Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 747

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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 747
That was the nature of my older brother’s body.
He could generate bursts of power comparable to my own in an instant. However, he lacked the skeletal and muscular foundation to sustain it.
My brother had once described himself as a “fuel-inefficient steam engine.”
Cultivation consumed energy, combat consumed energy, and recovery consumed energy.
He’d glossed over the fact that recovery had some auxiliary support, but it seemed that wasn’t a complete solution.
A body without reinforced bones creaked with strain each time he unleashed a higher technique.
Just as his body adapted, the next breakthrough would come—another realization, a higher technique. He accelerated endlessly, relentlessly, ceaselessly.
There was no helping it.
The enemies that came for him were no ordinary foes.
To survive, to keep others from dying, there was only one path forward.
So to endure, there were only two options.
Either smoke potent pain-relieving herbs, or eat whatever was available in a pinch.
That’s why my brother always ate well and ate plenty.
Sharing food with those around him meant he carried that much more with him.
‘If the opponent were human, it would be tobacco.’
Fortunately, they were all demonic ghosts.
I spoke.
“After we’ve searched everything, let’s destroy all the formations.”
Crunch, crunch—
The sound continued, jarring against the surroundings.
“Want one too?”
“Sure.”
Ha-ryun didn’t refuse.
I examined all the murals carved into the walls, destroying those with sorcerous significance.
The floor was the same.
Proceeding methodically through each inspection and confirmation, we moved deeper inside.
A vast chamber revealed itself.
Then something strange caught my eye.
“Roots?”
Tree roots, at that.
They extended downward from the ceiling, and beneath them hung cocoon-like structures.
There were so many it was impossible to count them all.
Even more disturbing, I could see things writhing inside them, alive.
“Brother, what is this?”
“Souls. Multiple people’s souls, in fact.”
“So each cocoon contained souls?”
“I recognize this sorcery. I’ve even used it before.”
Sorcery.
Applied directly to souls themselves.
Multiple sorceries were woven together, but I understood their principles well enough.
My eyes grew cold and sharp.
“Simply put, these tree roots have been drawing power from the resentment of vengeful spirits to maintain the demonic ghosts inhabiting this ancient ruin. And in the process, they’ve been conjuring all manner of miracles.”
I exhaled slowly.
“The Inferno Array didn’t just incinerate the demonic ghosts—it completely drained the vital energy that these roots were supplying. Of course, given time, the power will accumulate again.”
With that, I summoned flames from my fingertips.
Fire erupted upward.
Without needing oil, the fire energy consumed every trace of sorcery and wood.
Within that blaze, I raised my pipa.
“Would you check if there’s anything else nearby? Ha-ryun.”
“Understood.”
Yeo Ha-ryun answered thus and turned to leave. It was a signal that I wished to be alone.
The pipa’s melody rang out softly through the flames.
The sound of the Soul-Guiding Melody sending each vengeful spirit onward.
It was not the harsh sound from before.
The pipa’s notes gently guided the souls of the commoners one by one, pushing them toward where they belonged.
Yeo Ha-ryun listened to that melody and fell into thought.
‘It wasn’t Hyeolseonggyo.’
Though influenced by Hyeolseonggyo, it wasn’t a priest of that sect who appeared directly this time.
They had chosen of their own accord to combine their indigenous sorceries with it.
‘By observing the sorceries, my brother must have realized it.’
That destroying Hyeolseonggyo would not erase humanity’s inherent evil.
Evil created by human hands through human power was crueler than anything else.
Suddenly, Yeo Ha-ryun witnessed a light flickering and then scattering faintly into the air.
It was a beautiful sight.
‘Can I see the spirits of the deceased with my own eyes?’
Was my brother’s Soul-Guiding Melody truly that powerful? Or perhaps it was due to the nature of this place—an ancient ruin.
Yeo Ha-ryun waited thus until my performance ended.
And so today, one hell was sealed.
* * *
I breathed deeply and heavily.
‘I’ve used the Soul-Guiding Melody far too much.’
Even a renowned swordsman from the Musan sect would be astonished at the quantity.
The Soul-Guiding Melody, a form of the Soul Transfer Technique, depletes both inner energy and sorcerous power.
I had protected the demonic cultivators while fighting at the entrance to the underground chamber.
I had deployed the large-scale Inferno Array and dismantled traps using shadow techniques.
I sent spirits onward, then fought again with martial prowess, and fought once more.
On top of that, I had to clean up so this underground ruin would never be used again.
The result of this relentless forced march that even a seasoned warrior could not endure.
My inner energy was already depleted, and my headache was severe.
‘This is going to kill me.’
I gripped the wall and retched.
A fragment of the Milgok Pill I’d just consumed mixed with blood spilled from my throat.
“Hyeong?”
“I must have pushed too hard.”
If not for the emergency medicine Ilkana had given me, it could have been dangerous.
‘Even if I exhaust my body this far, it won’t be much help.’
I pulled a medicine bottle from my belt.
It wasn’t just any medicine bottle.
It was clearly a Gangho-grade medicine container—the kind designed to protect its contents even during intense combat.
Judging by the Golden Blood Hall seal stamped on it, it seemed Sama Hyeon had provided it.
I took out a black pill from inside and swallowed it.
Then I also pulled out an iron syringe. The moment I inserted it into my vein, my hyeong’s eyelids grew heavy.
Drowsiness. Profound drowsiness.
“What is this?”
“Well… a kind of spirit medicine, you could say.”
My hyeong’s voice was languid.
“You’re injecting spirit medicine?”
“Yes. It’s for emergency situations like this. You can take it orally too, actually. But this way is faster. Of course, the side effects are faster as well.”
“Side effects?”
“Yes. Even if a Heart Demon surges in a situation like this, it blocks the Demon-Sealing Entrance. Instead, you get drowsy. Cough, cough.”
I coughed a few more times.
Fortunately, no more blood came up.
“Look at how well the spirit medicine works. We resolved it before even entering the Demon-Sealing Entrance.”
Yeo Ha-ryun thought that the sight of injecting it directly into a vein seemed insane no matter how you looked at it, but it appeared to be more effective than taking it orally.
‘And this probably isn’t entirely safe either.’
The fact that he hadn’t used it in ordinary combat suggested it was something to be used only when backed into a corner.
‘Baekrin Uiseon makes spirit medicines readily now, so he must have mixed this one specially for the situation.’
There must be that much burden involved.
My hyeong doesn’t tell me everything.
Partly because I wouldn’t understand anyway, and partly because I’d worry if I did.
Whether it’s one or the other in this situation, I can’t say, but in any case, my hyeong rarely hides the truth from me.
“All right. We’ve resolved the Demon-Sealing Entrance, so now the only battle left is against drowsiness.”
I began walking while fighting against sleep.
Every bone in my body screamed.
My muscles felt as though razor blades were embedded in them.
‘They say pain is the body’s language. In this situation, it has several meanings.’
First, my body—not made of bone—tells me I’ve reached my limit.
But second.
‘It tells me I’m still alive.’
Absurdly enough, even in this state, a phantom pain is creeping into my left pinky finger.
It doesn’t exist, replaced by a glove, yet my foolish brain accepts it as real and registers the pain.
‘I’m not sure if it’s purely psychological.’
Drowsiness pulls at me, yet the pain persists—truly infuriating.
In that moment, strength drains from my legs.
Thud—
Yeo Ha-ryun grasped his brother’s collar.
“Carry me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
As his brother grumbled, the younger man reluctantly hoisted him onto his back.
“Are you alright?”
>”Stop being stubborn.”
Why did his brother insist on appearing fine and composed before others, all by himself?
He couldn’t understand it. He couldn’t understand it, but if he forced himself to think about it…
‘He held a position of responsibility. My brother always has…’
He couldn’t afford to collapse. He wanted to be a tree where others could rest when they grew weary and exhausted.
In truth, his brother was a tree.
Weren’t many people finding comfort and leaning on him?
Behind him, his brother’s breathing gradually became slow and rhythmic.
‘They say fighting burns calories too.’
Once this battle ended, his brother would cook enormous amounts of food again, and they’d all eat together joyfully.
He’d eat a lot, but he wouldn’t consume as much as the boneless Cheonwoo, himself, or Sama Hyeon.
The deficit would gradually wear away.
‘What lies at the end of this path?’
Humans are creatures that can be crushed beneath a thumb.
It’s no coincidence that the stronger one becomes in Gangho, the more their mindset diverges from the ordinary.
Power makes one abandon humanity.
Someone like Cheon Sal-seong and himself were less human than they were ‘something’ wearing human skin.
He couldn’t understand it. He couldn’t understand it, yet he knew how precious this path was to his brother.
Yeo Ha-ryun hoped that wherever his brother reached at the end of this path would be a good place.
Otherwise, no matter what his brother said, he’d destroy it.
* * *
When Jin Cheon-hee opened his eyes, they had already arrived at the entrance where they’d come in.
“Ou, Ha-ryun rides smoothly.”
“You still have the energy to joke at a time like this?”
He grumbled as if exasperated.
In the stone chamber space directly below the entrance, Ilkana and all the demonic cultivators had gathered.
“Everyone has been regulating their breathing and composing themselves while undergoing treatment. Thanks to the two of you knocking them out… well, most don’t remember what happened.”
“That’s fortunate then.”
“Yes. If they’ve lost their memories, there’s no Heart Demon either.”
Seeing things like this, I realize the human body is truly foolish.
‘Well, what works is what works.’
The screams of those countless vengeful spirits were something even a demonic cultivator with the most thoroughly indoctrinated mind could not endure.
I spoke.
“I apologize to the resting demonic cultivators, but it seems we must return to the underground city after all.”
“Because this entrance may have been revealed to our enemies.”
“Yes. If we emerge only to find enemies lying in ambush waiting to strike, that would be problematic, wouldn’t it?”
“Then everything falls apart.”
“Exactly. So we need to find another entrance.”
I drew a picture on the ground with my fingers.
“Roughly tracing back my memory, our current location within the ruins is here. And the direction where another entrance is likely to be is this way.”
I drew the map with my hand.
“You’ve already figured this out in the meantime?”
“I just woke up from a good sleep, so my mind is working at full capacity.”
I chuckled softly at my own words.
Though I wondered if simply sleeping well could account for such perception, the other party was Ilgwang. Ilkana decided to simply accept it as one of those things.
The man before her was someone that even fellow strategists could never truly understand or predict.
* * *
We walked for about half a day.
There were traps scattered throughout, but far fewer than on the path leading toward the center.
Even in the darkness, I mapped out the route using my inner energy perception, and finally discovered a suitable entrance.
“It’s in a remote location, so I think this should be safe…”
Before I could say anything more, I was about to climb up first.
Tap!
Yeo Ha-ryun grabbed my shoulder.
“Wait a moment, brother.”
With that, he launched himself upward instead.

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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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