Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 964

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

Chapter 964
I turned to look behind me.
Hwang-gu was still sleeping.
‘How is this even possible?’
Even if he couldn’t hear what Ju Yu-ryo was saying, surely he could hear what I or Yeo Ha-ryun said.
‘Is this also some kind of sorcery at work?’
Why was that?
Even my intuition hadn’t readily answered this particular question.
It had whispered what a sorcery human was, yet I couldn’t understand why this was the case.
Soon, I spoke.
“Well. I need to find out who that person is first. Ha-ryun.”
“Yes, we should. I need to summon my subordinates too.”
I nodded.
“Good. For now, let me come along with you.”
“Your Master will object, won’t he?”
“It’s fine. My Master will understand!”
….
Yeo Ha-ryun stared at me intently.
‘There’s no way that’s true.’
A murmur he shared with Cheon Sal-seong.
Though he thought so inwardly, Yeo Ha-ryun’s mouth spoke a different story.
“I didn’t realize the situation was this serious. Brother, it’s dangerous. Go back.”
“I’m your older brother. Don’t argue. Once we deal with the other Soegoojus… if you become the sole Soegooju, we might be able to prevent the Demonic Cult’s schemes too, so I’m trying to help.”
‘Yes. That’s the kind of brother he is.’
I deeply respected my brother for being this way.
Unaware of Yeo Ha-ryun’s thoughts, I continued speaking.
“I can’t stand to see the entire Gangho become a field of demonic cultivation.”
….
“Yeo Ha-ryun. Answer me!”
“…I suppose so. Thank you.”
Yeo Ha-ryun’s permission had been granted.
“Thank me for what… you bastard.”
Just then, a sharp whistle sounded from outside the chamber.
“Oh, Noe Jin-i is finally back!”
At the same time, following Yeo Ha-ryun’s signal, Heukseolmyo headed outside.
“Hmm?”
“Heukseolmyo will gather the scattered subordinates.”
Ah… truly, a spiritual creature is a spiritual creature.
* * *
Night passed and day came.
The two of us shared breakfast together.
Normally, we would have bought meals at an inn, but this time, I prepared my younger brother’s breakfast myself as a gesture of encouragement.
Apart from the brief hours we spent sleeping, we talked extensively about many things.
Mostly about the internal affairs of the Ilwol Singyeo.
In particular, the conversation turned to Yeo Ha-ryun’s subordinates.
“Are your subordinates strong?”
“To be honest… they’re the least capable people within the demonic sect.”
“Hmm…?”
His evaluation of his own subordinates was merciless.
But that’s who Cheon Sal-seong Yeo Ha-ryun is.
He continued speaking.
“Those with ability typically end up under the Soegooju of the Six Demon Clans. Children with well-developed demonic bones are already marked by the time they’re five or six years old, so most of those who come to serve under me are naturally deficient from birth.
Or they’ve been pushed out after losing power struggles.”
Mongrels.
Many within the demonic sect called Yeo Ha-ryun’s subordinates by that name and pointed fingers at them.
In a Soegooju war, ultimately what matters is how powerful one’s faction is.
Everyone predicted that a force composed of only mangy dogs would disappear quickly.
“Did you take in all of them?”
“Yes. I can’t help it if they die during training, but I don’t turn away anyone who comes.”
‘Haha, Ilkana must have suffered quite a bit weeding out spies.’
Of course, if such incidents occurred, Yeo Ha-ryun being the supremely powerful Jicheon Cheonma would simply rip out the traitor’s heart with a supreme punch… but what crime had the other subordinates committed to be caught in that?
Ilkana must have experienced absolute hell, like a daughter born to an animal hoarder parent.
Father keeps bringing things back from the mountains.
Some of them probably carry fleas or plague, but since they all say they want to follow along, he accepts them without discrimination.
‘…If she’s accepting all of them and still managing to run the organization, how worn down must Ilkana be?’
As a strategist myself, I understood the feelings of a fellow strategist.
Yeo Ha-ryun spoke.
“I trained all those I accepted. Even if they weren’t born with superior demonic bones, I know how far a human can become strong.”
He said this while staring at me.
“…”
There wasn’t a trace of delusion in my younger brother’s crimson eyes, which made me feel a bit embarrassed.
‘I see. So this is how Yeo Ha-ryun has been seeing me.’
It’s said that Yeo Ha-ryun never gave up.
While it’s unavoidable that some die during training, as long as they survive and continue training, humans are bound to grow.
‘Die during training…what?’
Yeo Ha-ryun nods without hesitation, casually saying something a doctor shouldn’t mention.
In the martial world, dying during training is simply the natural order of things!
Human rights? I don’t know about that.
It’s all because they’re weak!
“It’s awkward for me to say it myself, but as you can see, we’ve grown into a force that cannot be ignored even within the demonic sect.”
“That makes sense. They’re the final five, after all. It would be strange if they were weak.”
Yet here was a subordinate learning about the Soegooju succession battle starting in earnest later than the Soegooju herself.
‘Somehow my subordinate resembles Ha-ryun too.’
He’s strong. Definitely strong… but slow on important matters like this.
“The strategist Ilkana, whom you cultivated, performed admirably as well. Thanks to her schemes, we were able to establish ourselves as a proper faction. However, they are individuals who have accumulated knowledge over long years within the Six Demon Clans.
Their depth is beyond imagination.”
It was perhaps inevitable that Ha-ryun’s faction was the weakest among those five Soegoojus.
“So how many subordinates do you have?”
“Approximately one thousand.”
He seems to remember that correctly.
“That’s quite a lot… but if you gathered them all in some village or meeting square, that would be a disaster, wouldn’t it?”
If a thousand demonic cultists gathered in the empire, they’d immediately become targets for suppression as rebels.
After all, the demonic cult calls itself ‘heaven’ and is a group that refuses the obligations of taxation and military service.
If such people emerged from the forests at night wearing masks, that would be one thing, but gathering openly in a village square?
The garrison would suppress them as rebels, but nearby righteous and heterodox factions could also band together and attack.
“It’s fine. Eliminate them immediately and the problem is solved.”
“…What if they surrender?”
“We spare their lives. And since we’d find it bothersome anyway, we disappear quickly.”
…Not a martial artist but rather guerrilla resistance… a warlord…?
‘No, that’s what the demonic cult is. It’s the demonic cult and martial arts.’
I remind myself that a modern person is here in the gangho, and trying to equate it one-to-one with modern administration is meaningless.
I find the commoners in this place admirable.
Ha-ryun spoke.
“In any case, they won’t all come at me at once. I’ll need to devise strategies… For now, I should wait until Ilkana arrives.”
“I, I’ll try to think of something too.”
I felt sorry for Ilkana.
It seems I have no choice but to lend a hand myself.
“Then while we wait for Ilkana to arrive, let’s do some martial arts training.”
“Martial arts training?”
“Yes. You have much to learn.”
Until now, hadn’t he only focused on the Cheonma Divine Art alone?
Now it was time for Ha-ryun to use tricks like the other Six Demon Clans.
‘I’m curious what happens when Cheon Sal-seong uses tricks too.’
Ha-ryun spoke.
“If it’s something you teach me, it will surely be useful. Good.”
He seems pleased with this as well.
* * *
A strategist is one who prepares.
Their greatest resource is time itself.
Depending on how one uses even a handful of time, the tide of battle transforms completely.
Over the course of a few days, I imparted the martial techniques I deemed necessary to Yeo Ha-ryun.
Well, the ones I judged would be useful for him, at least.
‘Though truthfully, they might not be essential.’
After all, our protagonist reached the pinnacle and ascended merely with the Cheonma Divine Art alone.
Perhaps such techniques weren’t truly necessary for Yeo Ha-ryun.
Still, as his older brother, I wanted to make his path easier, even if only slightly.
One of these was external cultivation.
External cultivation tempers the body itself through repeated movements and the consumption of inner energy.
Because of this, even when learned alongside inner energy techniques, there’s no reason for demonic possession to occur.
‘When he collapsed last time, he had many minor wounds.’
Even small wounds are still wounds.
If they continue to accumulate, they become dangerous.
‘While I’m at it, I’ll teach him the Cheonryong Bulsagi Gong that I’ve taught the other younger brothers, and the beast sense as well.’
Let’s start with the fundamentals.
The ones with the best performance relative to effort.
In that short span of time, I taught Yeo Ha-ryun the incantations and essentials, and he grasped them from merely hearing them once, immediately beginning to cultivate external techniques.
Thanks to Cheon Sal-seong’s genius!
Because of that extraordinary talent, his progress in external cultivation began to soar the moment he heard the teachings.
Truly, it was a gift from heaven.
As several days passed in cultivation like this,
Ilkana, who was supposed to come, didn’t arrive—instead, an unexpected visitor showed up.
“Jin! I heard you were here!”
The current Gaju of the Namgung Family.
Namgung Un had appeared.
* * *
Namgung Un was startled upon seeing Yeo Ha-ryun in the separate quarters.
“Why is your sworn brother here? Isn’t he from the Demonic Cult?”
“The Black Sword Sect.”
…
Yeo Ha-ryun identified himself as belonging to the Black Sword Sect.
Namgung Un spoke quickly.
“Right. So what brings your ‘Black Sword Sect’ brother here?”
I interjected.
“And what brings you here, Namgung?”
Though I answered his question with a question, Namgung Un responded with a good-natured laugh.
“I heard news from Hwa-hyeon that the Water Demon Sect was suppressed. I also received information about an extraordinarily beautiful woman riding a massive spiritual beast—and looking at you, it’s clearly you, isn’t it?”
“Well, Hwang-gu does stand out.”
“That’s not quite it… Jin, you don’t seem to care about concealing your identity, do you? I heard you even asked the Magistrate to mobilize garrison soldiers. With that level of activity in Anhui Province, how could I not hear about it?”
True enough—this was Namgung Family territory.
Still, I hadn’t expected Namgung Un himself to come searching for me.
‘The Gaju must be incredibly busy, yet here he is….’
Namgung Un settled naturally into his seat.
Then he spoke with perfect composure.
“Right. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Sohyeop. How is the Black Sword Sect doing these days?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I received intelligence recently that the Black Sword Sect’s movements have been suspicious….”
Yeo Ha-ryun almost mentioned that the Namgung Family Gaju’s third wife was a spy for the Demonic Sect, but he closed his mouth.
“…There have been some movements.”
To inform on another faction simply because they wielded different power would contradict the spirit of the Ilwol Singyeo.
I would never do such a thing.
I spoke quickly.
“Well… they have been active recently. Ah, but it’s not related to my sworn brother. It’s an internal matter of the sect where the organization has split.”
At those words, Namgung Un gently withdrew his hand from his sword hilt.
‘As expected, he was ready to fight if things went south.’
On the surface, he seemed like a good-natured person, but he was surprisingly sharp in these moments.
Namgung Un spoke.
“If that’s what you say, then so be it… but what’s the actual issue?”
“A certain faction within the Demonic Sect has been indiscriminately spreading demonic energy.”
“Ho?”
Namgung Un’s eyes gleamed with curiosity.
And in that fleeting moment, I sensed the aura emanating from Namgung Un.
‘He’s grown stronger.’
I had thought his training time would be limited after becoming Gaju.
Yet far from weakening, his aura now overwhelmed even the Martial Arts Alliance Leader.
‘…Did he gain enlightenment while we were apart?’
He was formidable.

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