Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 986

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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 986
“With the simplified modified cultivation method and a semi-refined elixir or two, they gradually grow stronger—it’s only a matter of time.”
“Three guards can handle roughly third-rate martial artists, and three patrol sergeants can manage second-rate ones. As for us patrol officers….”
This place was called Dongtae County, one of several regions in Gangso Province.
It was natural that the county office was located in the most prosperous area of Dongtae County, which was also where Dongtae Market stood.
In the patrol office of Dongtae County, patrol officers gathered and discussed various matters.
These were people who had already passed through the martial training city and undergone human modification!
They hadn’t become masters of inner energy, but the effects of outer energy had transformed them into muscular, powerfully built men.
“First-rate masters. No, we might even handle peak-level masters among ourselves.”
“Hmm. Patrol Officer Guan, still—overconfidence is dangerous. Our inner energy is only about five years’ worth. Remember, when the martial world speaks of peak-level masters, their inner energy exceeds half a decade.”
“We won’t be careless. Director Jin has already completed the experiments, and haven’t we verified it ourselves? With the paralyzing force of the Geumgang Byeoknoejang Fist, even peak-level masters would be immobilized—we can definitely handle them!”
That was true.
They were discussing how their combat strength had increased.
And there was a reason they were having this discussion.
“Still… I wonder if we’ve been too reckless this time….”
Dongtae County was a region bordering Zhejiang Province to the south of Gangso Province.
This time, the patrol office of Dongtae County had captured the lackeys of Geumrok Stronghold, one of the Eighteen Green Forest Strongholds based in Zhejiang Province.
Geumrok Stronghold had long engaged in banditry in Zhejiang Province and sold the stolen goods here in Dongtae County.
The patrol office of Dongtae County knew this well but had turned a blind eye—why invite trouble unnecessarily?
But this time.
They drew their blades.
They arrested all of Geumrok Stronghold’s lackeys and fence operators.
So now they worried whether the bandits of Zhejiang Province would attack!
The patrol officers continued their hushed conversation.
Then it happened.
“You crazy patrol officer bastards—how dare you interfere with the boss’s operation now–!”
At that moment, as if they’d been waiting, the patrol officers all shouted in unison.
“The enemy is a green forest master—everyone, form the formation!”
“Coming all the way to the patrol office to rescue subordinates. Ignorance breeds courage!”
Wooooaaaaaah!
From beyond the walls came the sound of other patrol officers and their subordinates—guards and patrol sergeants—shouting with inner energy infused in their voices as they arranged their formations.
“Hah…. They really came!!”
“Have the green forest bandits ever feared the garrison? So of course they would come.”
“Then let’s go join them at once!”
The patrol officers who had been conversing rushed outside.
Outside was one member of the Eighteen Green Forest Strongholds.
A fellow known as Gijung, the Great Saber of Mount Tai, a peak-level master, was rampaging about.
True to his status as a peak-level master, his saber overflowed with saber energy, while the guards facing him held thick metal-plated shields and formed a formation to counter Gijung.
“Die!”
The great saber infused with saber energy descended.
The Guard blocked the great saber with the rectangular metal shield he held.
Crack!
The blade bit halfway through the shield but didn’t cut it completely.
That’s because the Guard had channeled his inner force into the shield as well!
“What!?”
While Gijung recoiled in shock.
The Guard who’d thrown the half-severed shield fled backward.
And the second line.
Other Guards stepped forward with shields raised.
There were hundreds of such Guards.
And between those Guards, dozens of Patrol Sergeants twirled binding ropes in circles.
“Throw!”
The binding ropes were hurled with inner force infused within them.
The restraint technique for capturing dangerous criminals that Jin Cheon-hee had transmitted through the Yeonmu City.
It was called the ‘Criminal Suppression Binding Technique’!
Whoooosh!
Unable to ignore the fierce momentum, Gijung evaded the binding ropes using the Dokmun Footwork.
But already, hundreds of shield-bearing Guards and dozens of Patrol Sergeants throwing binding ropes surrounded him from all sides.
There was no helping how narrow his range of movement had become.
“Damn! You mongrels! Let’s fight one-on-one like honorable warriors!”
He shouted with inner force infused in his voice in protest, but the officials of the Patrol Bureau paid him no mind.
That was when it happened.
Finally, the Patrol Officers stepped forward.
Boom!
A whip imbued with the force of lightning struck Gijung’s body.
“Ahhhhh!”
The sharp taste of lightning!
His muscles contracted and trembled involuntarily.
If he’d been wearing protective armor, it might have been different, but taking a lightning-infused whip strike bare-handed was unbearable!
Whoooosh!
And then came the relay of binding ropes.
“He’s bound!”
“Pull!”
Binding ropes wrapped around his arms, legs, neck, shoulders, torso, and feet as he was dragged down.
A master of the highest caliber possesses at least half a decade’s worth of inner force.
In the past, even supreme masters were considered to have half a decade’s worth of inner force, but in the current martial world where masters have become extraordinarily abundant, half a decade of inner force is treated as merely the highest caliber.
And with that half decade of inner force, one can shatter boulders and carve holes in cliffs.
However, his opponents possessed none of that.
They were merely those who’d learned a bit of inner force as ordered by the government office.
But their numbers reached hundreds!
“Aaaaaargh! These filthy garrison dogs!”
Gijung raged and struggled against his captors, but he couldn’t move an inch.
Then the patrol officers approached him, hefting their hexagonal batons.
The hexagonal batons crackled with lightning, sparking brilliantly.
A sight that struck terror into all who witnessed it!
“What is this bandit leader saying! Will you not kneel before the law of the realm!”
Thwack, crack, thwack thwack thwack!
The sound of dozens of hexagonal batons raining down on a single man echoed out.
Truly, no merchant could stand against a coordinated assault.
“Ugh… uuuugh….”
Gijung finally lost consciousness from the pain.
“We got him.”
One of the guards muttered.
“We got him.”
The Patrol Sergeant also muttered.
….
All this time, the Black Dao Cultivators had despised men like these guards.
A sight they had never once imagined unfolded before them.
Their fingertips tingled.
The officials all looked at one another.
No lengthy words were needed. They simply knew.
The injustice they had always thought impossible, and thus could only turn away from in ignorance, had finally knelt for the first time today.
It was not a martial artist who had brought him in for the bounty.
They had captured him with their own hands.
Strange emotions bubbled up within them.
And one of the Patrol Officers lifted his hexagonal baton and shouted.
“Behold! The garrison of our Dongtae County has captured the bandit scoundrel who dared defy the Empire’s great laws and caused chaos in the martial world!”
“!”
Everyone stared in astonishment.
The Patrol Officer’s face flushed as he shouted even louder.
“Loyalty to the nation and love for the people! Protecting the realm with devotion! Long live the Emperor! For the Emperor!”
“Long live the Emperor! May the Empire endure eternal!!!”
“And let us praise the wisdom of our Governor Jin Tae-su aaaaaa!!!”
우와아아아아아—-!!!!
It was like a signal flare heralding the transformation of the world.
* * *
Shock!
Peak Master Gijung.
Captured alive by the garrison’s Patrol Officers and guards!
Now imprisoned with his dantian sealed, laboring in the dungeon!
This news spread at an astonishing pace.
It truly proved the old saying that rumors travel a thousand miles without feet!
Thanks to this, information-dealing sects like Gaebang and Hao-mun found themselves swamped with work.
The government apparatus.
Just how much stronger had the Patrol Bureau’s forces become, rather than the military?
And soon, they encountered astounding results.
“The patrol guards have at least reached the lowest tier of third-rate martial artists! They possess one to two years’ worth of inner energy!”
“That’s not all. Patrol sergeants possess at least three to four years’ worth of inner energy. And the patrol officers—they’re even fed quasi-immortal pills, forcibly giving them five to ten years’ worth of inner power.”
“The more these guys cultivate, the more their inner power accumulates.”
“Each patrol bureau has at least hundreds of men, and Gangso Province alone has tens of thousands of patrol officers under its jurisdiction.”
Martial artists sitting in taverns were raising their voices excitedly.
They’d grown this agitated after receiving information provided by Hao-mun and Gaebang.
Tens of thousands of patrol officers.
This was no small number.
Numbers equaled violence.
Why was Gae-bang-do renowned as a great sect throughout the realm?
Wasn’t it precisely because of those overwhelming numbers?
The patrol officers themselves made self-deprecating jokes about their weapon being headcount.
But Zerg were strong because of their zerglings, and this patrol bureau dog rush was enough to drive martial artists mad.
Moreover.
They’d adopted the Muryangnyeonhwa Beomshim Gong as their foundational inner energy cultivation method.
They were using divine techniques and secret arts as their standard!
As time passed.
The Patrol Bureau’s strength grew ever more formidable!
Thus, throughout Gangso Province, the government’s power was strengthening.
“This is rather unsettling.”
The martial artists of Gangso Province began to feel anxious.
The government they’d long ignored was finally making its move!
And then.
Another wedge was driven in.
“Moreover, what in the world is this proclamation! A decree defining indiscriminate brawls among martial artists as illegal! Disputes are to be resolved through martial contests only? Does this even make sense!”
It was the forceful decree of the Governor of Gangso Province!
While not a nationwide law significant enough to be recorded in the Great Code, it was a proclamation that must be obeyed within Gangso Province.
The decree was titled thus.
[Prohibition of Illegal Group Combat]
If six or more martial artists engage in combat without authorization, both parties shall be arrested and sentenced to three years of forced labor. Those wishing to fight with six or more participants must obtain the Governor of Gangso Province’s approval. Any disputes shall be resolved through one-on-one martial contests.
A truly terrifying decree!
Remarkably violent enforcement power!
In thousands of years of martial history, no dynasty or imperial house had ever issued such a decree!
And furthermore.
Though it was ostensibly an order from the Governor of Gangso Province, no martial artist in the realm was unaware that Ilgwang stood behind it.
In other words.
This was a conspiracy born from Ilgwang’s obsession with saving lives!
“That’s right! How dare Ilgwang interfere with our event!”
“I cannot settle my blood debts through martial competition alone!”
The martial artists within Gangso Province had already been reduced to roughly half their numbers from the previous upheaval.
It was only natural, given they’d fought each other to the death.
Among those who had survived or emerged victorious, they erupted in fury upon receiving the Governor’s decree.
“How am I to repay my debts of blood! My hatred can only be quenched by slaughtering my enemy’s entire family!”
“The wealth and rights of those I’ve killed should fall to me, yet you demand I turn a blind eye!”
At last, the pot that had been simmering began to boil over and crack.
“I cannot endure this!”
“Are you violating the principle of official non-interference!”
A bald man with a broadsword at his waist shouted.
“Let us show this cursed Ilgwang the heat of our blades!”
A gaunt swordmaster with poison glinting in his eyes joined in the chorus.
“Ilgwang calls himself a martial artist yet licks the boots of officials!”
A warrior dressed in scholar’s robes also raised his voice, veins bulging in his neck.
“A creature without pride! I saw through him from the moment he sold his divine techniques for a single coin.”
Even the martial artist who had purchased and mastered the Muryangnyeonhwa Beomshim Gong screamed until his voice cracked.
They all shouted curses at me, and there were far more of them than just a handful.
“Let us declare Ilgwang a public enemy of the martial world!”
“I have connections with the Martial Arts Alliance! Make him a public enemy!”
What the martial artists desired was freedom.
Specifically, the freedom to settle their blood debts as they saw fit.
They yearned for the return of the old principle of official non-interference.
All the rage they had suppressed converged upon me.
But it was merely talk.
They knew better.
That attacking me would result in nothing but forced labor in the imperial prison.
And.
That the Martial Arts Alliance would not involve itself in this matter.
However, they did not yet know.
The great historical event that would become a legend of the martial world, recorded eternally in the annals of history.
My forced campaign to save lives was only just beginning.

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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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