’s method of negotiation.
Yet for the two, such details hardly mattered.
As long as they could eliminate Cheonwoo before them and tear the Mudang Sect apart, nothing else concerned them.
“I accept. Should that occur, it shall be yours!”
“Hah. Forty-eight days remain. There’s no need to wait until then. I shall finish this within two days!”
On the faces of these two men, not a shred of righteous faction pride was visible.
“Kekekeke. Indeed.”
Only their true nature—no different from the heterodox path—filled their expressions.
* * *
The Medical Guild’s morning begins from early dawn.
“I feel so reassured now that our thoracic physician assistant has arrived~”
I patted the physician assistant’s shoulder.
Thoracic surgery.
While shunned as a specialty in Korea, here it was the most lucrative and prestigious field of medicine.
And for good reason.
‘When learning martial arts, the first technique novices learn is the middle strike. And where does that middle strike aim?’
The heart, the aorta, the lungs, the stomach.
Sometimes the blade catches on the ribs and can’t penetrate further, but that’s just amateur work.
If you know how to wield sword energy properly, you can even cleave through bone.
That’s why the Pusul Hall Upper Physicians with their specialty in thoracic injuries were absolutely essential in Bimujangs.
Since there were too few doctors relative to the population in this era, even the Chimgu Hall physicians had to stitch wounds when necessary, and the Pusul Hall physicians all knew the basics of vital point strikes related to qi and blood.
Still, the concept of specialization existed.
“Well, the Chimgu Hall Upper Physicians have suffered far more than I have.”
“That’s right. Let’s give our Chimgu Hall Upper Physician a hug! You’ve gone through so much hardship with me. Jeon-u. Jeon-u~”
With these words, I embraced the Chimgu Hall Upper Physician, who was old enough to be my father, without hesitation.
Watching this, the Medical Assistants thought to themselves.
‘Wow, truly befitting Soggakju. His bonds with the Upper Physicians are so strong!’
‘Encouraging each and every Upper Physician from dawn like this—the atmosphere is completely different from the Hwaju Medical Institute.’
‘I want to become an Upper Physician too.’
However, the thoughts of the Upper Physicians receiving my embrace and encouragement were different.
‘Damn it…. This tournament is looking like a mess too?’
‘Is the next opponent Jin Seongjja? Anyone but Jin Seongjja. Anyone but him! If it’s the Gonggong Faction, then without fail, without exception, the Pusul Hall will be torn apart.’
‘…What sin did I commit in my past life to fail the lottery draw like this…. To end up here….’
Their mouths smiled, but their minds drifted to distant, hazy places.
With all the martial artists from the surrounding regions converging on Mudang Mountain, Bunta should have been at peace.
The problem was that this Mudang Mountain was a complete mess.
The Upper Physicians who had failed the lottery draw wept silently in their hearts, thinking, ‘Someone must have definitely cheated us.’
“Let’s do our best today too. Things started off well, didn’t they?”
Pat, pat, pat!
Look at me, smiling brightly and patting the Upper Physicians on their backs.
While everyone wondered if this monster had ever truly faced adversity, one of the Middle-Aged Men tactlessly opened his mouth.
“So Soggakju, who is our opponent this time?”
“Ah, a famous person.”
I softened my gaze.
Jin Seongjja of the Gonggong Faction.
The very person all the Pusul Hall Upper Physicians had prayed to avoid.
The Upper Physicians whispered with trembling lips.
“…We’ll get to see the heterodox Demon-Subduing Sword Technique.”
“The Demon-Subduing Sword Technique severs arms clean through the bone.”
“And… since it’s not even an official tournament arena, the martial artists watching are bound to get caught in the crossfire.”
When they first constructed this temporary tournament arena, they hadn’t anticipated it would reach this scale.
Cheonwoo and his opponent both possessed considerable martial prowess, so unexpected accidents were bound to occur.
The medical staff’s hearts were already racing.
It was truly the opening scene of a horror film.
I spoke.
“I’ve been preparing since dawn so you can have a hearty breakfast!”
Braised ribs, spicy sweet and sour fried dishes, chicken egg soup, cold duck salad, and various side dishes alongside luxurious delicacies!
I had prepared such an abundance of fine foods that one would never believe this was a funeral.
You must feed the ox well before it works the fields.
And there arose another question among the medical staff.
‘Does Soggakju somehow live 68 hours in a single day by himself?’
When on earth did he prepare all of this?
Is he even human?
* * *
The temporary martial grounds beneath the Sea Sword Grounds created by the Mudang Sect.
There, Jin Seongjja and Cheonwoo face each other.
The two exchange respectful fist salutes and step back ten paces.
“The aftereffects of yesterday’s match should still linger. Another could take your place if you wish.”
Jin Seongjja spouted such courtesies under the guise of consideration.
Of course, it was merely a necessary formality.
Still, as a hermit of considerable standing in Gangho, failing to observe even such empty courtesies would earn him twice the criticism he deserved.
To those words, Cheonwoo answered with hollow eyes.
“My body is sound, so please do not worry.”
“Hmph, good. Then do not resent this blade’s lack of mercy!”
Jin Seongjja took Cheonwoo’s response as provocation.
He held his sword hand behind his back while extending the other forward, adopting a peculiar stance that those watching immediately recognized.
The Gonggong Faction’s supreme demon-subduing sword technique stance!
“The martial art I shall employ is this sect’s secret supreme technique—the Heavenward Demon-Subduing Sword Method.”
Yet Jin Seongjja spoke of the higher secret technique of the demon-subduing sword method.
Then.
Ooooooh!
The martial artists erupted in unison with cheers.
“The Heavenward Demon-Subduing Sword Method!”
“It is not a technique one sees easily. Even within the Gonggong Faction, it is difficult to master without direct transmission, and few who witness this technique survive!”
Is it not said that martial arts are as enjoyable as one’s understanding of them?
Rather than the foolish gamblers who gathered hoping to make a quick coin, the martial artists themselves cried out in greater excitement.
Among them, Cheonwoo answered calmly.
“The martial arts I shall employ are this sect’s secret techniques—the Taiji Divine Fist and Taiji Fist. And the Taeching Mountain Water.”
Meanwhile, the other martial artists tilted their heads in unison at those words.
“The Cheonwoo Dojo says the same thing as yesterday.”
“Unremarkable techniques, and an equally unremarkable answer. Jin Seongjja will surely take this as provocation as well.”
As expected.
Strands of inner force began to bloom from Jin Seongjja’s hands and blade.
Seeing this, the crowd jeered once more.
But Jin Seongjja remained unmoved.
What kind of humiliation would it be to lose in combat just to preserve a shred of face!
The thought of using all his strength to topple this young brat and humble the Mudang Sect ignited his fighting spirit.
He rotated the blade he had held behind his back and brought it forward. Then, oddly, he struck the blade with his palm.
Whiiiiiiing!
Strangely, despite the inner force from his palm colliding with the inner force from the blade, no explosion erupted.
A sound of something twisting and warping reverberated, striking the eardrums with a deep hum.
Then.
Mysteriously, the two forces of inner energy contorted and intermingled, beginning to writhe and undulate as if possessed by living creatures!
Woooooow!
The crowd erupted once more at this bizarre martial technique.
Watching this, I pondered.
‘Force Resonance?! No, it resembles Force Resonance, but… strictly speaking, it’s not quite that.’
Deception… or rather… Since the Jegallim Family specialized in slight illusions and tricks, I recognized this sensation.
Not true Void Grasping, but a pseudo-Void Grasping using wind force.
Not true Stepping Without Traces, but a pseudo-Stepping Without Traces using ice force.
Not true Samadhi True Fire, but a pseudo-Samadhi True Fire using fire force.
It was neither demonic arts nor deception. Just counterfeit imitations of something similar.
So this sensation—as a fellow ‘trickster,’ the Jegallim heir recognized it.
‘An incomplete Force Resonance perhaps…?’
To begin with, Force Resonance could only be used by those who had reached Hyeongyeong’s realm, or those who wielded certain special secret techniques.
Using Force Resonance itself belonged to the domain of ‘Shimmoo’—controlling martial arts with the mind.
Those who had not reached that realm could not employ Force Resonance.
This was why it demanded special techniques or exceptional talents.
Such was the case with the Splitting Heaven Strike that Yeo Ha-ryun had used.
It was the martial knowledge of Cheonma Divine Art and the talent that Cheon Sal-seong, Yeo Ha-ryun’s Heaven’s Punishment, possessed!
‘The Piercing Heaven Demon Subduing Sword Method must be a martial art that forcibly enables Force Resonance… Cheonwoo!’
As I gazed at Cheonwoo with deep concern.
Jin Seongjja burst into wild laughter and shouted.
“Kahahaha! Young brat! If you withdraw now, your life may yet be spared! Like the very name of our sect’s secret technique, the Piercing Heaven Demon Subduing Sword Method subdues demons—it will not leave even a fragment of your bones! I too have no wish to hear complaints of killing a young junior, so withdraw!”
A threat worthy of some heterodox rabble!
An outcry utterly unbecoming of a swordsman.
Yet the assembly remained silent.
In this Dosan Sword Forest of Gangho, strength reigned supreme!
In a martial world where countless had never even witnessed Force Resonance, Jin Seongjja, who conjured it forth and shouted with such power, was undoubtedly an absolute master.
“The Mudang Sect does not retreat.”
Inner force also manifested from Cheonwoo’s hands.
His single eye blazed with conviction and resolve.
Seeing this, Jin Seongjja let out a low chuckle.
“Ha! Then go meet your master in the afterlife!”
Boom!
The ground beneath Jin Seongjja exploded. A phantom-like afterimage flickered and vanished where he had stood.
Shifting Form and Exchanging Position!
The legendary footwork technique that moves so swiftly it leaves afterimages in its wake!
Moving with such speed, Jin Seongjja appeared before Cheonwoo and thrust out his empty hand like a madman, fingers splayed.
Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes widened.
‘Cheonwoo. Danger…!’
In that instant, Cheonwoo did not yield and extended his hand to meet it.
Crash!

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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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