Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 919

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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 919
I hastily brought tea and sat down, whereupon the representative from Baekrin Medical Guild immediately pulled out a proposal and slid it across to me.
“I can’t read.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Only then did he tuck the paper back into his robes.
This is why I despise scholars.
“Born illiterate and ignorant as I am, lengthy explanations will only confuse me. State your business plainly.”
Besides, my shop was already facing closure because of Baekrin Medical Guild’s iron monopoly.
It was only natural that I viewed them unfavorably.
“Baekrin Medical Guild is currently seeking masters to guide our blacksmiths.”
“Masters?”
Isn’t that normally just apprenticeship?
Work them for about ten years, then pass on the techniques.
“Ah, we don’t operate that way. The Soggakju dislikes making someone work for ten years under the guise of teaching them techniques. Instead, if you cultivate ten disciples, we provide monthly wages and martial arts training.”
“Hmm.”
Martial arts?
Now that’s tempting.
“Furthermore, among those disciples, the most exceptional craftsmen will be formally invited to Baekrin Medical Guild to form a collective workshop.”
“…Martial arts training, you say?”
“Yes. You needn’t worry about your age. Of course, since you haven’t learned martial arts from the beginning, you cannot train like a Kang Ho-in. However, simply mastering the fundamental cultivation methods should significantly improve your strength.”
Everyone knows how exceptional Baekrin Medical Guild’s longevity cultivation techniques are.
“Furthermore, we’ve also prepared a signing bonus.”
He showed me the amount written on the slip.
When I saw the figure, it was truly an astronomical sum!
‘Damn it, so Baekrin Medical Guild really does have that much money!’
My workshop’s techniques couldn’t possibly compete with the iron Baekrin Medical Guild sells anyway.
In fact, I thought it would be more profitable to buy their iron and forge weapons to sell.
But they’re gathering craftsmen to make farming tools?
And training disciples?
The compensation is martial arts and money.
Even if I’m too old to learn martial arts well…
“You brat! Didn’t I tell you not to touch the guest refreshments!”
“Wahhhhh! Grandfather!”
My grandson was caught red-handed trying to sneak a sweet and received a harsh scolding.
My son quickly rushed over, tucked the child under his arm, and fled to another room.
Though I am such a stern grandfather…
‘If my grandson could learn martial arts starting from his current age, that would be wonderful…’
Receiving martial arts education here would be far better than sending him to a martial school.
“Additionally, we can supply iron at even lower prices. Oh, and we’ll also provide lower-grade medicinal pills. Depending on your performance, we won’t hesitate to support further expansion of your smithy.”
“…Why go to such lengths? These aren’t weapons—merely farming tools. I’ve never seen a sect treat blacksmiths with such respect except those on the brink of war.”
That much was true.
Money could certainly do that.
But martial arts and spirit medicine?
Even if they were merely lower-grade, it seemed excessively generous.
If she were a first-rate blacksmith, perhaps I could understand.
First-rate blacksmiths are sought after by the great sects with burning eyes, so it’s conceivable they might receive such rewards.
But a second-rate blacksmith.
Blacksmiths of my caliber only move busily when a blood war approaches.
That’s why when that time comes, both the Righteous and Heterodox Factions gather blacksmiths without distinction.
When I mentioned this, the manager spoke.
“The Soggakju said that crafting farming tools is just as important as preparing for blood wars.”
“Hmm?”
“She also said that making rice is harder work than taking a life.”
“…That’s peculiar. I’ve never heard such talk in the Gangho.”
So Cheonhailgwang is truly Cheonhailgwang.
But Wang Pan felt his heart sway.
Just from those few words, his resolve shifted.
After all, he too found more joy in crafting hoes and spades than in forging swords.
A craftsman’s mood is inevitably swayed by the objects he creates.
No matter how renowned a master blacksmith, one cannot help but feel an ominous mood when forging swords before a blood war.
People will die, after all.
Perhaps a legendary master who crafted divine weapons might feel differently.
But a second-rate blacksmith like myself has never once sharpened a blade without imagining who might be pierced by it.
‘Sigh.’
The choice was not difficult.
“Could you help my grandson learn that martial art? As for me, it matters not what becomes of me. But could you help our grandson?”
At those words, the corners of the manager’s eyes softened gently.
Perhaps he was thinking of his own parents back home?
The air in the separate quarters grew warm.
* * *
A month passed after that.
I received instruction in martial arts and also obtained lower-grade spirit medicine to aid in internal cultivation.
Only I learned the martial art, however.
My grandson did not.
But that was fine.
‘Free admission to the martial arts city and even access to the foundational academy.’
There is an academy where the Baekrin Medical Guild’s martial artists and doctors send their own children.
My grandson could now enter that place!
Whether this child becomes a Kang Ho-in, a doctor, or a blacksmith like myself remains unknown.
But once he learns the fundamentals of martial arts there, he can become anything.
‘And he’ll know letters too.’
I felt pleased thinking that while I was illiterate, my grandson would be different.
Moreover, even an old man like me had achievements, so I felt like I was truly living.
‘Perhaps I actually do have talent as a warrior.’
Learning martial arts anew at this age was no easy feat.
Usually at best, it was just life-nurturing techniques.
Of course, that was significant too.
But I had begun showing progress beyond mere life-nurturing techniques.
‘Still, it’s peculiar that I can only build inner energy by working at the blacksmith shop.’
What I was learning were foundational martial arts.
I heard that for advanced martial arts, one had to accumulate energy within a special formation inside Baekrin Medical Guild.
However, there was no need to go all the way to advanced techniques—this much was sufficient.
‘Good. Very good.’
Moreover, I was even more pleased to discover such excellent compatibility with this old body of mine.
‘I’ve heard that the Soggakju devised a cultivation method allowing even the elderly to learn martial arts, but I wonder if it’s really true.’
I’d heard he’d taken great interest in the bodies of the elderly these days.
Apparently, he was conducting extensive research in that area.
Perhaps that was why.
I’d heard that the elderly learned faster than young people.
Of course, three things were necessary for that.
First, to circulate energy every dawn in the same posture.
Second, to work at the blacksmith shop before the fire during set hours.
Third, to abstain from alcohol while cultivating energy.
Wang Pan was fundamentally a sincere man.
From the moment he first grasped the hammer until now, he’d never missed a single day of blacksmith work.
Rather, the most difficult of these three was alcohol.
Because the work was so exhausting, he’d been drinking alcohol instead of water in between.
Some female blacksmiths don’t touch a drop of alcohol while forging blades, but Wang Pan was a second-rate craftsman.
Quite skilled, but not first-rate—just someone who had to hammer away diligently day after day.
So blacksmiths like Wang Pan were naturally heavy drinkers.
But to quit drinking altogether.
How was he supposed to endure it?
Yet the answer revealed itself in just a week.
‘My whole body overflows with vitality, and I don’t tire easily while hammering. Even the heat is far more bearable than before.’
Even my eyes had become brighter.
Blacksmiths usually damage their eyes quickly from staring at flames for so long.
But by steadily cultivating the martial arts Ilgwang taught me, my eyes became so much brighter that I could even see my grandson’s eyelashes.
‘I must work hard. I must work hard so that later, at that grandson’s wedding, I can give him a beautiful jade ring.’
In Gangho, there were quite a few female blacksmiths.
However, due to physical limitations, usually only those with innate talent or those who learned martial arts from childhood took up the craft.
That’s why many female blacksmiths in Gangho come from the Sega.
Even children of branch families from branch families are often connected to some Sega.
Because even third-rate martial arts require money if one is to study them consistently from childhood.
And since a blacksmith must also build their body accordingly, it costs a great deal.
Especially in the Sacheon Dang Sect, which takes in sons-in-law, I’ve heard there are many female blacksmiths.
Since secrecy is required not just in making poison but also in crafting weapons, they naturally come to prefer sons-in-law.
Whether daughter or son, they’re raised from childhood on vitality elixirs, and if they show talent, the family spares no support—even helping them study under first-rate blacksmiths.
Of course, the most impressive path is becoming a warrior and making a name for oneself in Gangho.
‘Perhaps my grandson will one day wish to inherit my legacy.’
While he might have great talent in martial arts and become a Kang Ho-in, truthfully, most remain merely third-rate, don’t they?
In that case, becoming a blacksmith is the better path.
First-rate blacksmiths have warriors bringing gold to request their work.
This old man only reached second-rate, but if my granddaughter begins learning martial arts now, her body might develop properly.
‘If this child were willing, I’d want to pass down all the family’s secret techniques… but.’
It’s not easy.
“What are you doing? Don’t we lack water for tempering!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
“You’re slow. Haven’t I taught you that our work is ultimately a race against time?”
I’ve gained disciples.
Ten new apprentices have appeared.
Normally, apprentices shouldn’t receive monthly wages and should simply be worked, but.
It’s a promise with Baekrin Medical Guild.
Since I’ve already received a large sum, I must give part of that money as monthly wages to these guys.
Wang Pan is a man who always keeps his promises.
He doesn’t pocket the money.
Why is that?
Once I started giving them money regularly, the disciples initially refused, saying it was fine, but now they’ve begun looking at Wang Pan with eyes of respect.
Because they know that apprentices normally don’t receive wages.
And on top of that, they can learn Wang Pan’s techniques too!
Thanks to this, the disciples’ loyalty to Wang Pan is rising.
Another disciple came running.
“Master! All the farm tools have already sold out. We’ve received new orders!”
“Good.”
“Everyone says our smithy’s farm tools never break, and they’re rushing to buy them.”
“Of course.”
Wang Pan.
Though I’m only a second-rate blacksmith, I take pride that my skill in crafting farm tools is no inferior to a first-rate artisan.
And with the disciples joining in to make farm tools together, production has begun tripling and quadrupling.
‘Cheonhailgwang—mad, but the best!’
Clang clang clang!
A smile never left Wang Pan’s lips as he swung his hammer.
* * *
Baekrin Prefecture.
The agricultural tool shortage was being resolved rapidly.
While agricultural implements were being distributed swiftly to the farming districts.
The water supply connections that had been underway for some time were also….
“…essentially complete, Soggakju.”
“You’ve worked hard, Muyue!”
I embraced Muyue tightly.
Muyue also held me close, tears streaming down his face.
Grueling hardship.
That was right. There was no greater hell than administration.
Yet the price paid by the two of us grinding ourselves down was substantial.
Foot-treadle pumps connected to water mains were installed in each farmland, and all residents could now access clean water far more easily.
“Moreover, the results from long-term experiments in the Research Division have finally come through. The nitrogen fixation method is divine! We should implement it across all farmland before sowing.”
Those days of raining lightning upon the fields.
The experiments conducted then finally bore fruit.
I spoke.
“Noeji will become the god of agriculture.”
“In fact, some commoners have already carved stone statues in Noeji’s likeness. It seems they plan to use them during the sowing festival.”
Beneath the almighty nitrogen fixation method, the god of lightning becomes the god of agriculture.
Muyue said.
“If the weather cooperates, couldn’t we expect a record harvest?”
“Of course! As long as we don’t get record droughts or floods, victory is ours now, Muyue!”
This is always how such things go.
Even with all this effort, there’s no certainty it will be perfect.
The final piece is filled in by heaven.
Still.
‘Just reaching this point through human effort alone is something!’
Even if there were a world-ending button that could sweep everyone away.
Because humanity is what sows seeds today and waits for autumn.
‘Wow, I’m already looking forward to the harvest?’
Then I saw Ha Uiwon running toward me from afar.
Something must have happened.
“Patriarch! The Patriarch has sent word!”
Oh, my Master?
My pace quickened.

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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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