Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 745

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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 745
If it were merely soul-binding sorcery, one could struggle against one’s own painful memories.
But when the resentful spirits of tens, hundreds, thousands of the deceased layered upon one another and crashed down, no ordinary human could endure it.
Thud, patter—
I suddenly realized tears were streaming from my eyes.
‘That’s right. This was a trap that no matter how strong a warrior one became, could not be withstood.’
I had thought it was merely some kind of automatic recording function, but it was not.
Even the demonic ghosts themselves responded to that resentment and praised Mireuk.
‘In ancient ruins, impossible things become possible.’
My chest burned with fury.
‘Then the vengeful spirits continue to suffer eternally.’
The souls offered as sacrifices had not gone to the afterlife as people believed. They were merely bound to this ruin, suffering endlessly, suffering, suffering.
Hoping only that the being called Mireuk would one day grant them liberation.
In this hell where even death offered no rest, I burned with rage.
‘Is this something a human should do?’
Who was binding people here to suffer for eternity?
‘Who. For what reason. Are you torturing the innocent?’
In a world where humans had been stripped of their humanity, in a world where humans had been denied even rest.
The doctor could only shed tears in despair.
—Mireuk, Mireuk, I beseech you.
—Mireuk who will come someday.
One of the young man’s eyes began to redden with tears. Blood. Crimson tears of blood flowing like dewdrops.
A mantra emerged from my lips.
What was strange was that I was reciting Sanskrit translated into the Central Plains tongue.
“Go hence. Go hence. Spirits weary of life, go hence. We who wander blind-eyed depart from this place.”
It sounded almost like a song.
“Alas. In life our eyes were blinded by hardship, and wandering in search of the yellow springs, years have passed unnoticed. Alas. How arduous. How agonizing. Bound by delusion and affliction, we cannot find the path.”
My throat ached. I tasted blood.
I sang through my split throat.
Though our dwelling places differ, our purpose is the same.
Merely a song to comfort people. A song so that both the living and the dead might find peace.
I felt the deceased depart one by one at the sound of the song.
“Now then, forget. Release what is heavy and go. Thus proceed to paradise. Leave your suffering here and go lightly smiling beyond the yellow springs to the far distant Beomangsan and paradise.”
Does the Beomangsan in Luoyang truly hold the entrance to the afterlife? I do not know.
Yet is it not a blessed place where high officials and nobles line up to establish their tombs?
In death all are equal—on one side they die to save their families, on the other they die from excessive flesh.
What is humanity?
The resentful spirits scream, unable to find freedom even in death.
Commoners who never once held a blade in their lifetime.
The echoes of their cries.
That echo alone, that mere echo was enough to make the martial artists lose their senses.
Droplets of blood continued to pool on the ground.
They seeped into the earth, then gradually vaporized and began bursting with sharp cracks.
Tears of blood began flowing from both cheeks.
As the tears touched the ground, they continued to vaporize.
Where could all this blood possibly be going?
I couldn’t fathom it.
“When flowers bloom on the Bodhi tree, go to paradise. Whether the soul exists or not, release the sorrows of this world and go to paradise.”
Only now did I understand.
The Mingzhao Incantation was not merely a shamanic ritual to send vengeful spirits to the afterlife.
This was a requiem and a dirge for the dead.
A requiem was a song to comfort the soul of the deceased, while a dirge was a song sung for the dead when carrying the palanquin bearing the coffin. Both were meant to guide the departed.
To wish that the dead reach paradise, or that they properly journey to the underworld.
The character ‘ling’ in the name was written that way because it was a song sung while shaking bells.
I quietly withdrew the pipa from my robes and held it.
And slowly, gently, the stone pipa began producing clear notes. In unison with that resonance.
I sang the song once more.
Using blood as an offering, burning through karma, I sent them one by one to where they belonged, continuing to send them forth.
A surge of emotion.
Blood poured from my ears.
-Ahhh… ah… light… Ahhh… Mireuk… you have come…
-Does it not hurt? Does it not… hurt… Mireuk… Mireuk has arrived…
-Salvation has descended…
Finally, bleeding from seven orifices, I continued plucking the strings, gently soothing the souls and sending them back to where they came from.
The Mingzhao Incantation.
Understanding its true meaning, I released them.
At last.
Light began to appear.
As the vengeful spirits dispersed, I could breathe again.
Many souls offered their gratitude to me.
The curses left behind by human sacrifice scattered and dissipated.
The young man continued plucking the strings like unraveling thread.
Even as I sang, I was filled with rage.
In that bizarre scene of bleeding tears, the vengeful spirits spoke to me.
-Living sacrifice. Immortal offering.
-Please remain safe. Continue to live.
With those voices as the last sound, my vision brightened. I returned to reality.
A surge of emotion.
I spat out black blood from my mouth.
After retching blood for a while, I looked around and saw that Ilkana and Yeo Ha-ryun had also returned to reality.
Ilkana sat collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, while Yeo Ha-ryun looked down at me.
“Brother.”
“Yes.”
“It seems you managed to appease them.”
“And you?”
“I severed their cycle of reincarnation. That’s all I could do. But seeing you now, I wonder if I made a mistake.”
Ilkana spoke.
“Rather than suffer like that, eternal oblivion would have been better. They must be satisfied with it.”
“Hmm…”
Yeo Ha-ryun closed his eyes and fell silent in thought for a moment.
Ilkana spoke to both Yeo Ha-ryun and me.
“Thanks to you both, I survived. I’m grateful. My consciousness was slipping away.”
“Even Chakratantro seems difficult for you.”
“It’s the opposite. If it were soul-capturing techniques from martial arts, the foreign power would be easier to resist. But this shares roots with sorcery from my homeland.”
I nodded.
“Either way, I’d like to see the face of whoever’s doing this.”
At those words, Yeo Ha-ryun let out a soft laugh.
My brother was quite angry, yet a hint of playfulness remained in his voice.
That was both this man’s strength and what made him terrifying.
I spoke.
“Ilkana, you should go back.”
“Brother.”
“This time we managed to finish before Ilkana completely lost herself, but we can’t know what will happen next time.”
At those words, Ilkana closed her eyes.
“I understand. Then I’ll wait at the entrance. But take this.”
She handed me a black medicinal pill.
“It’s a spiritual medicine that treats heart demons and internal injuries. Hundred-Year Black Sandalwood.”
It looked like a precious item at first glance. I immediately put it in my mouth and chewed it.
Along with a refreshing fragrance, I felt the turbulent inner energy that had been raging through my body settle into peace.
Ilkana spoke.
“Please stay safe.”
With those words, she quickly turned and left.
After confirming Ilkana had disappeared, the two of us gazed at the remaining passage ahead.
Darkness, deep darkness.
But unlike before, I could feel the end drawing near.
“We should arrive soon.”
“Yes. This long passage will end soon. Stay sharp.”
“You too, brother.”
The brothers began running through the passage simultaneously.
* * *
How long had we been running? Yeo Ha-ryun kept pace with me steadily, matching my lightness technique.
Strangely, both brothers ran almost silently—a trait of both the Jegallim Family’s and the Demonic Cult’s lightness techniques, both renowned for their quietness.
‘Ha-ryun is truly formidable.’
I had prioritized mastering lightness techniques to avoid combat situations altogether, but Yeo Ha-ryun pursued pure martial power and destruction without such reservations.
Yet despite this difference, the fact that he could keep up with such understanding meant—
‘He truly possesses a martial talent bestowed by heaven itself.’
Thwack!
The moment I leaped upward, a massive axe blade came flying.
Just like last time, they’d combined mental control with ordinary traps.
‘How relentless. Truly relentless.’
Yeo Ha-ryun twisted his body slightly below the trajectory where I dodged.
Frost-like inner force gathered in his pale hands as he struck his palm directly against the axe blade.
Screech!
The blade split cleanly in two. My brother evaded while my younger brother shattered—together we continued dismantling trap after trap.
Now that we didn’t need to worry about subordinates, our speed rivaled that of galloping horses.
Finally, the corridor ended and the entrance came into view in the distance.
An enormous iron gate that filled the entire field of vision.
“I sense an extremely powerful aura ahead. Be careful.”
“Hmm. I feel it too.”
Without hesitation, both of us attacked the gate simultaneously.
If danger awaited, it was simpler to destroy it without restraint!
Five Elements Qi Projectile from the Tanjigeon Technique!
One Annihilation from the Heavenly Demon Divine Art!
The massive iron gate’s doors were torn away by our combined assault.
Crash!
The moment the doors flew away, both of us rushed inside without hesitation.
I felt the air change.
A vast hall revealed itself.
There sat the Golden Masked Person upon a throne, with roughly a hundred sorcerers and martial artists wielding chakras visible below.
“Did we arrive correctly?”
“Yes. This is the center of the formation.”
The Golden Masked Person gazed down at me from the jade throne.
“So the rat who infiltrated here is you—Jin Cheon-hee, the Divine Physician and Prefect of the Daeha Empire?”
I laughed softly at those words.
“Since you know me, you must be a high-ranking noble of the kingdom?”
“Playing coy when you’ve already guessed? This is the ancient royal palace—how else could I be here if not as someone connected to the kingdom?”
“It seems the Hyeolseonggyo has been quite helpful.”
“The Hyeolseonggyo merely cooperates with the homeland.”
I responded to those words thus.
“I see. Your Majesty.”
Jin Cheon-hee bowed to the King just as he bowed to him.
In that moment, several shamans froze in bewilderment.
Jin Cheon-hee did not miss that reaction.
Yeo Ha-ryun was slightly startled upon hearing his brother’s words.
‘So my brother has already deduced that this person is one of the royal family. And by deliberately saying “Your Majesty,” he’s implying that the old King is also involved. Did he pick up on that?’
If he accepted the title, he would be either the old King himself or at minimum someone of successor rank who could be addressed as such.
If he rejected it, there was a high probability he was a subordinate of the old King.
The shamans’ flustered reactions would be a good clue as well.
‘My brother is laying this trap so casually, as if playing a game.’
The Golden Masked Person burst into laughter.
“Kuh, kuhahahaha! So it’s true you’re obsessed with saving lives, yet you know how to set a clever trap. How audacious of you.”
The Golden Masked Person spoke.
“I sense murderous intent behind that smile. Do you hate me? Well, I suppose it might have appeared that way.”
“I understand you are not the late King.”
“Hmm. Good. How about this? Since I’ve heard you’re obsessed with saving lives, if you turn back now, I will impart to you the knowledge of shamanic arts.”
Knowledge of human sacrifice in exchange for saving lives.
In all my life, I had never heard such a contradictory proposition.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Jin Cheon-hee, Prefect. Do you know what we are doing here?”
“Why, Your Majesty must be performing human sacrifices.”
The way he answered so casually made one want to strike him.
However, the Golden Masked Person did not anger easily.
“That is merely the means, not the end. We perform human sacrifice here for the sake of this kingdom’s people. To protect this kingdom.”
“That is the most horrifying thing I have ever heard.”
At those words, the Golden Masked Person laughed loudly.
“Horrifying? How could it be? Through the sacrifice of a few, the many can find happiness. That is the truth. Jin Cheon-hee, Prefect. No—Jin Cheon-hee of the Blue-Eyed Divine. Do not turn your eyes away from the truth!”
He dropped his smile and stared directly at Jin Cheon-hee.
Jin Cheon-hee met his gaze unflinchingly.
Surprisingly, the Masked Person’s eyes were filled with conviction.
He genuinely believed this act was absolutely necessary.

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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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