Doctor’s Rebirth

Chapter 136

Beneath the completely blown away leaves, large pine mushrooms had taken root.

And in the middle of them, the flower of the White Immortal Ginseng was blooming.

‘I came at a good time.’

The White Immortal Ginseng can be consumed as a spiritual medicine, and the autumn pine mushrooms can be used as ingredients.

They’re delicious steeped in tea, good in soup.

Grilling them over charcoal is also excellent.

“Let’s give some to Master, and we’ll eat some too.”

Woof! – Should I go hunting, Master?

How does he never fail to think about wrapping meat around it?

“Hwanggu, stand guard, and this time, Cheon-jin, Nan-man. You two go. Pheasant or rabbit, either is fine.”

Peep, cheep! – Okay, okay!

Screech! – Meat and mushroom dish! Today it’s meat and mushrooms!

Two birds fluttered out of the medicine box.

Jin Cheon-hee carefully dug up the spiritual medicine and pine mushrooms.

***

If there’s a will to come, there should be a will to go.

If you make them work, you should feed them.

In that sense, Jin Cheon-hee paid his dues fully.

The Central Plains-style campfire pine mushroom grilling party was truly a sight to behold.

‘As expected, wild pine mushrooms are amazing.’

In modern times, there were no opportunities to eat things like this.

The luxury of grilling them over a campfire was even harder to imagine.

Here, Jin Cheon-hee took out a lump of something.

Butter.

Moreover, it was homemade butter.

Jin Cheon-hee had managed the feat of making butter in the Black Armored Centipede’s cave.

And right now.

Jin Cheon-hee’s martial world-style butter sizzled as it melted on top of the wild pine mushrooms.

He popped it into his mouth and chewed.

“It’s delicious even just eaten plain, but with butter, it’s something else.”

Although Jin Cheon-hee lived like a Taoist, avoiding killing, lust, and alcohol, his desire for good food was endless.

He’s Korean, after all, where “Have you eaten?” is a common greeting.

Food is an essential part of labor!

This aspect was the same for the spiritual creatures following Jin Cheon-hee.

After feeding them all like that.

Jin Cheon-hee sat cross-legged and swallowed the White Immortal Ginseng.

‘I hope this one is imbued with a lot of metal energy.’

Among the five energies of the Five-Elemental Divine Technique, metal is the only one lacking.

As Jin Cheon-hee circulated his energy, the White Immortal Ginseng melted like liquid and began to seep into his body.

‘Wood, is it… Wood energy is lacking too, but not as much as metal…’

Even this alone is a great gain.

Fortunately, Jin Cheon-hee wasn’t like his master with Nine Yin Skeleton Veins, and his Five Elements True Qi itself was pure, so even if metal was a bit lacking at the moment, it wasn’t a critical situation.

Jin Cheon-hee’s hair fluttered in the wind.

The great tree’s leaves rustled as if congratulating Jin Cheon-hee’s achievement.

How much time had passed?

Jin Cheon-hee slowly opened his eyes.

“Two Gapja (120-years).”

Even spiritual medicines lose their effectiveness gradually as you consume them.

While gaining twenty years’ worth was something to celebrate, Jin Cheon-hee was starting to feel the limitations of relying solely on spiritual medicines.

“Let’s eat just one more and end it. This is really the last one. The last.”

He had already been out in the martial world for too long.

Still, he wanted to endure as much as he could endure.

If the late-stage disciples gathered at the Dragon Phoenix Gathering were jumping, Jin Cheon-hee was flying above them.

Two Gapjas.

Jin Cheon-hee narrowed his energy sense to observe his inner self and see how much stronger he had become.

“Whoa…?”

Is this possible?

He was so dumbfounded that he closed his eyes and circulated his energy several times.

He hadn’t felt it wrong.

“Ha-ryoon. This brother of yours has become… too strong…”

Jin Cheon-hee desperately wanted to see Yeo Ha-ryoon.

***

Arc 20: Disappearance

“This place… the atmosphere feels a bit strange.”

Jin Cheon-hee arrived at Tangbaek, a small city located on the way to the next spiritual medicine.

He planned to regroup here and send a letter along with gifts of pine mushrooms he had personally picked and other presents to his master.

Inside his master’s mind, Zhuge Rin the master and Zhuge Rin the family member were probably fighting fiercely.

This time, Jin Cheon-hee sent the letter and gifts through the Putuo Escort Agency branch.

Coming out, he realized there wasn’t a single passerby on the street.

Even in a large small city, there were usually always street stalls on such a big street.

The Hua Empire had large granary areas everywhere, so food ingredients were always plentiful.

Moreover, ingredients like sugar on Earth, which would normally require massive labor during the Age of Exploration to supply, existed here, though rare.

He was so surprised to find that even corn existed.

Because of this, while one might not be able to buy food due to lack of money, there was never a situation where one couldn’t eat due to lack of street stalls. However, here there were not only no street stalls but almost no passersby, and the few people who were out and about carried swords at their waists.

‘I wonder if the inn is open.’

The joy of travel is in eating.

As the weather was getting colder, he wanted to eat a warm soup dish.

At that moment, two martial artists approached Jin Cheon-hee in a pair.

“Greetings, young hero.”

The two made a light fist-palm salute. Jin Cheon-hee returned the gesture.

“What’s the matter?”

Judging by their official uniforms of this region, they seemed to be constables.

The two constables were very polite, but somehow seemed wary of Jin Cheon-hee.

“Excuse us, but we were wondering if we could see your identification tag.”

The constables of this era are not usually this polite.

Normally, they would just demand to see the identification tag, not exchange courtesies with a fist-palm salute.

It was probably because of Jin Cheon-hee’s clothes, which were not ordinary, and the medicine box on his back, as well as the huge dog beside him.

Jin Cheon-hee took out his identification tag from his pocket.

The tag had the emblem symbolizing White Dragon Medical Pavilion and Jin Cheon-hee’s name written on it.

“Little White Dragon! So you’re Little White Dragon!”

The constables’ eyes widened.

‘Hmm. There are people who recognize me even in such a distant region.’

The constables chattered among themselves.

“We thought it might be you when we saw the big dog, outstanding beauty, and the medicine box on your back.”

“Ah, of course, even so, we can’t not investigate outsiders.”

“What’s going on?”

At Jin Cheon-hee’s words, the constables clicked their tongues.

“It’s just that there have been continuous disappearance cases recently.”

“Disappearances?”

“Yes.”

The constables made troubled expressions and then said this:

“It’s probably not related to Doctor Little White Dragon.”

They only said that much and moved on to investigate other martial artists.

Jin Cheon-hee was about to ask for more details but stopped.

Judging by their behavior, the constables were obviously avoiding mentioning it.

‘There’s no need for the government and martial world to get tangled up unnecessarily.’

There are many ways to obtain information.

Jin Cheon-hee headed towards the inn said to be the best restaurant in the area.

The inn was also sparsely populated.

‘If there are so few people here, other inns must be similar.’

Even the people filling the inn were all martial artists with swords at their waists.

‘What’s with this town?’

First, Jin Cheon-hee ordered 8 servings of the most delicious soup dish from the waiter.

The spiritual creatures ate so much that even this might not be enough later.

“And also a room for one night, please.”

Saying this, he took out a silver coin and placed it in the waiter’s hand.

“No need for change.”

“Ah, great hero! You’re very generous!”

An inn is a place where one silver coin can elevate you from young hero to great hero.

‘The groundwork is roughly done.’

Jin Cheon-hee grumbled with a bored expression.

“Come to think of it, there are no musicians here and no people. I wonder if this really is the most delicious place in the area.”

“No, great hero! We can’t help that there are few customers… But, but you’ll definitely know when you taste the food!”

“Is that so? The constables were talking about disappearance cases, by the way.”

“Ah, that’s…”

Even the waiter seemed reluctant to speak about it.

‘Oh, I didn’t expect this.’

It’s understandable for constables to keep quiet if it’s a place that strictly distinguishes between government and martial world affairs.

But for even a local inn waiter to not speak?

Moreover, a faint hint of fear could be sensed from the waiter.

‘Should I press further, or not?’

As he hesitated, a voice was heard.

“Young brother. I’ll tell you.”

Screech-

Someone pulled out a chair and sat opposite Jin Cheon-hee.

It was a tall, middle-aged woman with a body so thin you could almost see her ribs.

Judging by the sword at her waist, she too was a martial artist.

In contrast to her body, which looked like it might starve to death at any moment, her eyes held a strange gleam. Her hair was unusually short, about the length of a modern short cut.

‘This… at least Peak realm. Maybe even Transcendent realm.’

The aura emanating from her posture and her somewhat relaxed attitude.

Jin Cheon-hee realized that the woman before him was a considerable powerhouse.

She smirked.

“In exchange, buy me a drink. How about it? It’s a bargain for the price of information.”

“Hmm.”

While Jin Cheon-hee hesitated, she added to the order.

“One bottle of One-hundred Flowered Wine, half a bottle of Shaoxing Wine. That should be exactly the change, right?”

Calculating, it was exactly one silver coin.

It was like exchanging the waiter’s tip for alcohol.

Soon, the alcohol and food arrived.

When Jin Cheon-hee declined the alcohol, she said she understood and immediately poured herself a drink.

“Ah, this is what I wanted to drink.”

“You don’t seem like someone who couldn’t afford one silver coin for a drink.”

At Jin Cheon-hee’s words, she smiled flirtatiously.

“Young brother, you say that because you don’t understand alcohol. Originally, drinking with someone else’s money tastes especially good compared to drinking with your own.”

“I… see.”

He had already figured out that the swordswoman before him was an eccentric.

Since he just needed to get information, Jin Cheon-hee didn’t say anything else and focused on eating his chicken noodle soup.

“First, let me introduce myself. I’m known to many friends in the martial world as Three Seasons Tiger.”

At those words, Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes widened slightly.

‘Why is this person appearing here?’

Three Seasons Tiger.

The tracking tiger with three seasons.

A master of the Peak realm and a tracking expert.

The Trio Assassin Rats he met before were also skilled in tracking, but this person, being of wanderer origin, is the real deal when it comes to tracking.

According to one theory, she has reached the level of a great master.

As befitting such a tracking expert, her martial arts are also formidable, having reached the Peak realm.

‘Ah, her hair is short now.’

She helps Yeo Ha-ryoon a few times later, though of course not for free.

In the novel’s timeline, there was a description of her having long hair, but it seems her hairstyle is different now.

“So you’re the great hero Three Seasons Tiger, Do Baek-ha. I’ve heard much about you. I’m Jin Cheon-hee from White Dragon Medical Pavilion.”

“Oh, so you’re the famous Little White Dragon of late! I’d like to make a fuss saying ‘Is it really you?’, but just looking at you, I can’t mistake you for anyone else. By the way, I’m grateful that you recognize this Do Baek-ha.”

She smiled broadly and shook the alcohol bottle.

“Am I famous?”

“Of course! They say you defeated the Dry Wood Blood Demon, a minion of Hao Sect in Hangzhou, and closed the gates of Putuo Temple on Zhoushan Archipelago?”

“No, that’s not… Putuo Temple closed their gates on their own due to the epidemic…”

“It’s all the same. Anyway, rumors about you have spread quite widely.”

They say there’s no smoke without fire, but I’m worried about how exactly these rumors have spread.