Behind him stood a massive sword gate.
Its twin doors were carved from whole slabs of white jade, the jade inlaid with countless fine golden patterns that combined into a vast diagram of a sword formation.
The sword gate stood over a hundred zhang tall, wide open. Beyond it lay profound darkness, and Ye Lin had emerged from that darkness.
Four large characters were engraved above the gate, their strokes vigorous, like sword edges plowing through the earth. Between each stroke, Sword Intent seemed to flow.
"Return of the Sword Dao to Its Origin."
Ye Lin's gaze lingered on those four characters for a breath. Feeling the vast sword pressure contained within, he then looked away.
He drew a deep breath.
The holy aura within the Sacred Land was so dense it was nearly liquid. Every breath felt like swallowing pure sword essence.
That sword essence flowed through his airways into every limb and bone, naturally merging into his meridians and resonating with his ten thousand sword veins in a soft hum.
Ye Lin felt his cultivation undergo a faint, almost imperceptible increase within those few breaths.
He was not breaking through. Rather, the foundation of his Third Heaven Quasi-Saint Realm was being further solidified, compressed, and purified by the Sacred Land's environment.
He lowered his head to look at the map in his hand.
The map had been formed from divine sense. The moment it touched his consciousness, it transformed into a three-dimensional image in his mind.
It was a miniature of the entire Sacred Land, with its myriad sword peaks shrunk to the size of fingernails.
Two sword peaks were each marked by a golden point of light. One was labeled Scripture Depository, and the other Lecture Hall.
After getting his bearings, Ye Lin determined that the Scripture