Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 731

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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 731
By the time I stepped outside, night had already fallen.
Stars glimmered faintly in the darkness above, and beneath them, I walked leaning on my cane, lost in thought.
‘It seems my life force isn’t being consumed because of Eungryong’s precious orb. Perhaps the karmic weight that accumulates in the orb is being consumed instead.’
The orb was certainly a remarkable object.
Though Eungryong had given it to me to preserve my life, I wondered if I might be able to use it for medicine as well.
‘The amount of karmic weight within me must be truly enormous.’
I hadn’t realized it until now, but as I systematically studied under Jasi, it became clear.
‘With my current strength, I could create hundreds of shamanic talismans.’
Reversing a single day consumed all my karmic weight and then some, yet I could create hundreds of shamanic talismans—the disparity was striking.
‘So that’s why time-related abilities demand such an exorbitant price.’
I had developed new medicines. I had spread medical knowledge. I had improved sanitation and made people’s lives better.
The karmic weight from those deeds now filled me completely.
By saving many lives, I had gained the ability to save others again.
Thank you. All of you.
‘Thank you for living.’
A strange emotion welled up within me.
It meant that all the hardships I had endured were never in vain.
‘Remarkable—all deeds receive their recompense.’
Good acts and bad acts alike.
Even if one forgot them, the price would return like a blade.
I had grown fond of this world.
‘It’s fascinating.’
* * *
Three days had passed.
People came again today seeking treatment.
In a city where thousands lived, those suffering from malnutrition were particularly numerous.
‘Fortunately, these are treatments within my capabilities.’
There were few critically ill patients, likely because those who fell gravely ill from hunger simply died.
‘It’s truly cruel.’
Fortunately, I had ample dried provisions, and I treated patients using shamanic talismans and acupuncture.
Of course, it wasn’t free.
Instead, I accepted medicinal herbs that grew in this region.
‘If I gave everything away freely, people would soon begin to exploit my kindness.’
Goodwill doesn’t always return as goodwill.
That was a lesson I learned on Earth.
After treating so many people, I had built considerable reputation despite being an outsider.
The innkeeper called me this way:
“Holy sage!”
‘At this rate, I’ll end up founding a cult.’
Having treated so many people, the villagers’ tongues had grown loose with gossip.
Hyeolbul-seung.
Normally, information that outsiders couldn’t hear became accessible to me.
-The monks of Hyeolbul-seung distribute dried meat to the poor.
-Yes. I don’t know where they get it from, but honestly, that’s not what matters, is it? We’re starving to death as it is.
-We’ve been receiving aid from him for quite some time now.
-Without him, my children and I would be dead. Otherwise, we’d have picked up a blade and turned to banditry.
‘Is this Hyeolbul-seung truly without fault…?’
That mushroom-obsessed Hyeolseonggyo bastard I’d seen before was clearly suspicious. The more I investigated, the more obvious it became—’Don’t come here!’
But here, there were no suspicious buildings, no suspicious medicinal pills.
Only this one monk, Hyeolbul-seung.
‘Still, it’s too early to jump to conclusions.’
Why was it that whenever I thought of him, a sharp pain pricked at my chest?
‘Could there truly be nothing wrong?’
I made a shamanic talisman and placed a red fruit in my mouth.
Crunch—
Sweet apple flavor. Then I felt fatigue rapidly disappear.
‘Hmm, should I present some to my Master? It’s excellent for recovering from exhaustion.’
* * *
At the same time.
Hyeolbul-seung stood before the girl I had treated.
“Hyeolbul speaks thus: Child, what do you fear? Should you not take the wisdom of prajna as your own lamp and work toward the salvation of all beings? If you offer yourself in sacrifice for those who cannot be saved, you shall surely attain liberation. Even if you fall short, you shall reach the Pure Land of Bliss.”
Strange words.
The girl could not understand what the monk’s words meant.
“Girl. This is not difficult to understand. If you choose to sacrifice yourself, I can free your family from suffering.”
“Bullshit.”
The girl spat out a curse.
“Have you ever seen me speak falsely?”
“….”
“Even if your siblings’ health recovers, they will still starve and fall ill.”
“….”
The child looked at the monk.
He had always given her dried meat. He had told her good stories.
“Is it my turn now?”
“Yes. That is so. Hyeolbul desires it.”
“Damn it.”
With those words, she closed her eyes.
“If you wish not to, I shall not press further. For I too need not remain in this place.”
The monk spoke thus and turned away.
“Wait, wait, wait!”
The child grabbed Jasi urgently.
“If I become the offering, you really will give a lot of money, right? And you’ll feed the other kids?”
“Haven’t there already been several rituals? Did those families become unhappy?”
At those words, the child pouted.
“No, they didn’t.”
“However, there is no need for you to sacrifice yourself.”
“I haven’t decided yet, I’m telling you!”
The child shouted indignantly.
The Monk gazed at the child with a compassionate expression. On the surface, it was no different from the smile of Buddha.
“Hyeolbul-seung has said that the highest form of giving is the three wheels of purity. You must remember this. The first of the three wheels of purity is that the giver must have no pride in their giving. The second is that those who receive must harbor no ill will. The third is that what is offered must itself be pure.”
“….”
Difficult words poured forth.
But these were words that made all the adults bow their heads.
“Girl. If you offer your own body as alms, how can this not be noble, for it aligns with the meaning of the three wheels of purity? This is the giving without abode spoken of in the Diamond Sutra. Thus your spirit will ascend to the Pure Land of Bliss, and your younger siblings will enjoy happiness as the living. There is no greater joy than this.”
“Damn it, I don’t understand such difficult talk!”
In the end, frustration welled up and she shouted loudly.
“All I know is that if I do this, you give a lot of money, and I won’t be hungry. It’s my turn.”
An opportunity created through death.
This time, I had met a decent blind healer and survived.
But the second time? The third time?
The child was not foolish enough to believe such luck would come every time.
The dried meat the Monk gave was insufficient.
It could fill the hunger of that moment, but then came the hellish hunger and pain again.
The child had survived each time. And because she had survived, she feared all the more.
The Monk answered.
“Your words are true. But you can refuse….”
“…I’ll do it. Damn it.”
The girl was momentarily startled by her own decision.
But that surprise was brief. She felt that she had reached a dead end.
Hunger borders on hell itself.
And to escape from it, she could do anything.
Die, or earn money.
Since she could do either, she thought it was settled.
* * *
Thus I continued treating the people.
Patients requiring surgery were unavoidable without Bunta from Baekrin Uiseon, but I still alleviated what I could with qi cultivation and acupuncture.
Using shamanic rituals intermittently, everyone began to think that everything I was doing was part of shamanism.
“Oh, the Saint!”
“The Saint is passing!”
It seemed to have spread from the Innkeeper.
I introduced myself as no saint, merely a wandering musician and shaman.
And I continued searching for traces of the Hyeolseonggyo.
‘There’s truly nothing here.’
No secret underground structures, no mysterious leaders.
No one poisoned by strange medicines—just cattle, dead cattle, and a cattle owner clutching the corpse and wailing that the plague was as vicious as a dog.
And occasionally, Hyeolbul-seung would visit and distribute dried meat. That was all.
I never imagined there would be so little, even accounting for everything.
‘What in the world is Baekcheon-gun doing?’
This was decidedly different from the patterns the Sip Cheon-gun had displayed thus far.
Rather than that.
‘The damage from the cattle plague is severe.’
The local folk beliefs and shamanic arts were managing to hold it back reasonably well, but that was merely holding it back—not stopping it entirely.
“In the old days, we had far more cattle. Ten times this amount. But they’ve all died and collapsed like this.”
“We’ve tried powerful shamans and everything else, but nothing worked.”
“Even wealthy families can barely scrape by on what little they have, but what can poor tenant farmers do? They simply starve to death.”
I pondered this.
‘Come to think of it, our own country suffered greatly from cattle plague after the Byeongja Invasion in the historical records.’
Even in the Gyeam Ilrok of 1637, there were accounts of concern that all the surrounding cattle had died.
Later, it was written that since living cattle would die anyway, people slaughtered them in advance to eat them, and the author worried about the next year’s harvest.
It was a situation where the very foundation of their livelihood nearly collapsed.
“Cattle that die from disease emit a terrible stench and rot easily, making it difficult to salvage the meat. We cut the edible portions and cook them immediately, but preserved foods like dried meat must be made from healthy cattle.”
“I see.”
“There was talk of slaughtering the living cattle first, but that would anger the spirits, so we cannot do it. Besides, that would mean completely abandoning next year’s harvest as well. We’ve already given up on this year’s crops. Hehehehe.”
Truly a wretched situation.
I asked one thing.
“Have all the dead cattle been butchered?”
“No. We don’t do that. We need to keep the meat fresh.”
“Oh, there’s a ritual for that?”
“Yes. It exists.”
How fascinating.
Just as the Central Plains possessed diverse martial arts, this land seemed to have diverse shamanic rituals as well.
“The festival is….”
“Ah, yes. Through the festival, we transform the cattle into fresh meat.”
That’s actually possible?
Though I had grasped the fundamentals of shamanism, I had never heard of nor seen anything like this.
The innkeeper arrived.
“The festival approaches soon, so we ask that you prepare yourself, musician!”
* * *
A festival?
I was surprised they would hold a festival in such dire circumstances, but once I considered it as part of shamanic practice, it seemed less strange.
‘Why is my heart fluttering so uneasily?’
A sense of foreboding made my chest race. I stepped out of the village with heavy feet.
The grasslands north of the city.
Where the festival was being held.
Just as the villagers had said, cattle carcasses were piled high like mountains.
‘Ugh, the stench….’
The sound emanating from the swarms of flies consumed everything. I covered Hwang-gu’s ears, worried the flies might crawl inside.
Retch—
Hwang-gu also seemed to find the smell unbearable and gagged.
‘Is that why they don’t cremate the cattle?’
Before the cattle carcasses stood an altar of unfamiliar design.

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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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