Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 907
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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 907
Crack, crack, crack!
Even as I exchanged blows, my mind remained ice-cold and razor-sharp, calculating rapidly.
‘This is… impossible at my current level.’
What was different?
I had already experienced facing vast quantities of martial force.
Yet I could not properly defend against this opponent’s martial techniques.
Why was that?
The Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong immediately drew its conclusion.
The Asura Blood River Monster I had witnessed in the past. And Eon Jeong-mu from before.
Both were formidable enemies who poured forth martial force infinitely from the Hyeongyeong realm.
Yet they merely released that absolute, destructive power of martial force.
They possessed strength, but lacked technique, method, and artistry.
Without martial principle, they were nothing more than half-formed warriors.
But this opponent’s spear technique transcended the absolute realm itself.
Through countless life-and-death duels, he had mastered the martial principles befitting that transcendent level.
Therefore, even the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong could not easily find gaps or create openings!
Thud!
Two weapons infused with martial force collided.
Yet again, the shockwave from that impact lacerated my entire body.
Crack! Crackle!
This time, I raised my protective martial force to defend against the attack. But my complexion darkened.
‘My inner energy is now half-depleted. I must find a way.’
-Heh. Girin’s disciple. Weaker than Girin. You. When you die. Revenge on Girin. Kekeke. Delightful.
Had my Master faced such opponents all along?
If so, then I, who also wielded the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong, surely possessed an answer as well.
Therefore.
I had to think.
Crack!
Thirty-two wounds now covered my body. Yet I persisted stubbornly, thinking relentlessly.
Think, think, think, think, think….
My thoughts fractured, then rapidly reconnected.
This opponent possessed all the conditions of essence, energy, and spirit—what some called the trinity of heart, energy, and body.
Some say that essence, energy, and spirit is Chinese terminology used in traditional medicine and Chinese Daoism, while the trinity of heart, energy, and body is Japanese terminology rooted in Japanese martial schools.
In recent Korean martial fiction, some authors employ the trinity of heart, energy, and body, while others use essence, energy, and spirit.
Some works employ both.
Each author’s martial philosophy differs, and they adopt whichever term suits their particular framework.
The Jicheon Cheonma employs both.
‘If one delves deeply, the very Chinese characters used differ, so the classification criteria differ, and the etymological foundations differ as well.’
Yet having rolled about in Gangho, I understood that the saying “all rivers return to the sea” was no mere metaphor.
Either way, the essence remains the same.
Martial arts cannot ultimately be defined by a single principle.
My opponent possesses a body befitting Hyeongyeong, experience befitting Hyeongyeong, and martial prowess befitting Hyeongyeong.
He even wrapped himself in the Martial Forest’s protective garments.
With my homeland reduced to rubble behind me, he shows no complacency whatsoever.
‘This is the worst. At least Eon Jeong-mu didn’t know how to properly use his own martial arts, so he was manageable.’
Master.
How have you managed to face such monstrous beings all this time?
Slash!
Another wound was added to my body.
Yet still, I thought.
Then suddenly, a memory surfaced.
-Hope, I know well that you have chosen to be a Doctor rather than a Warrior. But to save lives as a Doctor in the Gangho of the Dosan Sword Forest, you must ultimately be able to sustain yourself as a Warrior as well. To achieve this, you must always remember to contemplate the essence of martial arts.
-The essence of martial arts?
-Yes. The source of martial prowess. What could it be? Many discuss martial arts, but no absolute answer exists. But how does our family view martial arts?
It was something I had heard when learning the Five Elements Divine Art in the past.
And at that time, my Master said this.
-The Five Elements Divine Art, known as our family’s supreme technique, is actually not our family’s creation.
-Really? Truly?
-Yes. What the Patriarch directly created were things like the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong and the Cheongi Miribu. The Five Elements Divine Art was brought by him, but he did not directly create it. A Warrior who could not find a successor entrusted his martial arts to the Patriarch and passed away. The Patriarch ensured the lineage would not be severed by combining it with the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong.
As they say, a tiger leaves its hide when it dies.
A Warrior leaves behind martial arts when he dies.
For them, martial arts are ultimately the soul, and the soul received in this way was passed down through the Jegallim Family.
It was a story I was hearing for the first time.
My Master furrowed one brow.
-However, as generations passed, such stories gradually began to fade. As time went on, Gangho began to remember the Five Elements Divine Art as if the Jegallim Family were its origin. Though corrections were made several times, after hundreds of years had passed, the perception became firmly rooted nonetheless.
Time buries all things.
A vow between a Warrior and a strategist that could not be severed even by death.
That vow was carried forward through hundreds of years, generation after generation.
For Warriors, martial arts and the soul are more precious than parents, children, or lovers.
This soul, passing through generations and transcending time, continued to honor that vow.
In Gangho, it became something like a beautiful tale, then gradually faded from memory altogether.
The Five Elements Divine Art became one with the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong, flowing through a single bloodline.
-Moreover, when the family fell to calamity and the Seo house burned, it became difficult to find records of which Warrior entrusted the Five Elements Divine Art, let alone identify him.
I suspect he was one of the Warriors who shared life and death with the family for a long time.
In the end, the flames of the family’s destruction consumed many memories.
-Of course, when the Seo house burned, some of the Five Elements Divine Art was leaked. Yet when people discuss the Five Elements Divine Art, they think of the Jegallim Family first. Do you know why?
-Because the Jegallim Family was the only one who properly wielded the Five Elements Divine Art, was it not?
My Master smiled, satisfied with my answer.
-Martial arts are ultimately combat. Then what is martial prowess? Prowess means accumulation, so martial prowess means accumulating martial arts. To accumulate martial arts is ultimately to investigate principle, establish technique and method, and systematize them.
-…!
-That’s right. Our main family views martial arts as technique and principle, and mastery lies in understanding them.
He looked down at his disciple.
In his gaze rested the pride of the main family.
-All things under heaven and earth can be unraveled through the principles of yin, yang, five elements, and eight trigrams….
-Thus, our main family’s Gae Pa Josa selected the Five Elements Divine Art and developed it as our own.
-Now, Hope.
-Observe.
-The five elements are born from yin and yang, boundless and infinite, capable of filling all things under heaven and earth.
‘….’
Why?
Why did my Master’s teachings surface at this crossroads of life and death?
A moment of desperate struggle.
Death approaches so near that its rough breath touches the nape of my neck.
In such a moment, the memory of learning the Five Elements Divine Art resurfaced.
The foundation of foundations.
Why did the memory of first learning the Five Elements Divine Art emerge, not the countless advanced techniques?
Some instinct or survival instinct. Or perhaps the divine blood flowing through my body responding?
Until now, I believed I had perfected the Five Elements Divine Art, and my Master said so too.
But it was not so.
Perfection and reaching great mastery were merely the starting point.
The Five Elements Divine Art was something far more profound.
-The five elements are born from yin and yang, boundless and infinite, capable of filling all things under heaven and earth.
Whoooooooosh!
The qi of the Five Elements Divine Art within Jin Cheon-hee’s body surged violently.
The five elemental true qi, which had previously rested harmoniously in a single dantian, split apart and began moving separately.
‘Martial arts are ultimately technique. Just as what matters to an excellent surgeon is surgical skill, what I need to survive in Gangho is… to deploy increasingly refined technical martial arts through the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong.’
It was an awakening.
An approach different from ordinary Gangho practitioners.
Yet for Jin Cheon-hee, a modern person and a doctor, this way felt more familiar and natural.
Until now, Jin Cheon-hee had merely ‘used’ martial arts.
As they were. Simply utilizing the functions martial arts possessed.
But now I realized I must truly understand martial arts as technique, apply them, and reassemble them more freely.
And the first step.
Reassemble the qi of the Five Elements Divine Art.
Thus.
The Five Elements Divine Art’s Five Elements Union Wall, originally used to kill opponents, I now deployed within my own body.
Boom!
It was as if a bomb exploded inside my body.
Yet because of it, Jin Cheon-hee could move at a speed that seemed to freeze time itself.
‘I can see it!’
My thoughts accelerate even further.
I instinctively realized I could move several times faster and drew my blade.
What I unsheathed then was the Black Pine Cloud Sword.
The sword Gongseon Yeong had gifted me.
The Icy Crystal Sword and the Black Pine Cloud Sword.
Dual swords are inherently complex in their paths and movements, making simultaneous use uncommon.
The initial difficulty of learning them operates on an entirely different dimension than wielding a single blade.
However, the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong maximizes my perception.
And the experiences of transcending life and death unfold the sword paths.
‘I’m not sure why… but this feels right.’
Besides, I was ambidextrous from the start anyway!
At this crossroads of life and death, piercing through the abyss of oblivion, my instinct whispered that this was correct.
And the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong immediately produced the answer.
‘I see. Neither mutual generation nor mutual conquest can occur alone, can they?’
Human bonds are the same.
Neither grace nor resentment is possible in isolation.
The Five Elements Divine Art is ultimately about causality.
Two blades, each bearing different elemental properties, created mutual generation and mutual conquest in an instant.
The water-conquers-fire yin-yang separation that I had once detonated with water and fire techniques was merely the most basic of basics.
Back then, deploying different elements of the Five Elements in each hand made it unsuitable for offense and defense against opponents of a certain level.
But now, having comprehended the essence of martial arts!
‘I don’t need to use only mutual conquest. I can apply mutual generation as well.’
Fire and wood meeting to create extreme yang energy.
Water and metal meeting to create extreme yin energy.
None of this would be possible with a single blade.
Just as people meeting create bonds.
Bonds draw the Five Elements.
The Five Elements create sword paths, beginning mutual generation and conquest all the more.
Against Taha-pa’s spear containing thirty-eight strikes of speed and illusion, I too unfold the Taeul Danseonggeom thirty-eight times.
Thirty-eight instances of mutual generation and mutual conquest!
Kwaboom!
A terrifying explosion erupts in the empty air.
Spear and sword collide, their energies clash, drawing in the surrounding air and triggering a massive detonation.
Yet receiving that explosive force head-on, I walk forward.
Transcendent Martial Arts Benevolence.
Transcendent Martial Arts Life and Death Wisdom.
초월심무 천라지망—-!!
Until just moments ago, Taha-pa’s technique, speed, and power held overwhelming superiority, making the Transcendent Martial Arts impossible to use.
Now that Transcendent Martial Arts meets the Five Elements and blooms all at once.
My entire body blazed crimson, and in an instant, the world around me warped and twisted.
Within that frozen moment of absolute stillness, I thrust my blade forward.
A wound was carved into the world itself, and the world was pierced through.
When time began flowing normally again.
Taha-pa’s heart was precisely impaled by the Bing Jeong Sword.
-Hack… What… How is this possible?
It was not merely a piercing.
Martial force radiated from within, shredding Taha-pa’s insides to ribbons.
He attempted to circulate his energy internally to resist, but he could no longer mount any meaningful defense.
‘Even for a Goe-eo-in, a pierced heart with martial force colliding within it cannot be endured. In truth… merely surviving this long is already astounding.’
The energy clinging to his body rapidly dissipated, and his vitality drained away.
“I simply detonated the energy within my body and used that explosion as the driving force to achieve this extraordinary speed.”
This was no different from using the body of Jin Cheon-hee like a gasoline engine.
The principle of an automobile engine.
Fuel enters, it ignites, and power is generated.
By repeating this continuously, one achieves tremendous velocity and force—is that not precisely how an automobile operates?
On top of that, I calculated the Five Elements’ mutual generation and suppression, carving out sword paths relentlessly.
I accomplished all of it with my body.
‘In truth, it is madness.’
Had another attempted such a feat, they would have suffered qi deviation, their insides would have exploded, and their entire body would have been torn to shreds in death!
From the very beginning of the attempt, one would vomit blood at the seventh stage.
This was possible only because I had trained my external martial arts to a level approaching Geumgang Indestructibility.
Furthermore, my mastery and control of inner force had reached a transcendent level, making this feat possible.
Therefore, Jin Cheon-hee could become something moving at hypersonic speeds in an instant.
Beyond that, I used Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong to finely adjust this body accelerated several times over.
That tremendous power suppressed Taha-pa’s realm and divine techniques, allowing me to drive the blade into his chest like this.
-Blood Girin… how terrifying…
Taha-pa spoke thus and lowered his head.
Simultaneously, his body began splitting apart with a tearing sound.
Immediately after.
His body exploded like a bomb.
Kwaaaang!
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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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