Chapter 357: Let Them Be Unhappy!

"How is it? How is it? Has the young chieftain woken up?"

"No, I still can't sense his aura! Look at this kid putting on such a serious act—could he be messing with us?"

"Alas! The young chieftain was such a good man, and so strong—he was the only choice for the next chieftain! Though I know it's impossible, I still hoped this kid could revive him. It seems..."

"Indeed! Heaven is jealous of geniuses! A prodigy like the young chieftain, dying so young!"

The tribesmen murmured among themselves, though most wished their own thoughts were wrong, hoping Ye Yuan could truly revive Li Yang.

From their murmurs, it was clear that Li Yang was very well-liked in the Tengyun Tribe.

But judging by the aura emanating from Li Yang's body, Ye Yuan had indeed deceived everyone!

The old man who had bickered with Ye Yuan earlier was none other than Master Daoyuan. He had secretly been sweating earlier, because Ye Yuan's "act" was so convincing that even a master like him had been fooled.

Now that it turned out to be a false alarm, Master Daoyuan hated Ye Yuan all the more.

Seeing this, the deputy chieftain sneered at Ye Yuan and said, "Boy, what do you have to say now? Xiao Yang has passed on, and yet you dared to defile his remains—truly heinous!"

The chieftain stared straight at Ye Yuan, his whole body trembling. Anyone could see the fury in him.

"Boy, you're asking for death!" The chieftain gritted his teeth, spitting out each word slowly.

He was already bristling with rage!

His own son had died, and then Ye Yuan had fiddled with the corpse for so long—anyone would go mad encountering such a thing!

The chieftain moved step by step toward Ye Yuan, and with each step, his aura surged higher!

Seeing this, Lan Feng's expression turned grim. With his strength, facing a ninth-level Sea Transformation peak expert meant certain death.

But even if he himself died, he could not let Ye Yuan suffer the slightest harm!

Ye Yuan, however, leisurely clapped his hands as if exhausted, indifferent to the chieftain's fury, as if the chieftain's anger wasn't directed at him at all.

Seeing Ye Yuan's demeanor, the chieftain grew even angrier. His figure suddenly vanished, and a palm strike like a mountain avalanche was already before Ye Yuan.

"Cough, cough..."

Just then, a violent fit of coughing came from the coffin. The chieftain jolted and halted his palm strike!

At that moment, his palm was only three inches from Ye Yuan!

Ye Yuan remained expressionless and said calmly to the chieftain, "Li Yang is awake. Aren't you going to greet him?"

The chieftain was stunned, then suddenly realized what had happened. He quickly left Ye Yuan and rushed to Li Yang's side.

At that look, the chieftain couldn't help but shed tears of old age. Li Yang... had truly awakened!

Li Yang opened his eyes with some difficulty, the scene before him blurring then clearing.

"F-father?" Li Yang called out weakly.

"X-Xiao Yang... you... you really... really woke up! Your father... your father thought he would never see you again!"

At that moment, the chieftain felt as if the whole world had returned to him.

The feeling of regaining his beloved son was truly wonderful!

On the other side, seeing that Ye Yuan was unharmed, Li Hong felt completely drained.

The moment the chieftain's palm fell, he had felt like dying. Li Yang had died because he hadn't arrived in time, and now Ye Yuan would die because of him—Li Hong truly felt there was no point in living anymore!

Once the chieftain left, Li Hong hurried to Ye Yuan: "Young Master Ji, you... you... you... are you all right?"

Li Hong's anxiety had not yet subsided, and his words came out stuttering.

Ye Yuan smiled slightly and said, "He didn't hit me, so I'm fine."

Hearing Ye Yuan's confirmation, Li Hong finally relaxed: "That's good! That's good! If anything had happened to you, I really wouldn't know what to do. Ah, by the way! What kind of magic did you use to bring Li Yang back from the dead?"

Ye Yuan said irritably, "Bring him back from the dead, my ass! He was never dead. I just cleared his blocked meridians so he could catch his breath!"

"N-not dead? How is that possible? Even Master Daoyuan, the chieftain, and the deputy chieftain confirmed Li Yang was dead, and I couldn't sense his life force either. How could he not be dead?" Li Hong asked in astonishment.

Ye Yuan curled his lip and said, "I told you, you wouldn't understand. A person is born with qi. To tell if someone is dead, you can't just look at life force and breathing; you have to observe the qi! Li Yang died yesterday, but his qi hasn't broken yet, so he wasn't truly dead. If it had been any later, even I couldn't have done anything."

Li Hong looked completely bewildered, understanding nothing of what Ye Yuan said.

In all his life, he had never heard of something called "qi." He knew about life force, but it was clearly a different concept from the "qi" Ye Yuan spoke of.

It was normal for Li Hong not to understand, because this theory of "observing qi" was utterly unknown in the lower realm!

Only alchemists of extremely high attainment, who had cultivated related soul techniques, could see "qi."

For an alchemist, death was not determined by life force, breathing, heartbeat, or such things, but by "qi."

When Ye Yuan entered, he saw that Li Yang still had a faint trace of qi on him, and knew there was hope of saving him.

And the finger technique he had just performed was called the Hundred Refinements Golden Finger, far superior to the Profound Nether Finger that Wan Donghai had once used.

Ye Yuan had used this finger technique to save countless lives, and today he added Li Yang to the list.

This finger technique had nine levels, corresponding to nine major realms. Ye Yuan was now at the second level of Crystal Formation, and performing the third level of this technique was not too strenuous.

"Then... will Li Yang recover soon?" Li Hong asked naively.

Expecting an affirmative answer, he was surprised when Ye Yuan shook his head and said, "Recover? Not yet! I only cleared his blocked meridians, but that's just a temporary fix, not a cure. In a few days, he'll die again!"

"Ah! Then... what do we do?" Li Hong exclaimed in shock.

Ye Yuan said irritably, "What to do? Nothing! Whether Li Yang lives or dies is none of my damn business! I just didn't like those old farts, so I wanted to make them unhappy too!"

As luck would have it, the chieftain overheard Ye Yuan's words. He quickly had someone help Li Yang out of the coffin, came before Ye Yuan, bowed deeply, and said with a face full of apology, "Young friend, I was rash just now and nearly harmed you. I deserve death! I apologize to you, young friend, and hope you will be magnanimous!"

Ye Yuan rolled his eyes and said, "Harming me? If your son hadn't coughed a few times, I'd be lying dead on the spot right now, buried with your son, wouldn't I?"

The chieftain's old face reddened, but he was a man who had weathered many storms. He quickly said, "It's all my fault, all my fault! Young friend, in consideration of my love for my son, won't you let it go?"