Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 929

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 929
It had already been several months since I began working as an instructor in the Imperial Capital.
During that time, despite my busy schedule, I maintained correspondence with Baekrin Uiseon and exchanged letters with my junior disciples.
Surprisingly, even Yeo Ha-ryun sent word that he was doing well.
‘But can the Demonic Cult really send letters to the Imperial Capital?’
It seemed to be routed through about eight intermediaries.
Looking at the documents and content, it appeared to be nothing more than a junior disciple working at a merchant house sending a simple letter of well-being.
‘Well… it must be fine. If it weren’t, the Eunuch General would have come to kill me.’
I set aside such trivial concerns and went about my days.
Now all the work was finally finished.
“Phew~ All the work is done. Time to head home!”
Humming to myself, I began gathering my belongings.
Though I had stayed here quite a while, my possessions hadn’t accumulated as much as I’d expected.
So I was just repacking what I’d brought and gathering some food supplies for the journey when—
The Eunuch General appeared.
“Oh… what brings you here?”
Surely not to detain me? No, that couldn’t be it.
“Hol hol. How cold of you. Surely I don’t need business to visit, do I?”
‘You almost certainly came because of business…’
Thinking this, I spoke up.
“Well, please have a seat.”
In the room where I was staying.
I brought out tea implements and served him a cup.
As the Eunuch General sipped his tea, he opened his mouth.
“Are you aware that His Majesty is extremely pleased with your work this time?”
“I wasn’t, but now I am.”
“Therefore, His Majesty has granted you twenty days of access to the Imperial Palace Secret Records as a reward.”
“Wow…”
Access to the Imperial Palace Secret Records!
Now that’s generous!
And a full twenty days at that!
“Will you go immediately?”
An offer I couldn’t refuse.
“Of course!”
I had been pondering much because of Mu-jon’s teachings anyway, so this was perfect timing.
‘Goodness, the moment I think about leaving, they present an irrefusable offer.’
* * *
As I walked, I pondered.
Mu-jon’s teachings.
My primary martial art was the Five Elements Divine Art.
I occasionally employed Celestial Dragon Art, Immortal Divine Art, or even Boundless Heaven Martial Divine Art, but I wasn’t actually cultivating them.
I merely adapted and “used” them.
From a modern person’s perspective.
‘It’s almost like a computer operating system, isn’t it?’
Using that analogy, martial arts work similarly—if one learns martial techniques with fundamentally different characteristics, one must be prepared for demonic possession.
Of course, there might be an extremely small number of martial arts with broad compatibility from their inception, but most are not like that.
Just as Android and Apple have different operating systems.
‘I, who possess the Five Elements Divine Art as my OS, cannot establish a different type of internal energy as my foundation.’
So I disassemble the collection of divine arts that are internal energy types—like Celestial Dragon Art, Immortal Divine Art, and Boundless Heaven Martial Divine Art.
Then I reassemble and use them for the Five Elements Divine Art.
In fact, this is only possible because of the Five Elements Divine Art.
It’s what one might call a compatibility issue.
Since the Five Elements Divine Art itself is a martial technique with broad versatility, I can subtly use the collections of other divine arts and secret techniques.
If I had learned something like Boundless Heaven Martial Divine Art as my foundation, mixing and using other collections would have been impossible.
Because of this Five Elements Divine Art, I can use Taeul Danseonseobeop and Cheongi Miribu.
Moreover, I can learn things like Five Elements Poison Art as side branches, and I’ve mastered various external techniques.
But.
Are these martial arts perfectly suited to the Five Elements Divine Art?
No, they’re not.
And the same applies to Taeul Danseonseobeop.
Shouldn’t there be separate internal energy cultivation methods or footwork techniques that perfectly align with it?
If there aren’t any.
Isn’t there a way to harmonize the cultivation method, sword technique, and footwork?
‘My Master seems to already know… so why didn’t he teach me? Perhaps the time hadn’t come yet?’
Or perhaps it’s meaningless unless one realizes it oneself.
How difficult it is for a master to explain the master’s world to a novice.
Rather, it only plants unnecessary distracting thoughts that obstruct enlightenment.
‘…The path of martial arts is truly difficult.’
Jin Cheon-hee, having thought that far, found himself standing before the door to the Imperial Palace Secret Records.
“Then I shall see you after twenty days.”
The Eunuch General bowed deeply and retreated with backward steps.
Extremely courteous etiquette.
The bearing of a subordinate serving a superior.
Though the gesture was somewhat uncomfortable, Jin Cheon-hee said nothing.
Then, taking a deep breath and centering his spirit, he opened the door to the Imperial Palace Secret Records.
Creeeeak.
Opening the door.
He walked through a dark passage stretching at least a hundred paces.
And thus he entered the space where the Imperial Palace Secret Records appeared.
It looked the same as before.
Jin Cheon-hee decided to first search for the secret manual of the Taeul Danseonseobeop.
The Imperial Palace Secret Records was a repository where secret manuals from all sects and schools were collected.
Though the Jegallim Family was said to practice the Taeul Danseonseobeop, its roots were not entirely theirs.
It was one of the martial arts left behind by a certain hermit, much like the Five Elements Divine Art.
Even if I wanted to know the details, the library had already burned down.
My Master himself was raising his disciples based on what he carried in his own mind.
‘Perhaps I might discover new facts in the Imperial Palace Secret Records that go beyond what my Master taught me.’
My Master certainly encouraged self-directed learning, after all.
Of course, my Master wouldn’t have known I’d find the Imperial Palace Secret Records and do this.
With such haste, I flipped through the books in the records.
After examining countless volumes for two hours, I finally found it.
The secret manual of the Taeul Danseonseobeop!
‘Impressive. The Imperial Court. How thoroughly have they researched the martial artists of Gangho?’
Well, strictly speaking, they were independent armed groups that defied imperial authority, so any sane Emperor would naturally do the same.
I flipped through the pages rapidly.
“Let me see… Oh. Indeed… So that’s how it was. What was passed down to the Jegallim Family was indeed a modified version different from the original.”
The secret manual contained content quite different from what I had learned from my Master.
“Taeul Divine Art… so that’s it.”
The manual stated that to master the Taeul Danseonseobeop, one must fundamentally learn an inner energy cultivation method called Taeul Divine Art.
Just from the name containing “Divine Art,” it was clearly a supreme technique…
The problem was that there were two places that possessed this inner energy cultivation method called Taeul Divine Art.
“If I remember correctly, Jongnam Sect and Jeonjin Religion both have Taeul Divine Art… Wait. Now that I think about it… Didn’t Jongnam Sect have the Taeul Splitting Light Sword?”
The Taeul Splitting Light Sword.
From its meaning alone, it contained the essence of dividing light.
It was that fast.
A martial art renowned for its extreme speed!
In a way… it shared the same lineage as the Taeul Danseonseobeop!
“Then did the Taeul Danseonseobeop originate from Jongnam Sect? No. If that were the case, Jongnam Sect wouldn’t have left the Jegallim Family alone. Martial art leakage is a serious matter. Besides, with a proper sect in place, a warrior wouldn’t entrust a sword to them. Perhaps… it might be from Jeonjin Religion.”
Jeonjin Religion.
A sect founded by Wang Chung-yang, a legendary hermit.
He himself was said to have achieved immortal ascension, but the truth remains unknown.
Moreover, Jeonjin Religion had since been destroyed, leaving no trace, and their martial arts were scattered throughout all of Gangho.
‘Ah, that’s right. My Master said the Finger Flicking Art I learned was also from Jeonjin Religion.’
Finger Flicking Heaven Penetration.
-A martial art originating from the past Jeonjin Religion.
The now-extinct Jeonjin Religion was famous among Daoist sects for possessing unique and powerful martial arts.
Their martial knowledge and teachings greatly influenced the Mudang Faction and Huashan Sect, but for some reason in the past, they vanished without a trace.
That’s what my Master explained.
‘My Master said the Finger Flicking Heaven Penetration itself was obtained after doing a favor for a descendant of Jeonjin Religion.’
The Jegallim Family and Jeonjin Religion.
Could there be some secret hidden within?
‘The martial arts of the Jeonjin Sect were exceptionally superior—there was no divine technique or secret art they didn’t possess.’
Among them, the supreme was the inner energy cultivation method, Taeul Xiantian Art.
There was a legend that mastering it would allow one to become an immortal.
Moreover.
Though the Jeonjin Sect had vanished, their martial arts influenced many Daoist-aligned sects.
It was entirely plausible that the Zhongnan School had acquired some of the Jeonjin Sect’s techniques to create the Taeul Divine Art and Taeul Radiant Sword.
Most importantly, the Jeonjin Sect’s destruction occurred centuries ago.
Already hundreds of years had passed.
“This is complicated…?”
I paused for a moment, turning the matter over in my mind.
Then something struck me like lightning.
And I examined the secret manual of the Taeul Danseonseobeop once more.
“Taeul Divine Art. Taeul Xiantian Art. And Taeul Danseonseobeop…. Could it be?”
I recalled in my mind the catalog of Imperial Palace Secret Records texts I had searched through thus far.
And I moved instantly, retrieving the secret manuals.
Taeul Divine Art. Xiantian Art. Complete Truth Sword Method. One Yang Finger. Eight Meridian Divine Sword.
All of them martial arts from the Jeonjin Sect!
And I realized.
The Taeul Xiantian Art doesn’t exist!
“As I thought. The Taeul Xiantian Art isn’t here. That supreme secret technique doesn’t exist. I’ve searched through all the Imperial Palace Secret Records, so it was never acquired in the first place…. Could it be that Taeul Divine Art is merely an introductory technique?”
Xiantian Art.
This too was an inner energy cultivation method of the Jeonjin Sect.
If my hypothesis were correct, one would need to master both Taeul Divine Art and Xiantian Art before being able to learn Taeul Xiantian Art.
And that would be a secret of secrets, transmitted from master to disciple only through oral transmission.
A hidden technique passed down through words alone, never committed to writing!
Such things were common in the martial world.
“Hmm…. If my hypothesis is correct. Then this… would require mastering Taeul Xiantian Art to achieve its true power.”
Would the Taeul Danseonseobeop ultimately remain an incomplete martial art?
‘But the Jegallim Family couldn’t have been ignorant of this.’
I felt certain that when someone from the destroyed Jeonjin Sect entrusted the sword to the Jegallim Family, they must have explained this.
With that thought, I suddenly recalled what my Master Jegalling had said when teaching me the sword.
-Swift, Transforming, and Illusory—three subtle principles comprise it, and upon mastering them, one becomes a divine technique so formidable that finding a match in all the world becomes difficult.
Until now, I had primarily employed only the Swift category among the three principles of Swift, Transforming, and Illusory.
In fact, merely by skillfully using the single attribute of Swift, finding an opponent had already become difficult.
And it was this Swift category that had landed a strike on Hae-seon as well.
However.
Thinking about it, my Master had certainly said the three principles were harmoniously unified.
A sword technique that severs the immortal.
The twenty-four forms could be mixed with variations to create infinite transformations, or so he had said.
Thousand variations of heaven and earth.
Transformation.
And twenty-four forms comprising the technique.
Yet at some point, I had been employing only two or three forms in the manner of Shimmoo.
“Ah….”
Enlightenment flooded in.
I had not truly mastered the Taeul Danseonggeom.
I had never properly unfolded all its possibilities and martial knowledge.
This pointed to one of two truths.
Either the Five Elements Divine Art could not completely elevate the Taeul Danseonggeom.
Or I lacked the comprehension and application of the Five Elements Divine Art to fully harmonize it with the Taeul Danseonggeom.
“The answer is… the latter.”
I felt a bitter taste.
In moments like this, I realized I was not truly a martial artist of Gangho.
A true warrior of Gangho would have noticed this long ago, I thought.
Then the small voice within me muttered.
‘Wow. Look at that conscience. Does only Gangho use it?’
Lately, these small versions of me have been throwing out remarks and moving on.
But these too were merely my other thought processes.
I had mastered the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong, and I suspected I was heading somewhere in the next realm.
‘From a common sense perspective, that’s the most likely possibility anyway.’
I couldn’t exactly grab someone and say, ‘Whenever I calculate, I hear various voices in my head, but they’re all my own voice.’
And besides.
‘Sometimes I hear them even when I’m not controlling it!’
If I said something like that, they’d step back three paces saying, ‘Heh heh, it seems the great hero has a severe Heart Demon.’
Usually a perfectly fine martial master would rampage with a Heart Demon, destroying everything around them while hearing voices.
‘…What if I’m the one making those voices?’
By the next day, rumors would spread across the Central Plains like this.
‘Ilgwang has finally reached his time!’
‘He devoured so many miscellaneous martial arts that his tribulation of entering madness has arrived.’
‘And here Baek Rin-ui-seon is one of the three greatest doctors under heaven, yet he cannot even cure his own disciple.’
Damn it, that last one irritates me the most.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————