Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 723

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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 723
After the battle with Baekcheon-gun, Noe Jin-i finally awoke from what felt like an unconscious slumber.
Chirp!
Bursting from the pouch, Noe Jin-i had shrunk to the size of a pigeon, and his feathers had turned black.
The once-massive blue hawk now resembled a black raven.
‘So you’ve undergone a rebirth too?’
Being a bird, the transformation differed somewhat from Hwang-gu’s method.
Moreover, the timing of this rebirth was perfect—it made deception far easier.
Hwang-gu also employed Chuk-geun-gong to shrink to the size of a large dog, reshaping his skeletal structure into a sleeker form.
‘Even with this, the Hyeolseonggyo would likely recognize us.’
If they came, I could crush them anyway, so this worked out well.
However, if the Damjin Kingdom discovered that I, Jin Cheon-hee the prefect, was wandering about, it would become problematic.
So I attempted a disguise using reverse-use of power.
Light cannot eliminate darkness, but darkness cannot defy light either.
The principle of “official non-interference” emerged from this very concept.
‘The reason the government doesn’t openly involve itself in martial affairs isn’t complicated. If the government tried to openly destroy the martial world, these people would all retreat into the shadows, launch terror attacks, and turn the law into chaos.’
It would be ideal if the government could eradicate or eliminate the martial world, but even on Earth—a world monitored by CCTV—criminal organizations show no signs of being rooted out.
Thus, the government regards the martial world with apparent displeasure and attempts to control it appropriately, while martial artists despise government officials as “government dogs” yet remain uncomfortable with them.
That is the true nature of official non-interference.
Therefore.
Here, I was not Prefect Jin Cheon-hee.
I had to wander as an outsider named Jin Something-or-other.
I brought my hand to my face.
Crack, crackle—
Bone and muscle reversal transformation technique.
Using the method Sama Hyeon had taught me, I reshaped my face.
Though I had originally possessed a soft, beautiful countenance, my face now was….
‘It resembles my previous life’s face.’
Perhaps because it was the face I had lived with in my past life, it naturally became this way as I worked on it.
‘If I walk around with my old face, no one will recognize me.’
I then changed into clothing typical of desert dwellers.
Finally, closing my eyes, I transformed into a blind wandering musician.
The blind in this region travel with merchant caravans, performing music or telling fortunes.
Having lost their sight, they can see the future instead—a local belief that makes the fortunes told by the blind remarkably accurate.
Commonly, they travel with a dog.
The dogs in this area are so intelligent that they uncannily detect where water can be found.
I slung the stone lute that Yeo Ha-ryun had gifted me across my back.
The blind beggar transformation was complete.
Tap, tap-tap—
I advanced familiarly, probing ahead with the staff my Master had given me.
The darkness was comfortable.
* * *
The Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong was remarkable.
If I had learned this in my past life, I would have swept up not just medical school, but the judicial examination and civil service exam as well.
Even with just a little practice, a perfect score on the college entrance exam might be within reach.
Living in a different timeframe than others was an extraordinary ability in itself, but superhuman memory alone was intoxicatingly wonderful.
The fact that I had acquired the language well enough to converse comfortably with locals in just a few days was proof of that.
Ding ling—
Moreover, a blind musician could go anywhere.
Since I couldn’t see, I would never be a witness to anything, and with good skills, I could eat and sleep well anywhere.
Even with my eyes casually covered in bandages, no one suspected anything.
As Sama Hyeon said, most humans live carelessly.
Today as well, I played the pipa in a corner of the marketplace.
Ding ding ding—
People enjoyed the songs of this blind musician who had come this time.
“Listening to the songs makes me want to give alms.”
“You play sad melodies quite well.”
Thus, traveling alone through this Damjin Kingdom, I investigated the Hyeolseonggyo and gathered information about the plague.
“To tame a desert wolf… how impressive.”
The merchant before me.
A well-built gentleman who had settled in the oasis city was marveling at the sight of Hwang-gu beside me, who had come to buy provisions.
Understanding his words perfectly, I spoke.
“I picked him up when he was injured as a pup and raised him. Now he’s a reliable companion.”
A desert wolf.
A type of wolf that roams from the Damjin Kingdom to the northern plateau regions.
Each one is said to be a monstrous wolf the size of a calf.
In fact, since there’s even the Aisha Kingdom where dogs larger than humans live, the beasts of this world were fundamentally larger than those on Earth.
‘Even the insects here are enormous.’
I had given up thinking after seeing a mosquito the size of my fist in the past.
Woof woof!
“For a blind person, there’s nothing better than a dog like this.”
Since arriving in the Damjin Kingdom, I felt that the treatment of the blind was better than in the Central Plains.
Whether it was due to indigenous beliefs or an open mind, I thought this was something the Central Plains could learn from.
“How long will you stay in Terdan?”
“I’ll decide based on how the merchants move.”
The second oasis city, Terdan.
In Hwa Empire style, it’s called Danam, I’m told.
I thoroughly blended into this place using only the Damjin Kingdom language.
Whether it was characteristic of oasis cities, most of the buildings here were both inns and restaurants.
‘Come to think of it, even with water, this kind of city isn’t suitable for growing crops.’
The surroundings held nothing but sand and stone, and the sandy soil was hardly conducive to plant growth.
As a city that survived on trade, there was no helping it.
From what I observed, hundreds of people arrived and departed each day.
It was the trade route connecting Damjin and Serim, as well as the Hwa Empire.
There were even merchants from lands beyond Serim, and I could spot traders claiming to have come from the Western Continent.
While I pondered whether this world was also round like Earth, I went about conducting business steadily.
Most merchants from outside operated on a large scale, but there were quite a few small-time traders like me, and they all treated me with familiarity.
Seeing that even the large Hwang-gu accepted it, it seemed there were quite a few people who tamed desert wolves and traveled with them.
Furthermore.
I could hear reliable rumors about the journey ahead.
‘Once the desert region roughly ends, a wasteland appears?’
A place filled with rocky mountains and grayish-brown earth.
Though it was soil rather than sand, the soil quality was so poor that crop failures occurred increasingly.
Plants grew around the rivers, creating green zones. However, just a short distance from the river, this region had almost no vegetation.
It wasn’t that people didn’t want to farm—it was simply difficult to do so from the start.
Because of this, raising livestock in the green zones around rivers was the traditional food production method of the Damjin Kingdom.
Moreover, farming using oxen was the main industry, but to make matters worse, most of the livestock in that region were dying off.
“Be careful. All the people in that region have either abandoned their homes and relocated, or turned into bandits.”
“Thank you for the warning.”
“The effects haven’t spread to this oasis city yet, but we don’t know when the impact might reach us.”
“I see. That’s frightening.”
“Come again. May the Buddha protect you.”
I bowed to the merchant and stepped outside.
My friendly smile faded quickly, replaced by an expressionless face.
My slightly opened eyes began to glow blue.
Perhaps.
I had a premonition that my pupils wouldn’t turn black during this journey.
* * *
Desert nights drop below freezing. However, this was no great problem for Hwang-gu and me.
I purchased various supplies at the oasis city of Danam, loaded them onto a small cart, and raced through the desert night with Hwang-gu.
My exceptionally sharp mind had already mastered reading the stars, so in no time, we both broke through the desert region.
For two beings capable of covering a thousand li in a single hour, with proper direction, crossing the desert was hardly difficult.
Then, at some point, the sandy desert ended and the wasteland region the oasis shop owner had mentioned appeared.
The wasteland emerged just as the sun rose behind us.
And in the distance, I could see a small city with clustered buildings. And a small river flowing above it as well.
“Hwang-gu, it looks like we’ve found the right place?”
Woof woof!
Hwang-gu barked in agreement.
The small city that appeared after Danam was a place called Riua.
It had no name in the style of the Hwa Empire.
The Hwa Empire’s people hadn’t come this far to name cities.
‘If I had moved with the troops, I would have known nothing of this situation.’
Moreover, my traveling speed turned out to be surprisingly fast.
First, to feed five hundred cavalry, I needed to resupply at intervals, and it was rare for cities or villages to prepare supplies in advance.
Places where that happened were those with exceptionally swift administrative procedures. Most of the time, when we requested supplies from outside the city, they would support us only after going through the proper channels.
‘Besides, elite cavalry would make them anxious about invasion. That’s why I insisted on traveling as minimally as possible.’
The Hwa Empire traditionally paid no heed to other nations’ circumstances.
So they caught flak constantly.
Anxiety multiplied procedures.
The longer the procedures, the easier a week slipped by, and as cavalry, I had to follow roads that horses could traverse.
By contrast, Hwang-gu surpassed horse speed and could gallop up cliffs or across deserts.
Supplies could be managed through hunting alone.
‘If I keep investigating Hyeolseonggyo like this, could I possibly arrive first?’
However, I didn’t know.
What was happening at that very moment elsewhere.
* * *
“Hmm? Your brother isn’t with the cavalry?”
“Yes. He’s moving separately to investigate Hyeolseonggyo.”
Squelch—
Yeo Ha-ryun stood in blood.
The corpses of bandits he had killed lay scattered in all directions.
He was methodically cutting the throats of bandits to allow his brother to move faster, and this was the result.
Yeo Ha-ryun looked down at his blood-stained hands, then gazed at his subordinate intently.
‘Hiiiiiek!’
Cheon Sal-seong’s gaze was something even ordinary people—let alone flying and crawling demonic sect members—could barely endure.
Such a vicious killing intent numbed human reason and awakened primal terror.
“P-please forgive me!”
“Tsk.”
It was simply a lack of ability. I didn’t kill subordinates over such things.
Incompetence isn’t a sin. Evil is.
They should be realizing this by now, yet I don’t understand why they keep doing this.
Among them, only one person grasped the situation.
“Brother.”
Ilkana.
The black blade of Serim Gyoguk and my right arm.
“Even with cavalry, such circumstances would restrict mobility and prevent gathering necessary local information, so that seems to be why he chose this path.”
She analyzed the situation coldly as a strategist.
The other subordinates were astounded by her words.
‘She can speak even within the killing intent of Cheon Sal-seong?’
She was a peculiar woman who, whether facing Yeo Ha-ryun or even Cheonma herself, never had her mind numbed and always employed strategy.
Was it because of the Chakratant technique that Ilkana had mastered?
Or was it because Baek Rin-ui-seon had personally tempered her will at the Medical Guild?
I couldn’t say for certain, but no one from the Demonic Sect had managed to cloud her reason.
“I was told that if we pursued the cavalry unit, my brother would surely be there. What a shame it turned out this way.”
“Since when does my brother listen to what others say?”
She had even criticized her eldest brother right in front of Yeo Ha-ryun. That meant death.
What was even more surprising was this:
“That’s right. My brother doesn’t listen to anyone. Not even if it were Master’s words.”
‘He’s taking it as a compliment?!’
Blood-red eyes swept across the plains.
Ilkana spoke.
“Since things have come to this, if we follow the cavalry unit, we’ll be able to find Jin Cheon-hee eventually, whether it takes long or short. Our destination should be the same anyway. What will you do?”
“We’ll split into two groups. Half will pursue the cavalry, and half will track my brother.”
“Then, where will you go, brother?”
….
The cavalry with the same destination anyway, and the search party to find his brother.
A choice between two.
Yet Yeo Ha-ryun did not hesitate.

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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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