The Great Evolution Dao Sect, the Myriad Mountains Ancestral Range.
"Dao Venerable..."
"Greetings, Martial Uncle!"
"Great-Granduncle, you...?"
Jiang Yan led several Spirit Transformation cultivators as they looked toward Taiyuan, worry in their eyes.
Taiyuan pressed a hand downward, quieting them. "It is nothing. These injuries cannot affect This Venerable's foundations. But the Netherworld has already reached the far west. We must take precautions."
Jiang Yan promptly assented. "I understand."
Taiyuan nodded, took the Sect Master's Seal Token from his robes, and handed it back to him. "Take it. This is of no use to me now. Resume your position."
Jiang Yan froze, then hurriedly accepted it with both hands. "Thank you, Martial Uncle," he said respectfully.
The instant the token changed hands, an immense tide of fortune surged out of Taiyuan and transferred to Jiang Yan. In that same instant, a shadowy gleam flickered through Taiyuan's eyes and vanished. Even he himself failed to notice it.
"Great-Granduncle," Luo Yao asked tentatively upon seeing the token change hands, "has Dao Venerable Du You returned the Root Origins?"
Taiyuan's lips twitched slightly. He glanced at Luo Yao without answering, merely beckoning with one hand. Two dingy yellow motes flew out of his palm and hovered before them. Luo Yao took a closer look and cried out, "How did they end up like this?!"
The Root Origins had turned dingy and foul, as though their very foundations had been replaced. Had their familiar auras not remained, she could scarcely have believed these were their sect's two Root Origins.
He looked at Luo Yao. "For the time being, there is no need to summon any True Lords to inherit the Root Origins. Also... Jiang Yan."
"Here." Jiang Yan stepped forward.
"Du You must neither be underestimated nor antagonized," Taiyuan said evenly. "Now that he