Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 727

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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 727
When cooking or crafting something, no such hearing is held.
Whenever martial arts and human lives are at stake, I always conduct this self-criticism.
Well, martial arts ultimately involve human lives too, so it all comes down to lives.
It’s not particularly good for mental health.
Meanwhile, the reaction of the people in this region was different.
“A hero! The Buddha has sent us a hero!”
One of the villagers suddenly cried out like that. And everyone rushed out shouting.
“A hero has come!”
“Waaaaaah!”
Even the young children got up and began cheering.
‘There. I saved people today. That’s what matters.’
What does anything else matter?
There are no dead commoners, so isn’t it enough to be grateful for that?
“Please bind the fallen bandits. There’s no danger to their lives, so they’ll wake up soon.”
An unexpected answer came from that statement.
“Ooh! The hero intends to use these bandits as sacrifices!”
“We shall follow the hero’s words!”
Sacrifices? Sacrifices?
Jin Cheon-hee spoke loudly in surprise.
“No. No! I wish to interrogate them about where Hyeolpungsa’s main base is located. And since they are criminals, I will turn them over to the state.”
“Ah! You intend to sell them as slaves. I understand.”
“He says he won’t use them as sacrifices. The hero himself wishes to enslave them!”
“Waaaaaah!”
Bright smiles and cheerful voices.
Yet, why was it?
From the smiling commoners, I felt a strange madness.
The people gathered the horses in one place and bound the unconscious bandits.
‘No, I wasn’t trying to make them slaves but to turn them over to the magistrate’s office…?’
I thought I had learned their language and their culture fairly well, but it seemed otherwise.
Then the shaman had approached at some point.
“You there. You’re an outsider, aren’t you?”
“An outsider?”
“This isn’t a place to discuss it. Come find me at my dwelling.”
Saying so, the shaman leisurely disappeared somewhere.
Remarkably, I could not sense the shaman’s departure.
‘Indeed, quite a skilled person! I should prepare something delicious for them.’
The more I saw, the more I liked them.
* * *
Jin Cheon-hee left the cleanup to the people and headed deeper into the forest.
How far had I ventured in?
A crude shelter fashioned from cone-shaped branches and leaves came into view.
From within the shelter came the scent of smoke and a faint tapping sound, which was enough for me to pinpoint his location immediately.
‘The smell of leather. He’s hung a leather curtain instead of a door.’
I reached out and passed naturally through the leather drapes.
“Are you truly blind, you bastard?”
“Ah, well, being blind is actually a disguise. I simply keep my eyes closed while traveling.”
“You navigate mountain paths with your eyes shut as if they were your own home? Remarkable. Are all Middle Kingdom men like this? Though I doubt it.”
The shaman greeted me with a grumble.
“Ah, leave the dog and bird outside. This is my domain, and if things too powerful enter, they’ll disrupt it.”
‘When I visited Wannung before, I never heard such words about Hwang-gu and Noeji. They’ve certainly grown stronger.’
The spiritual creatures had now become powerful enough that they could no longer enter the shaman’s domain.
‘Indeed, considering the battle just now, they’ve become formidable.’
I told the two beasts to wait outside for a moment and stepped in.
The shaman tossed a branch into the campfire and asked.
“What brings a man from beyond the borders here?”
“Beyond the borders? Here is beyond the borders…?”
“If you center it on the Hwa Empire, then this is beyond the borders. But if you center it on us, then you are beyond the borders.”
At those words, I suddenly understood.
“Ah… that’s true. You’re right. How did you know I was from the Empire?”
“You seem to see through all things in the world, yet sometimes you look like a complete fool.”
“Haha.”
This shaman.
No, this outsider disguised as a blind musician—he sighed upon seeing me.
“You just finished facing the Hyeolpungsa alone, yet here you sit warming yourself by the fire so clumsily.”
A truly peculiar man.
This outsider before me.
“First, the jawline visible beneath the bandages and the complexion don’t resemble anyone from this region. The skin tone is closer to that of northerners. Of course, it’s difficult to judge from this alone, as many foreign peoples come here.”
“I see.”
“Moreover, your spiritual trace is not of this land.”
“Spiritual trace?”
Not soul (靈魂) but spiritual trace (靈痕)—merely replacing one stroke with another, yet the meaning was entirely different.
Startled by the unfamiliar concept, my mouth fell open.
“What, you practice shamanism yet don’t know of spiritual traces?”
“I… I was never taught about it?”
Bewildered, the shaman questioned me further.
“Can you actually use shamanism?”
“Y-yes, I can! Shall I show you?”
I hastily cut my wrist and demonstrated, then used shamanism to heal it.
Normally I would have prioritized natural healing, but since my credibility was at stake, I acted urgently.
Only after witnessing this did the Shaman cry out in exasperation.
“Damn it! That’s quite advanced shamanism!”
“There’s no need to curse.”
“You’re telling me someone like you doesn’t know about spirit blood?”
The Shaman asked in disbelief, spittle flying from his mouth.
“Surely the previous Shaman taught you the basics!”
“He only taught me this. And, ah, sterilization techniques and such….”
“You’re saying he just taught you those two things and that’s it?”
“Yes? Yes. He taught me, so I learned.”
“….”
“I took notes on previewing and reviewing, grasped all the key points, and refined my shamanism through repeated practice and real combat!”
“….”
Why was it? A sense of grievance seemed to emanate from the Shaman.
It was regret about his own life itself. He clutched at his head in anguish for a moment.
“…The world is truly unfair.”
After some time had passed, he spoke.
“In any case, give me a drop of your blood.”
He held out a bowl made of bone. It appeared to be some beast’s skull, though it was difficult to identify.
“This isn’t a curse or anything, is it?”
“Have I lost my mind? Would I cast a curse in front of someone who could cleave my skull in two with a hand strike?”
The Shaman’s voice carried a note of sorrow.
I produced a drop of blood.
“Here it is.”
Plop—
Dark red blood rolled down like pomegranate seeds.
He chanted incantations over the droplet for a long while. Then the blood began to boil of its own accord, turning to vapor that was drawn into his nose and mouth.
“As I thought…. You possess divine blood.”
My eyes widened slightly at those words.
‘Wow, he figured that out.’
Upon discovering that I possessed divine blood, his expression brightened for some reason.
“Is divine blood something remarkable?”
“Seeing that you can use advanced shamanism with just that preview or review of yours, how could you not understand? That’s not all. The fact that you can simultaneously use techniques that should be mutually exclusive makes it extraordinary. And as an offering, it’s supreme.”
Offering.
A word that struck deep in the chest.
I asked casually, pretending indifference.
“Now that you mention it, the villagers were talking about offerings. Do you perhaps practice human sacrifice?”
“My shamanism does not know the method of human sacrifice.”
That was a relief.
“But why do you ask such a thing?”
“Because if you were someone who practices human sacrifice, our paths would diverge.”
The path is different.
Though brief, those words carried a meaning that was not merely cold but eerily chilling.
The Shaman let out a soft chuckle at my expression.
“Do not impose the thinking of your Hwa Empire upon us. This is barren land. The survival of the fittest that your Hwa Empire speaks of—that is precisely our way of life. Of course, it is no different for you either, is it?”
The life of commoners in Gangho.
Martial Artists drain the blood of commoners, and the commoners groan beneath them.
Blood never ceases to bloom in Gangho, and the strong forever kill the weak.
Death, death, death….
“At least I live trying to prevent that.”
“You cannot even claim that Gangho is different. I find you pleasing—unlike other outsiders, you harbor no hypocrisy.”
“….”
I do not answer. Yet he continues speaking at leisure, as if satisfied with this.
“Survival of the fittest. Those Hyeolpungsa who came here today to plunder are precisely that. Had you not stopped them, most of the villagers would have died, their wealth plundered. The children would have been taken somewhere to live lives worse than dogs.”
That is what bandits are.
He continues.
“Then is it not just to make them sacrifices for a great ritual and bring prosperity to this village? That is human sacrifice.”
“However….”
He continues speaking to me, who tries to object.
“There is a saying in Gangho: if you wish to kill another, you must be prepared to die yourself. You do not deny that, do you? If you have lived in Gangho.”
In that moment, I recall my younger siblings.
Yeo Ha-ryun, Jin Cheon-woo, Sama Hyeon.
Not one of them has lived without blood on their hands.
As long as one lives as a Martial Artist in Gangho, one always dwells in the midst of grudges, and then someone must inevitably die for it to end.
Then it is merely preserving one’s own life.
Which means taking the life of another in return.
The Shaman asks again.
“If it is just to kill one who sought to kill me, then is it not also just to use them as sacrifices for human offering and gain benefit, rather than simply killing them?”
“….”
The Shaman observes my throat trembling faintly.
“Truly, you are strange. Just moments ago you fought like the reincarnation of a god of war, yet now your body trembles over a single small life.”
Perhaps it is the fate of one who possesses Divine Blood.
The Shaman questions himself.
Soon he continues.
“Very well. It grows late today, so return tomorrow. From tomorrow, I shall teach you shamanism. You are certainly a powerful warrior, but you must begin with the basics of shamanism.”
“…Thank you.”
“I grant you five days of time.”
I nod and take out a small cloth bundle, presenting it to him.
“What is this?”
“I know that one must not visit a teacher’s home empty-handed, and that even when learning a small skill, one must offer gratitude.”
“Your manners are proper.”
I unwrapped the cloth bundle to find a small tin box inside.
Within it lay star-shaped candies.
I had packed them beforehand, intending to eat them if my energy flagged before reaching Saeoe.
In another compartment lay a hard confection I had never seen before, appearing to be dried fruit from the Middle Kingdom.
And several silver coins as well.
“Take the money back with you. Converting this into currency would be an insult to its value.”
“My apologies.”
I quickly retrieved the silver coins.
The Shaman was beginning to take quite a liking to me.
“Then be on your way.”
“Thank you.”
I bowed lightly and stepped outside the tent.
The dawn air filled my nasal passages completely.
Bird calls rang out crisply, from distant to near.
It was the sound of dawn arriving.
When I glanced up at the sky by lifting the bandage slightly, it had already been dyed in indigo blue.
‘Sacrifice, sacrifice,’ I thought.
That brief blue light between night and morning.
It was much like a human life itself.

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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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