Chapter 3004: A Glorious Return And Acknowledgement

The Patriarch’s sharp, ageless eyes narrowed as they examined the form descending slowly, riding the edge of the sacred sword like it was the most natural thing in the world. Then his gaze locked onto the sheath.

His pupils constricted and he took a breath.

"That’s no mere sheath," the Patriarch said, voice low and reverent."That... is a Sword Dao Embryo."

A flurry of murmurs erupted among the gathered elders, but none dared to interrupt the Patriarch as he took a step forward, looking deeper, beyond mere appearances.

Even with his vast knowledge, having personally cataloged hundreds of Sword Dao Embryos and studied many in the Immortal Court, the one on Lin Mu’s back was foreign to him.

It was not carved from divine jade, nor forged from celestial ore. It bore no engravings, no lineage marks, no divine sigils.

It was simply... a sheath.

And yet, it was more complete, more ancient, more profound than anything he had ever laid eyes on.

"Impossible..." the Patriarch whispered, his voice nearly lost in the wind.

"A Dao Embryo that... restrains the sword rather than expresses it?"

"A cradle, not a blade?"

The moment Lin Mu stepped off the sacred sword’s edge and onto solid ground, the great blade shimmered. The crack in space began to seal, slowly and silently. The Xian Sword Spirit withdrew into its slumber—its task fulfilled, its trial passed.

As the fracture sealed entirely and the skies calmed, all was still.

Lin Mu stood upon the snowy peak of Mount Sky Sever, the Sword Cradle Divine Sheath slung across his back. His body radiated subtle Sword Intent—not blinding like a storm, but deeply rooted, ingrained into every fiber of his being. The wind brushed past him, but even that seemed to shy away from his presence.

He looked around at the crowd, at the elders, at the disciples kneeling or bowed unconsciously from the intensity. Then his gaze landed on the tall man with the blade-like aura standing calmly in front of the others.

Their eyes met.

The Patriarch stepped forward and gave a respectful nod.

"Lin Mu," he said, his voice heavy with intent, "you have walked the edge of the sacred sword and returned whole. Tell me...""What did you gain in the Sacred Grounds?"

Lin Mu touched the sheath on his back, then looked up.

"I gained what I did not know I needed," he replied calmly. "Not a sword to swing—"

"But a place to carry them. A place to nurture them."

"The sword is not always destruction. It is also birth."

"This is the Sword Cradle Divine Sheath." Lin Mu finally revealed.

The Patriarch’s eyes glinted, and the corners of his lips twitched ever so slightly. "The Sword Cradle... Divine Sheath," he muttered to himself. "A Dao Embryo that chooses to carry the potential of others rather than bare its own edge... such a path..."

He turned to the elders.

"All of you, remember this day," he declared."For the first time since our founding, the Xian Sword Spirit has acknowledged a swordsman. And not as a challenger... but as its heir."

A gasp rippled through the crowd.

Elder Yi Feiyan stumbled backward in awe.

Lin Mu looked down for a moment. He didn’t feel particularly stronger than before. But something in him—something fundamental—had changed. The Sword no longer flared in his spirit like a wild beast needing control.

Now... it rested in him, waiting patiently, like a trusted companion.

The Sword Cradle Divine Sheath at his back pulsed once, as if in agreement.

The air on the summit of Mount Sky Sever was still heavy, but no longer from sword intent.

Instead, it was now weighed by the gravity of revelation. Lin Mu stood tall with the Sword Cradle Divine Sheath resting across his back, while a circle of elders and the towering figure of the Patriarch stood around him, all bearing expressions of awe, confusion, and contemplation.

Elder Feng Xia, ever sharp-tongued yet shaken, was the first to voice the question on everyone’s mind.

"Patriarch... You declared Lin Mu the heir of the Xian Sword Spirit. But what does that mean? None of us have ever heard of such a thing."

Another elder added with a frown, "And this sheath... The Sword Cradle Divine Sheath? It’s not listed among any known Dao Embryos, divine or otherwise. Even the ancient records are silent."

All eyes turned to the Patriarch, whose gaze remained fixed on Lin Mu for a long moment before slowly shifting to the horizon. The wind rustled his snow-white beard, its every strand razor-straight like the edge of a blade.

Then, in a voice both solemn and resonant, the Patriarch spoke.

"That sheath... is no ordinary Dao Embryo. It is something that was never meant to be wielded—but to be chosen."

The elders fell silent.

"I, too, did not recognize it at first," the Patriarch admitted. "But when Lin Mu named it aloud, when I saw how it resonated with the Sacred Grounds themselves... I knew."

He turned his gaze skyward where the fracture had begun to fade, its last remnants dissipating into nothing.

"This tale was not for your ears. Not until now. It was passed down only from one Patriarch to the next—buried within the Blade Oath of Inheritance. A secret history of our sect."

The silence deepened.

"It tells of a sheath—a divine object born not from a smith’s forge, nor a cultivator’s will, but from the sword path itself. A Sword Dao Embryo that emerged on its own, without a host, a sheath that could shelter all blades, nurture their growth, and guard their essence."

Even Grand Elder Huo sucked in a quiet breath.

"The sheath wandered the worlds, unattached and untamed. None could claim it, for it had no desire to be claimed. Until... the Founder, our ancestor and first Patriarch—Daoist Star Slayer—came across it in one of the minor realms."

Lin Mu’s brow furrowed, his thoughts flashing back to the old man in the Path of the Sealed Swords.

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