Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 835

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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 835
‘Wow… so it really does happen…’
I marveled at the sight.
Returning to youth! It meant a person growing young again.
True returning to youth was said to be when an elderly person became a young man, but in reality, those who achieved it could be counted on one hand.
Cheonma hadn’t undergone returning to youth—rather, her talent was unparalleled under heaven, and I heard that after she entered Hyeongyeong before aging could take hold, aging never came to her again.
In a sense, an entirely different case. My Master also experiences almost no aging, but among Kang Ho-in there exist those whose aging is extraordinarily slow.
Especially thanks to the Jegallim Family’s martial techniques’ characteristics, his aging comes even later.
Thanks to that, he boasts a taut face of someone in their late twenties.
Those who properly experienced returning to youth were the Abbot and Hyeolsaeng Nogoe of the Black Heaven Medical Guild.
It seemed Sulgye had experienced it too.
Truly a phenomenon experienced only by the chosen among the chosen.
It wasn’t something that happened just because one’s martial prowess was strong. Heavenly fortune? Of course it had to be present, and enlightenment goes without saying.
A realm that transcended even rebirth and transformation.
This was my first time witnessing it with my own eyes.
I myself had undergone rebirth and transformation, but not yet returning to youth.
‘Come to think of it, the legends of returning to youth even mentioned becoming a baby again, didn’t they? If my Master were to undergo returning to youth, would he become even younger—around elementary school age? Or middle school? That might be interesting to research later too…’
While I was lost in these tangential thoughts.
Jeong Gajangju, now young enough to be called a man in his prime, turned his head.
He hadn’t become a young man yet.
Still, he looked at least twenty years younger, and his inner strength seemed to have increased dramatically all at once.
And I understood well what such a phenomenon meant.
Enlightenment!
In Gangho, the phenomenon of gaining enlightenment and advancing in martial arts often occurs.
Extraordinarily rare, but those who gain enlightenment are observed to have their martial prowess level skyrocket all at once, and their inner strength greatly increases.
In fact, in the past, Sama Hyeon and Jin Cheon-woo.
And even Yeo Ha-ryun gained enlightenment through my special training, and I directly witnessed the phenomenon of them rapidly becoming stronger.
“Jin Sogakju.”
Snap.
The Patriarch cupped his fist and bowed his head.
“I am truly grateful. This kindness. This old man will never forget it.”
I asked him.
“What enlightenment did you gain, exactly?”
He had never experienced a single proper real combat, had he?
In the Dosan Sword Forest Gangho, he had never killed anyone, nor had he ever been wounded himself.
He must have agonized greatly over martial theory.
But even so, his dull talent had always been the wall.
Heart, technique, body.
Body (體)—the physical form was now complete.
Technique (技)—I could understand it just now through the Tai Chi Fist.
The twenty-four forms of Taiji Quan that he demonstrated were nothing special—any disciple of the Wudang School with even modest training would know them. Yet with those forms alone, he displayed swordsmanship of unparalleled brilliance.
‘I, who have reached the pinnacle of the Samjae Protection Method through the Kyeongsin Technique, have no right to criticize.’
And then the Samjae Sword Method?
Though it was a common sword technique one could acquire in any marketplace, mastering its form to perfection would allow one to rival even the greatest sword arts of legend.
‘That’s right. If other warriors of Gangho saw this, they would surely ask how such a complete transformation could be achieved with merely the twenty-four forms of Taiji Quan, without even reaching the realm of supreme martial arts.’
Even the Patriarch of the Wudang School himself had ultimately failed to achieve the Half-Step Return to Movement.
Though I had proposed a method to artificially induce it—risky though it was—he had refused.
‘If Gangho learns that a rural village patriarch accomplished what the Patriarch could not, the entire martial world would be turned upside down.’
Hands that had never taken a life had always brewed peach blossom wine.
Was that not also a path?
The final matter.
The heart.
I was so curious about this that I asked again.
“What did you perceive in the forms of the twenty-four Taiji techniques?”
“….”
The Patriarch looked down at his own hands.
Could that be called enlightenment?
He had lived his entire life yearning to be a warrior of Gangho, yet the enlightenment he had witnessed before achieving the Half-Step Return to Movement was not of Gangho at all.
Nevertheless, he felt he owed this young man before him some answer.
Even an enlightenment that could not kill a single ant—if it could still benefit the young man’s future, would that not be enough?
At last, the Patriarch wiped his face in embarrassment.
“I realized that all things have their original place, and no matter how hard one tries to escape, they always return.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“If the Doctor could turn back time, would you still meet your current Master?”
“I would.”
“I am but an ignorant village patriarch and do not understand such matters well, yet I can see that the path you have walked has been far from easy. Even knowing this, would you still meet her?”
“….”
I suddenly recalled my former self.
I died shot by bullets while holding a child.
If I had been told I could live by not protecting that child then, would I have fled?
‘I would not have hesitated. And I would meet my Master again. I would have saved Yeo Ha-ryun, saved Gongseon Yeong, saved Wang Gak-yeon, Cheonwoo, and Hyeon.’
And I would surely have brought my Master back to life once more.
Even if I had to dance upon the line of death again.
For the pain then, the despair then, would bring forth such joy anew.
That was the Taiji.
Meeting inevitably calls forth parting.
Joy must transform into despair, and despair must again transform into new joy, cycling endlessly.
“Yes. That would be so.”
“I felt the same. Even if I must send off my wife, my children, my grandchildren—even knowing this fate awaits—I would meet her again. Feigning helplessness, I would be drawn into the marriage arrangements of my elders, and on the wedding night, I would clasp both her hands and swear to protect her for a lifetime. Just as I did then.”
“….”
“It is merely a simple realization. Yet even if I were to endure that suffering once more, it would be worth it to see my wife’s rejuvenated face. Once I grasped that, I came to understand that everything is inevitability.”
“Inevitability?”
“Raindrops fall where they do because there is reason for them to fall there, and stones beneath one’s feet rest where they do because there is reason for them to be there.”
“Is it the will of Heaven?”
“No. It is causality—the power created between people. Had my wife not been there, I would never have remarried. The same applies to you, Doctor.”
“….”
“I came to realize that nothing is more fearsome than the bonds humans create. Though we feel our lives are free, in truth they are predetermined. Even the greatest master wandering through the void must have a home and family to return to, no? That is causality. And it is not such a terrible thing.”
“Even if a bird is free, without a tree to alight upon, it will wander eternally.”
“Indeed, your understanding is swift.”
“Yet knowing something in the mind differs from feeling it in the heart. Your sudden enlightenment, Elder, is of a different order.”
At those words, Jeong Gajangju could not help but laugh.
“Elder? I am merely a simple country folk. Just a provincial rustic who occasionally boasts in this small village. And yet, how shall I say it….”
The wind blew.
The elderly man closed his eyes.
Even as he realized his own rejuvenation, he thought how it resembled this gift—not transforming suddenly as the tales suggested, but gradually becoming renewed.
“Perhaps so. Even without drawing a sword. Even a life like this was ultimately the Way.”
The hermits he had seen at Mudang Mountain all gleamed brilliantly and appeared magnificent, and he had once believed that if he refined himself, he too would become like them.
Over nearly two decades of cultivation, he learned the truth: a stone remains a stone no matter how much it is polished.
His peers were, by comparison, rough gems—stones that would eventually shine with enough refinement, but a stone from the beginning would never gleam no matter how much it was polished.
His dull mind was slow to accept this.
And the journey of returning here, arriving at this point.
“Are there not things in this world that, though they do not shine brilliantly, become magnificent through long cultivation? I am like leather, then. Leather that has been carefully maintained for a long time. No matter how unsightly the leather may be, if it is polished and cared for over many years, it will become lustrous.”
“That too is the Way.”
“Ten thousand people have ten thousand different Ways. This was mine. And you, Doctor, will have your own Way as well.”
Saving people.
Giving life.
“Yes. I too have my own Way.”
The wind tousled the Doctor’s hair.
The Doctor gazed at the sky and spoke.
“Warriors are not superior to commoners. They simply know how to wield a blade better. By that measure, they do not know how to brew wine. Perhaps we have been mistaken in thinking that reaching the Way is solely a matter of martial prowess.”
“Haha. The Doctor is gilding this old man’s face.”
“Not at all. Those who live with their utmost effort have such a path.”
Jin Cheon-hee bowed deeply to Jeong Gajangju.
“Thank you for granting me such precious enlightenment.”
“No. I am the one who has incurred a lifetime of debt.”
The two exchanged respectful gestures toward one another.
Suddenly, Jeong Gajangju spoke.
“With this, a bond of causality has formed between you and me.”
“Even if I were to go back, I would meet you again, Patriarch.”
“True words. I too would gladly welcome you once more, Doctor.”
Just as every raindrop falls for a reason, so too did a reason emerge from the meeting of these two people.
I felt the terror of karmic connection.
* * *
“Ababababaa!”
“Yes. Grandfather. Grandfather.”
My great-grandchild played with me in the main hall.
The speed at which he crawled while prone was extraordinary—I had an intuition that this child would one day climb Mudang Mountain.
When asked if I would send him, Jeong Gajangju nodded.
“I intend to send him. It’s our tradition, after all.”
“What if he becomes enchanted by the sword and settles there?”
“That would be the child’s choice, so there’s nothing to be done about it. However, a parent’s heart cannot help but wish for his safety—that too is inevitable.”
In a way, it was contradictory action and thought.
But I understood that this too was the Way of a parent.
“I see.”
Jeong Gajangju gazed at his great-grandchild.
The baby’s world was still small.
For a time yet, his grandfather and Jin Nonya would be his entire world.
When he grew larger, I would become nothing more than a speck smaller than a star. Yet even that was beautiful.
I had chosen to love this child of my own free will.
“I was thinking of giving him a name…”
Since the mother had left without naming the child, he still had no name.
Had Jeong Gajangju refused to take the child, I would have planned for Mudang Mountain to issue a protection decree, but now there was no need.
Jeong Gajangju pondered for a moment before speaking.
“What of Hui-u (喜佑)?”
“You’ve taken one character from my name and one from Cheonwoo’s.”
“That’s the idea. Actually, I subtly asked the one who provided the funds as well, but he said peach wine would suffice.”
Ah, if it’s Hyeon, that’s certainly his nature.
Even when it doesn’t seem like it, he draws lines as sharply as a blade.
“He said it would be better to take the names of the brother who performed the treatment and the brother who brought the baby. He said that while money may seem impressive, it’s really nothing, so not to worry about it.”
That too was very much like Sama Hyeon.
“Jeong Hui-u. A fine name indeed.”
“Ppappabaa!”
The baby cried out and laughed.
The baby laughs while screaming.

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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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