Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 909

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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 909
Blink. Blink.
I blinked my eyes. Before me, Cheonwoo and Sama Hyeon sat conversing about something.
I wasn’t panicked.
Had I regressed once or twice before?
‘No, this is the second time.’
Regression itself was one thing.
During my struggle with Baekcheon-gun, I had died but survived by crossing through space, paying the price of losing vast quantities of blood.
With the Jin Ju-eon incident, I had restored the people of the Jin Ju-eon family from corpses back to the living. The price for that was surrendering my hair.
When I thought about it.
I had lost the most when I actually rewound time itself.
The fingers that disappeared then still haven’t returned.
-Tick.
The sound of a clock I shouldn’t have been able to hear rang out again.
I casually wiped away the tears flowing down my face with my sleeve and immediately reached out my hand.
I pulled out the earthenware fox clock that Yoo Ho had given me.
An ugly potato fox with a clock attached underneath.
I had wondered if it came from an alchemist of the Western Continent, but it seemed to have more of a story behind it.
I held it to my ear.
“….”
Still, no sound could be heard.
Yet strangely, the hour and minute hands moved according to time.
In modern times, there were many silent clocks, but surely not in this era.
There must be some kind of unknown alchemy embedded within it.
‘On the surface, it’s just a cute little clock….’
Looking at its appearance, I couldn’t in good conscience call it a treasure of the martial world.
It just felt like something made roughly by hand.
But that didn’t mean it was completely poorly made either.
It was rather endearing in its own way.
Yoo Ho would make an expression of extreme disgust whenever I said this.
‘How did this thing manage to block causality?’
While my taste did lean toward potatoes, what people envisioned as a treasure of the martial world was something else entirely.
And if it was a treasure that deceived causality, it would be even more so.
‘If they found this during a body search, I doubt they’d think it was anything. They’d probably only recognize something like the inspector’s bracelet the imperial palace gave me.’
But wasn’t it enough if it was cute?
Tears flowed again.
‘Ah, my vision is getting blurry.’
I wiped the corners of my eyes with my sleeve again and observed the earthenware clock.
After shaking the clock a few times, I examined each scratch on its surface.
Then finally, I gave up.
‘I’m not sure.’
Regardless, since I’ve turned back time, when the reckoning comes….
Piiiiing–!
As expected.
A piercing tinnitus engulfed my ears.
Goosebumps erupted down my spine.
That sound was the one I feared most.
A terror that made even my armpits tense and rigid.
Now it was my turn to lose something.
Whether fingers, blood, or hair.
Since I’d turned back time, the price would be steep.
-Click.
In that moment.
The tinnitus stopped.
The second hand, minute hand, and hour hand of the clock began turning backward.
As if merely turning the clock could pay the price of time, the hands spun and spun and spun before finally stopping.
-Click.
-….
No more sounds reached my ears.
Neither the tinnitus nor the sound of the clock turning.
‘Is that all?’
I looked down at my hands.
Then I tried to turn the hour and minute hands with my fingers.
Click!
They wouldn’t turn, as if something was locked.
The moment I felt that sensation, I understood why.
Boggi’s blood whispered knowledge to me.
It was a sensation thicker than what people called intuition, yet shallower than knowledge acquired through studying books directly.
Yet I could simply ‘know’ it.
They were born shamans and possessed divine blood.
‘Ah. I see. I have to wait until it’s charged.’
This clock was a kind of talisman doll.
It bore the owner’s misfortune in their stead.
‘If I die here and turn back time again, then I’ll have to pay the price with my own body.’
In game terms, it’s like gaining an extra life.
‘If I piece together what Yoo Ho told me, the good deeds I’ve done become causality and serve as the power source for this clock, and when I die and must pay the price, it shields me from disaster instead.’
I grasped the structure in an instant.
‘But won’t this break if I use it recklessly?’
The durability concerns me somewhat.
In anime, robots get destroyed right when new models ship, but this is a martial arts world.
If I relied on the new product shipment and smashed the earthen jar clock, then….
‘Hmm, next time it might not just be fingers—I could lose an entire arm.’
That’s all I can think about.
“Hyeong, what’s wrong?”
Sama Hyeon asks.
He doesn’t know that I’ve turned back time, but he still sensed that something was amiss with me.
Perhaps it’s because I’ve been crying.
“It’s nothing.”
For some reason, I find it difficult to look Sama Hyeon in the eye.
And Cheonwoo, who watches silently from above as well.
“….”
No, I think I understand.
Cheonwoo tried to fight the enemies, and Sama Hyeon tried to push me away and send me far from here.
My younger siblings who just died protecting me.
Yes. There’s nothing I can do about it.
‘Because it’s a death only I remember.’
In this world, this damned world, something only I remember.
‘You died trying to save me.’
I cannot exchange another word with Sama Hyeon.
Instead, I sat in lotus position for a moment and circulated my Heavenly Circulation.
‘My internal energy is fine as expected. All the internal injuries I sustained just now have completely healed.’
Though the body has returned, the insights remain.
Moreover, thanks to the life-or-death battle I just experienced, I had to spend considerable time consolidating the enlightenment gained from combat.
‘There’s nothing that makes you grow faster than a battle for your life.’
Of course, dying like this would be pointless, but fortunately I had one coin.
‘Our fox coin.’
After consolidating the recent enlightenment with the fox coin for a while, I slowly opened my eyes.
‘Yes. Suppress the emotions. What matters is what comes next.’
My current residence is a guest room in the magistrate’s office.
Operations are already underway, and I’ve captured nearly all the Goe-eo-in hybrids in Qingdao.
‘Exactly one day before.’
I’ve learned the secret of the underwater city.
If Boggi’s blood is spilled there, Hae-seon’s seal will be broken.
‘Such a being is not something humans can fight.’
Escape is of course also impossible.
I burned my body to fight, hoping to gain at least one weakness, but what I learned was this.
To an immortal, human resistance seems infinitely meaningless.
No matter how much an ant bites at a finger, it only tickles—it can be ended with a single swipe.
‘Hahahaha, my mind hasn’t broken. It remains intact.’
Against such an overwhelmingly, infinitely overwhelming existence, I burned everything and fought.
And I had come to realize just how hollow that conclusion was.
For an ordinary Kang Ho-in, merely knowing something vast and distant beyond humanity, merely having fought a meaningless battle—one that was, in a sense, endless torture—against such a being would have twisted their mind with a Heart Demon.
But the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong does not drive its practitioners to madness.
The Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong never drives its practitioners mad.
‘Perhaps even madness could be a blessing.’
Escape is impossible.
If I leave this place entirely, it becomes a den of Goe-eo-in and the Central Plains end.
‘That existence’ said the apocalypse has come and would cover the entire world in water.
Even if I don’t go, it would be over the moment it grabs some weak imperial family member and spills their blood.
Even if all the imperial family members have guards attending them, this is—
‘A time bomb.’
One that grows larger the longer it’s left alone.
Then the image of my younger siblings turning into a handful of blood flashed through my mind.
My body tilts slightly to the side.
Yet I do not go mad.
That doesn’t mean I’m not suffering.
It’s like being so desperately drowsy you might die, yet sleep won’t come.
That kind of feeling.
Even so, the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong faithfully guides me forward.
‘I need to draw out Taha-pa and face him outside the city.’
How?
‘….’
Suddenly, I recall the military garrison stationed outside the city.
The fire bombs taken from the garrison were far more powerful than expected.
‘If I gather more fire bombs, dump them all into Hae-seon, detonate them, and flee quickly?’
I detonate them before Taha-pa appears.
‘Hmm… will it work?’
It seems somewhat difficult….
Then.
‘Something else….’
I gaze down at my right arm.
Hyeongyeong Poison.
‘What if I fully release it?’
Hyeongyeong Poison is difficult for me to control.
It was manageable before, but as my realm has deepened recently, the poison has naturally become far more potent.
To the point where I myself could become poisoned.
But now?
Haven’t I just gained enlightenment of the Five Elements through death?
If I can use the mutual generation and mutual restraint of two attributes to protect my body and release only the poison?
If I unleash it and flee with haste?
‘There’s potential.’
Isn’t this the method the Sichuan Tang Family uses when circumstances demand it?
‘Poison cultivation… Hmm. I’ll need to control it carefully.’
The burden increased somewhat, but I realized this was safer than the previous option, so what choice do I have?
‘If not for Hae-seon, this battle would have ended. It’s a shame. Or should I say I’m fortunate to know Hae-seon exists?’
Without the power of time, this world would have faced destruction.
‘This is absurd. The button for annihilation lies so close at hand.’
Why was this world created in such a manner?
Jin Cheon-hee rose from his seat after thinking that far.
“Hyeong, are you alright?”
“Are you done thinking~?”
My two younger brothers ask.
Then suddenly, my gaze settles on Sama Hyeon’s hand.
The severed hand and the current hand overlapped as phantoms.
‘Stop, stop thinking about it.’
I deliberately stretch languidly as if it’s nothing.
“I’ll go to the military garrison to gather more fire bombs.”
Sama Hyeon immediately interjects.
“Then let’s go together~”
“Let’s go together, Hyeong.”
Whether I rewound time or not, they’ve realized I’m in an unstable state.
My upper body is tilted as if I’m crying, and I won’t say what’s wrong.
I’m not speaking deeply, and I’m not even making eye contact.
I know. I do know.
‘There’s no helping it.’
I feel sorry for worrying them unnecessarily.
* * *
The outskirts of Qingdao.
Military garrisons naturally exist here as well.
Of course, they don’t possess the formidable military strength of the border regions engaged in real-time combat with foreign enemies, but they’re still incomparable to ordinary constabulary posts.
And I’ve already visited here before to take several fire bombs.
Now, returning to that military garrison.
I could see that a considerable number of soldiers were absent.
‘It’s natural, if anything.’
At the Magistrate’s request, most of the soldiers were now forming defensive lines at important points throughout Qingdao.
Yet the security remains strict.
The reduced forces are maintaining maximum vigilance.
They know this region will soon become a battlefield.
‘Why is the security stricter than when I first came? The number of people decreased, but those remaining are mostly elite soldiers with traces of martial training visible.’
I tilt my head at this different scene from before.
[Hyeong, these people are at least second-rate warriors, aren’t they?]
[Right. Just as Third Prince said. Their internal energy appears to be at least ten years’ worth. And there are nearly hundreds of such individuals… It’s enough to make even modest mid-sized sects bow down, isn’t it?]
[You’ve noticed it too? It’s different from before. Where did they recruit elite soldiers from?]
Does the Magistrate possess that level of political capability?
While mobilizing troops stationed in Qingdao County is possible, does the Magistrate have the political clout to mobilize military units from neighboring regions?
He’s just a timid man who trembles in fear.
‘If such a thing were happening, there’s no way it wouldn’t reach my ears?’
Though questions lingered, I set them aside for now and headed toward the military garrison’s main gate.
The soldier greeted Jin Cheon-hee with courtesy.
“I’ve confirmed the arrival of Magistrate Jin Cheon-hee! What brings you to our garrison?”
“I’ve come to receive more of the items I withdrew previously… Did you know I would be coming?”
“Our superiors issued a description of your appearance. However, you must also present your credentials.”
At the soldier’s words, Jin Cheon-hee produced and displayed the Inspector’s badge.
With that, I was guided directly inside.
On my previous visit, I had been escorted by Ma Gwan, the supreme commander of this garrison—a Flying General, the lowest rank among generals.
But this time, instead of heading toward Ma Gwan, I was being led directly to the warehouse.
‘So they really did know I was coming?’
As I arrived at the warehouse with that thought, an unexpected figure was waiting for Jin Cheon-hee’s party.
“Hehehehe. It’s been a while, Master.
The Eunuch General.
The moment I saw him, a sharp sensation surged through me.
‘Ah, so there was a hidden passage here!’
A piece of the puzzle I would never have encountered had I received the fire bombs and detonated them according to plan.
Because Jin Cheon-hee had turned back to investigate further instead of advancing, I was able to meet the Eunuch General.
“The tea of Qingdao has a particularly fine taste.”
He had brought a table into the warehouse and was actually drinking tea?
“It’s been a while, Eunuch General. But what brings you to this place?”
“I heard you were dealing with the异族—the foreign races.”
“You knew about the Goe-eo-in?”
“If the eyes and ears connected to the Empire don’t know what even the wanderers of Gangho know, that would be a problem, wouldn’t it? Isn’t that precisely why the Dongchang exists as an organization?”
The Eunuch General’s words were true.
The Dongchang was the Emperor’s eyes and ears, and a blade hidden in shadow.
If the Jinyiwei represented the Emperor’s sword and military might, then the dark underbelly behind it was handled by the Dongchang.
Throughout history, when an Emperor’s power was strong, the Dongchang and Jinyiwei were used to govern the Empire.
When an Emperor’s power was weak, the Dongchang and Jinyiwei would struggle for dominance and destroy the nation—such was the saying.
In fact, weren’t all of the Shisangsi who manipulated the unified Empire’s Emperor before the Three Kingdoms period eunuchs?
This pivot of power, the Eunuch General, was smiling slyly at Jin Cheon-hee.
The fire bombs from the Imperial Research Chamber—judging by their firepower alone, they were dangerous enough to potentially destabilize the nation.
They must have been guarded with exceptional, extraordinary care.
So who on earth had moved such a significant thing?
The answer to it all.
“This humble villager, visited twice over, could no longer restrain myself and have revealed my true form.”
Another hidden path.
I trembled.

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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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