Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 975

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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 975
An unprecedented war over martial arts manuals erupted across the Gangho.
The Baekrin Medical Guild’s certified Infinite Lotus Brahma Heart Technique (無量蓮華梵心功) had begun printing and selling.
The Baekrin Medical Guild would naturally rake in an enormous fortune from this.
A divine technique manual for a single gold coin!
A single gold coin was certainly no small sum.
For ordinary commoners, it was money difficult to earn even after a lifetime of tilling fields!
However, for farming families that had inherited modest plots of land across generations, it was an amount they could somehow manage to purchase.
Yet not every family without a child of exceptional bone structure would buy a martial arts manual.
It was only natural.
Why would one purchase a martial arts manual for a child without innate talent and expect them to become a martial artist?
Without receiving detailed posture corrections from a martial master, and with no way to know if reading a single manual would unlock one’s potential, the situation was uncertain.
Unless a child possessed such fierce determination as to convince their parents, most families would rather have their offspring learn literacy and arithmetic than gamble on such a venture.
But what of those already living by the sword in the Gangho?
For them, this was money they could naturally afford.
Moreover.
If anyone was caught illegally reproducing and selling this divine technique secret manual, the government office itself would intervene.
This was because Jegalling, the owner of the Baekrin Medical Guild, held the honorary official title of Uiguk Baek and owned Baekrin County as his fief!
One could not escape by claiming official business was inviolable.
Thus, the Golden Blood Hall under Hao-mun began a new venture under Sama Hyeon’s direction.
In modern terms, what one might call a licensing business!
In exchange for sending half the profits to the Baekrin Medical Guild, they began mass printing and selling through the printing houses under the Golden Blood Hall’s control.
Even if Baekrin County’s printing house was the finest in the empire, it was still just one facility.
By commissioning printing houses throughout the empire to produce the divine technique manuals, a veritable flood of them—rivaling a million-strong army—poured forth.
Naturally, the profits were excellent.
In response, the Ilwol Singyeo began distributing demonic cultivation manuals.
These offered more varieties and cheaper prices than the Baekrin Medical Guild’s divine technique manuals!
A mere five silver coins!
However.
Were these not texts from a heretical sect designated as treasonous?
Unlike the Baekrin Medical Guild and the Golden Blood Hall, they could not openly mass print and distribute them in broad daylight.
Therefore.
They had to be sold in the shadows. And this created a vast difference indeed.
“The owl?”
“Meow meow.”
“Mm. Correct. Come inside.”
This was a shadowy alley in a great city.
A customer enters the shop.
On the surface, it appeared to be an ordinary vegetable merchant, but inside it was nothing less than one of the black markets dealing in contraband.
Though not affiliated with Hao-mun, this place too had deep roots, having conducted smuggling operations from this very location for six generations.
Once seated, the visitor spoke in a low, hurried voice.
“I heard you sell martial manuals that grant rapid strength increases around here…”
“Welcome.”
With those words, the Black Market Owner set down a stack of books.
Blood Vein Divine Art, Explosive Fury Divine Art, Remnant Demon Blood Heaven Art, and more.
These were demonic cultivation manuals that once made their names resound throughout Gangho.
‘Those Demonic Sect bastards—no wonder they grow stronger when they carry such demonic manuals under their arms.’
The Third-Rate Martial Artist’s eyes gleamed with greed.
Simply reading these felt like he would become the greatest under heaven.
“What is the price?”
“Five silver taels.”
“What! So cheap?”
The Third-Rate Martial Artist’s eyes widened in shock, growing as large as lanterns.
The Black Market Owner spoke.
“That’s because Baekrin Uiseon’s martial arts cost one gold tael.”
“These insane bastards are having a price war over martial manuals…?”
“Baekrin Uiseon started it.”
“!?”
Something defied imagination—no, it defied common sense itself.
For some reason, it felt as though his ancestors would appear, waving their staffs and crying out: You rootless bastards, selling martial manuals like this? In my day, we shed blood just to obtain a fragment of such knowledge!
Especially these woodblock prints, so blatantly mass-produced and cheap.
‘They don’t even write them by hand anymore?’
Even if the martial knowledge they possessed was demonic cultivation, those selling it showed not the slightest sincerity. Whether one coughed blood and died or descended into madness, they simply wanted to finish it all instantly.
That shameless efficiency!
“…I… I’ll buy them.”
These weren’t even his ancestors, yet he felt like he was being unfilial.
Thinking thus, he handed over five silver taels and tucked an appropriate demonic manual into his robes.
Just as he was about to leave.
“멈춰라—–!!”
A voice infused with inner force thundered from somewhere.
And the door burst open roughly as formally-dressed martial artists rushed in.
“W-who are you people?”
“We’re from the Embroidered Uniform Guard! Empty everything from your robes!”
The Embroidered Uniform Guard?
Appearing for such a trivial matter?
Even so, what he carried was a demonic manual.
‘This is bad. I’ve heard the Embroidered Uniform Guard shows no mercy!’
But if caught, he would die.
The Third-Rate Martial Artist quickly spun around and fled like a ghost. Or rather, he tried to.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard grabbed an amber stone from the counter and hurled it.
Crack!
“Ugh!”
A gourd infused with inner energy smashed against the back of his skull.
As the gourd shattered, the third-rate martial artist tumbled forward.
“Did his head crack open?”
“No, sir! Only the gourd was destroyed.”
“Good. We can interrogate him then. Search his body.”
Naturally, a demonic manual appeared.
“This is the Crimson Demon Blood Heaven Technique?”
The moment everyone recognized the demonic manual’s identity, their voices turned ice-cold.
“Of all things to choose, he picked the technique that drains living blood from people—this bastard’s crimes are heinous!”
“N-no, that’s not it…”
Any attempt at excuses came too late.
“The Crimson Demon Blood Heaven Technique is a demonic manual of the traitorous Demonic Sect, and it’s rumored to be the most vicious technique of all! Arrest this wretch and exterminate the rebel forces in that location!”
Roooaaarrr!
The Dongchang instantly demolished the vegetable shop.
Martial artists passing by stared in shock at the spectacle.
The vegetable shop had now become what it ‘used to be’.
The Black Market Owner was being beaten senseless by the guards the Dongchang had brought, like dust on a rainy day.
The Dongchang commander barked sharply at the martial artists.
“Anyone else coveting demonic manuals?”
“?!”
The martial artists hastily began hiding their silver coins.
“We’ve never coveted such things, sir!”
“Demonic manuals? Who would spend silver coins to buy such dark… no… such disloyal materials?”
Everyone averted their gaze as they watched the Black Market Owner being beaten by the guards.
‘If you get caught, you’re done for. Completely.’
‘Ilgwang, you vicious bastard… now even the Dongchang is moving.’
‘How exactly did he manipulate the Emperor to have the Dongchang crack down on every black market in the neighborhood?’
This was an example.
But it was also a warning.
A warning that if you ran a black market and bought forbidden texts with silver coins, there would be nothing left of you.
“Silver coins, sir! They were hoarding coins by the chest!”
The Dongchang even raided the secret vault hidden underground.
“Well done. His Majesty has ordered that every last coin be confiscated and transferred to Baek Rin’s authority!”
In one sweep, they were also seizing the money the Demonic Sect made from selling manuals!
Ilgwang was obsessed with saving lives.
But in truth, he was also obsessed with money.
* * *
“Kehehehe! Money. Moooooney!”
My money is my money, and the Demonic Sect’s money is also my money.
Jin Cheon-hee took great delight in watching silver accumulate. Of course he did.
These bastards were running illegal operations right under Baekrin’s nose, causing all sorts of trouble.
If they kept doing such things, wouldn’t the guards come after them?
But that wasn’t all.
In other regions, he wielded the Dongchang’s intelligence network and the Golden Blood Hall’s operational prowess like dual weapons, crushing his enemies.
As a result, the Demonic Sect’s distribution of demonic cultivation manuals was losing its potency far beyond imagination.
In the light, you could buy anything at the market, but the underground was different.
Since you couldn’t sell openly, you had to use codes with each other and rely on trust(?) as the foundation to operate in the shadows.
Price difference?
Five silver taels versus one gold tael.
Since ten silver taels equaled one gold tael, even if the difference was double… did one really need to pay that price for demonic cultivation manuals?
Of course, regardless of price, everyone knew that demonic cultivation allowed one to become far stronger with less effort.
There were certainly those who wanted to take shortcuts and learn demonic cultivation.
But how?
Shout about buying them at the market?
Guards, their eyes red with public duty, would come rushing to arrest you.
Quietly search for black market dealers?
Well, the black market dealers under Hao-mun weren’t selling this.
Of course not.
With Sama Hyeon, the next Hao Munzhu, printing and selling my older brother’s orthodox cultivation manuals for profit, how could they do such a thing?
If the Hao-mun Rumor Master came by and asked, “So you’re the one selling these other faction’s texts? You’re no longer our capitalist friend. We’re severing ties,” who would take responsibility?
They couldn’t do it even out of fear of Sama Hyeon’s severance letter.
‘Accessibility is different! It’s all about accessibility!’
Jin Cheon-hee didn’t lower the price of a single gold coin.
He simply crushed anyone who tried to sell it cheaper.
Within just a few months, the Infinite Lotus Brahma Heart Method spread throughout the entire empire.
And demonic cultivation manuals, pushed out by market economics, barely sold at all.
The Ilwol Singyeo’s complete defeat!
And.
Through this incident, the martial world came to understand.
“Jegalling, the Gaju of the Jegallim Family, was indeed a great strategist of world governance, but his disciple, the world-renowned Jin Cheon-hee, is merely a madman obsessed with saving lives.”
“No… he’s also obsessed with money. That bastard.”
“Ever since he monopolized things after crushing the Demonic Sect, I’ve noticed the paper quality has subtly deteriorated.”
“This vicious bastard, really! Isn’t this going too far!”
Meanwhile, wise men throughout the realm began to pay close attention to Jin Cheon-hee because of this incident.
“It’s absurd. He uses cheap paper for divine cultivation technique and martial arts manuals, but started using expensive, thick paper for cookbooks and children’s learning books.”
“Color woodblock printing has even begun appearing. Quite luxurious, really.”
“…He’s redirecting the revenue he earns toward that. His goal must be the development of Baekrin.”
“….”
The wise ones spoke in unison.
“Ilgwang defeated the Demonic Sect. He shattered all conventions and overturned the entire board to suppress them.”
“He accomplished what no one else could have imagined.”
“Yet, for such a thing to be possible… I cannot even fathom how many martial texts one would need to study and how deeply one must comprehend their essence.”
“Hmm.”
A genius strategist wielding schemes that could sway the heavens had emerged anew.
The enlightened ones began to perceive me, Jin Cheon-hee, in this new light.
* * *
One need not be a sage of Gangho to discuss this matter.
Faced with the unprecedented situation of selling sacred cultivation techniques for mere coin—essentially liquidating them wholesale to counter the Demonic Sect’s dark arts—
Everyone fell into shock.
Though they themselves struggled to articulate clearly why they were so shaken.
If I may borrow my own words, it felt somewhat like watching someone photocopy and sell genealogical records.
Of course, these weren’t my family’s records, and the sacred techniques were created by reducing the power and increasing the stability of existing ones, yet this genealogy was genuine nonetheless.
And it wasn’t as though this genealogy held no value for me either.
Even the prestigious families who already possessed sacred cultivation techniques made purchases.
Not to practice them, but to reference them.
After all, martial arts continue to evolve.
Just as the Tai Chi of Jang Sambon’s era in the Mudang Faction differs from the Tai Chi that Cheonwoo practices now.
Ultimately, martial arts and sacred techniques exist because countless warriors hope to burn their very lives to add even a single step—or perhaps half a step—to the advancement of martial knowledge.
Thus, this was an excellent opportunity to compare other sacred cultivation techniques.
Moreover.
If one could understand other sacred techniques, one could also understand my own.
Anyone with the means to pay a single coin had essentially purchased the text.
For the enthusiasts, the current situation was tremendously delightful.
This was why the Three Scholars gathered once more today.
Sim Haksa lifted his wine bottle and let out a shout.
“Hah!”
From him, who had spent his entire life in leisure, inner power surged forth!

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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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