The heavy doors slowly closed behind him.
The last sliver of light from outside was completely cut off by the doors.
Yoriichi stood at the entrance to the Great Spirit Book Gallery and looked ahead.
It was even larger than it had appeared from outside.
Rows of shelves stretched into the distance, their ends vanishing entirely into the gloom.
Each shelf stood dozens of meters tall, densely packed with books and files.
Countless motes of Reishi light floated in the air.
They moved slowly along fixed paths, providing faint illumination for the entire gallery.
There was no staff to guide him.
Nor was there a catalog of the sort an ordinary library would have.
Yoriichi took a few steps forward.
A pattern of Reishi lit up on the floor ahead.
Immediately afterward, a translucent Light Screen unfolded before him.
A large number of categories appeared on it.
Nobility.
Gotei 13.
Shin'ō Academy.
Zanpakuto.
Hueco Mundo.
World of the Living.
History of the Three Realms.
All the materials were organized with exceptional clarity.
Yoriichi wasted no time on the other categories.
He reached out and tapped History of the Three Realms.
The Light Screen trembled slightly.
A shelf in the distance slowly lit up.
Dozens of books flew from it on their own and hovered before Yoriichi.
Yoriichi scanned their spines.
Soon, he selected an untitled ancient book from among them.
Its cover was extremely worn.
But protected by a Reishi barrier, the pages inside had not decayed in the slightest.
Yoriichi opened it to the first page.
A line of ancient writing met his eyes.
In the original world, Soul Society, the World of the Living, and Hueco Mundo did not exist.
It was a chaotic world with no boundary between life and death.
Humans, souls, and Hollows existed together.