Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 818

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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 818
Beyond that, I taught Sama Hyeon many things.
Celestial Dragon Technique!
“A lizard, you say?”
“Yes, they say it grows back if severed, but don’t test it by cutting off your fingers. Just practicing it alone activates regeneration. Skin recovers quickly enough.”
“That would be classified as a divine technique, wouldn’t it?”
“Surprisingly, it’s not classified as one. I suppose it’s because the Immortal Divine Technique exists.”
The Immortal Divine Technique is like an upgraded version of the Celestial Dragon Technique.
I’d already mastered it, and I even created something called the Celestial Dragon Immortal Qi Technique by combining the two.
I’m currently learning it myself.
There’s a reason I haven’t taught him the Celestial Dragon Immortal Qi Technique.
While the Celestial Dragon Technique can be harmonized with other martial arts, the Celestial Dragon Immortal Qi Technique carries the risk of demonic possession if practiced alongside other techniques.
I can manage it because I have the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong and the Benevolent Divine Technique, but I can’t say the same for Sama Hyeon.
In fact, most internal cultivation methods naturally cannot be practiced together with other internal methods. Demonic possession isn’t a distant concern.
“That’s about right.”
What my brother was teaching Sama Hyeon wasn’t exceptional sword techniques or peerless footwork.
Sound techniques, regeneration techniques—things like that.
“Wisdom for living. Among divine techniques, sound techniques and regeneration techniques are far more useful for survival than sword forms, saber forms, or spear forms, you see? That’s what true divine technique is. What good is splitting mountains and seas? I need to survive first.”
“I’ve been in Gangho long enough now, and that’s certainly the most unique thing I’ve heard, brother.”
“Listen well, Hyeon-a. If you look at the history of Gangho, the number one master under heaven doesn’t necessarily live that long. Of course, there are those who reach enlightenment and ascend, but most are killed by the second or third strongest, or by some nameless wanderer who gained some fortuitous encounter.”
After saying that much, I took a drink and continued.
“The Three Elites are now resting in their respective positions, approaching enlightenment, though the Cheonma is somewhat an exception. Anyway, most others besides them are only the number one master for a brief moment. They never even make it to our Medical Guild. Usually they die instantly.”
Gossips always talk about martial prowess and the battles between two strong fighters.
Who is stronger, who is weaker, who exploits weaknesses well, who rides momentum better.
But only doctors know what comes after.
“Only the victor comes to the Medical Guild. They come to treat their wounds after winning. The loser is dead. Even if they’re fortunate enough to be saved, they usually don’t come.”
“The higher the pride of a warrior, the less they want to be seen by others when they lose~”
A child throwing punches in a martial arts hall and an eighty-year-old elder fighting a life-or-death match in a martial arena.
The weight is bound to be different.
“Even if their life is saved, they swallow their rage and go into closed-door training, never to return. Do you know why?”
“Because of a Heart Demon?”
At Sama Hyeon’s words, I shook my fingers.
“Half right. But half wrong. Usually, by the time someone becomes the number one master under heaven, they’re aged. Listen, no matter how refined one’s internal energy is, if their limbs are fractured and their discs are herniated, will closed-door training in seclusion fix that? A normal person couldn’t even walk at that point. But a Kang Ho-in can do it through nourishing life cultivation. On top of that, the Heart Demon makes them unable to feel pain. No, feeling pain itself becomes shameful.”
I don’t understand why people can’t say they’re in pain when they’re not machines.
But many Kang Ho-in regard it as shameful.
They accept such words as proof of weakness.
So many elders and dharma protectors go into closed-door training with damaged bodies and a Heart Demon upon them.
“If the Half-Step Return to Movement succeeds, they’ll live. But if the Half-Step Return to Movement fails?”
Years pass beyond the set deadline without them emerging.
The sect members must then deliberate.
Whether to wait or confirm if he’s still alive.
A closed retreat where supplies are periodically left in rock crevices would be acceptable.
I could confirm whether he’s alive or dead by checking if those supplies disappear.
But if it’s not that—if it’s a strict closed retreat where he only consumes Bigu Pills until the end?
What if he’s already passed away?
A Gangho Doctor is necessary for this confirmation.
If he’s passed, there’s nothing to be done, but when we open it, there’s a one-in-a-million chance he might have fallen into Demonic Possession, right?
In that case, we need someone there to administer acupuncture immediately.
“So Hyeon-a, don’t aim for something like the Greatest Under Heaven. If you get injured, go to the Medical Guild and get treated right away. Cultivate the Heavenly Dragon Art like you would swordplay.”
“Got it, Hyeong.”
“If you’re at a disadvantage, use sound energy to shout and escape. Even though you can’t quite produce that scratching-glass sound with your voice, just a sharp cry at close range can still slow your opponent’s blade. Or if you combine sound transmission with sound energy, you can even rupture their eardrums. That’s when you flee.”
When I faced those assassins before, I realized something about myself.
Can I survive?
Can I stay alive?
There is no value that takes precedence over this.
“So you’re saying I should prioritize living over winning, right~?”
“Yes. What does it matter if your pride gets a little bruised? There’s nothing more important than you staying alive.”
At those words, Sama Hyeon burst out laughing.
“What? Do you find my words funny too?”
“No. It just seems like the right thing to say. Once you’re dead, it’s all over.”
And so Sama Hyeon began learning the Heavenly Dragon Art from me.
Then, suddenly, Sama Hyeon had a realization.
“Wow, Hyeong? This matches really well with my Thousand Transformations Sword Technique.”
“Really? Excellent!”
What a relief.
The mental burden is something Sama Hyeon must handle on his own, but at least I’ve reduced the physical strain considerably, haven’t I?
“When you shrink your body to that of a young child or expand it to an eight-foot giant, naturally your bones and muscles bear tremendous stress. The Heavenly Dragon Art significantly alleviates that.”
“That’s fortunate.”
“Did you know that from the beginning, Hyeong?”
At Sama Hyeon’s question, I shrugged my shoulders.
“It’s definitely helpful for bone-strengthening techniques. So I thought it might help with the Thousand Transformations Sword Technique too. But I wasn’t certain.”
“Okay~”
Sama Hyeon said so and resumed cultivating the Heavenly Dragon Art.
Knowing it aided the Thousand Transformations Sword Technique, his learning accelerated even further.
Another month passed like this.
I finally received word that my Master, Jegalling, had arrived just below Baekrin Uiseon.
“Master has finally arrived!”
I eagerly prepared to greet my Master.
* * *
When I went out to welcome my Master, he had already returned with Yoo Ho.
‘Wow, that was fast.’
The moment the Scorpion arrived, he was already there waiting.
My Master gazed indifferently at the falling snow from above before turning his gaze toward me.
“Master, you’ve come. Your disciple has been waiting for you.”
“Good. I see you haven’t broken any bones while you were away.”
One might think such a response from my Master sounded rather cold, but I understood.
This too was my Master’s way of expressing concern.
It couldn’t be helped.
It was rare for his disciple to return without breaking something.
“Hehehehe!”
I took it as praise, naturally.
My Master bent his massive frame and examined the shackles around my ankles.
“Impressive that you didn’t remove them. If you’d wanted to, you could have easily broken free.”
“Because they carry Master’s concern within them. How could I dare to remove them of my own accord?”
Watching this exchange, Yoo Ho reflected.
Hwang-gu could also remove his collar whenever he wished, but he accepted it willingly because it was a symbol of his status.
Without the mark showing he was a spiritual creature protected by Gaebang and Baekrin Uiseon, every ruffian in Gangho would come at him.
So Hwang-gu’s collar was proof of trust—he kept it willingly, though he could snap it and leave whenever necessary.
My shackles were the same.
“And yet you still manage to cause trouble wherever you go.”
Jegalling spoke thus and unlocked the shackles around my ankles.
Click.
“Ah, freedom!”
I said this while rubbing my newly liberated ankles with my hands.
“Anyway, did your business end well?”
“Yes, it ended well. Well… you probably already know, Master. But what business took you to the imperial palace? I heard you made a wager…”
The Eunuch General was such an enigmatic person that while he seemed ready to tell everything, he always mysteriously glossed over the truly critical details.
‘To last long in the imperial palace, do you really need to be a hundred-year-old fox like that?’
In any case, he was an enigmatic fellow.
Meanwhile, Jegalling rubbed his chin thoughtfully before speaking.
“Hmm… it’s late tonight, so let’s talk tomorrow. Come to the front of the Elixir Furnace in the Medicinal Hall tomorrow morning.”
“The Elixir Furnace?”
“Yes.”
The Elixir Furnace.
A type of furnace used in elixir refinement.
With the Elixir Furnace, one could create poisons or spiritual medicines.
Naturally, Baekrin Uiseon also used this furnace to craft spiritual medicines.
‘What is Master planning?’
Normally, one would simply order the Medicinal Hall Master, but was he intending to personally refine a spiritual medicine?
“Understood. I shall see you at the Elixir Furnace tomorrow morning, Master.”
* * *
The next morning.
Jegalling stood among the refining furnaces from early dawn.
The Baekrin Medical Guild’s pharmaceutical chamber had grown to a scale incomparable to its past, with all buildings and facilities either expanded or renovated.
Yet there were still a few places that maintained their original state.
This was one of them.
The refining furnace chamber.
This was also where the Baekrin Medical Guild produced spiritual elixirs.
There were five refining furnaces, with Jegalling standing at their center.
Around Jegalling, a formation array was deployed. Those geomancers with keen spiritual sensitivity could feel the different elemental qi arising from the formation array, resonating mutually with the refining furnaces.
“…Wow.”
This was my first time witnessing such a sight.
Especially since my knowledge of geomancy and formation arrays was quite exceptional, I could appreciate just how remarkable the Jegallim Family’s refining furnaces truly were.
‘Come to think of it, I only learned the secret methods of spiritual elixir production from Master as theoretical knowledge, never putting them into practice.’
Master hadn’t explicitly forbidden it.
I’d simply been occupied making Western medicines like penicillin and streptomycin during that time.
The spiritual elixirs were either manufactured by the pharmaceutical chamber’s director, or I would bring spiritual pills myself.
‘Yet Master called me here like this….’
This was a place even the pharmaceutical chamber’s director couldn’t enter.
Originally, only direct bloodline members of the Jegallim Family could access this place.
Having entered such an exclusive location, my heart felt overwhelmed with emotion.
“Master.”
“You’ve arrived.”
“Will you begin making spiritual elixirs right away?”
At those words, Jegalling spoke matter-of-factly.
“I have a schedule, so there’s no helping it. Besides, I’ve transmitted this secret technique to you through written teachings before, but you’ve never practiced it in reality. I called you here so you could learn through actual experience.”
“Oh, oh…!”
“You’re quite restless, Hope.”
“Yes, yes, understood!”
I froze solid like a fish in the depths of winter, not even daring to breathe audibly.
Meanwhile, Jegalling began adjusting the formation array.
Normally, formation arrays are created by utilizing natural qi to shift the positions of rocks and trees.
However, this place was different.
‘The Five Elements and Eight Trigrams?’
Spiritual stones imbued with the qi of the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams were arranged in a line, and Master simply arranged and calibrated them through pure mental intent.
“All spiritual elixirs have their medicinal properties altered by the time they’re created and the celestial conditions of that moment. In a way, it’s similar to a person’s birth chart and destiny.”
“I see.”
Click-click-
Master rearranged the Qian (乾) trigram among the Eight Trigrams again and again.
One of the Eight Trigrams symbolizing heaven—light, warm, and expansive.
“Now that I’ve moved the Qian trigram, I should rearrange the Kun and Zhen trigrams next.”
“Correct. All eight trigrams handle different directions, and while they may seem unrelated, they are ultimately one. Do you know why?”
“Isn’t it because of the position from which we observe the formation?”
“Precisely. We can view a single object from multiple perspectives by changing our position. But as our position shifts, our perception of everything else transforms as well. The eight trigrams appear to represent directions, yet they also represent the viewpoint of the observer.”
This was difficult to grasp.
Yet geomancy, when explored deeply enough, does share certain philosophical parallels.
“Each spirit stone laid upon this floor is a supreme treasure of the Jegallim Family. Because those ignorant of their value see them as nothing but ordinary rocks, they survived the chaos without being plundered.”
Click, tap-tap-
The floor made of spirit stones began to move.
It resembled the sliding puzzles I played with as a child.
Yet the difficulty was incomparable.
Observing the celestial patterns and terrestrial features, then directly assembling the geomancy to match them.
Recreating an existing image with puzzle pieces was challenging, certainly, but manageable.
However, assembling a non-existent image from these fragments was an entirely different level of difficulty.
Yet my Master harmonized the eight trigrams and five elements with such ease, finally placing the last piece in its proper position.
‘This fast?!’

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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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