As Xuan and the others looked around the city from earlier, he couldn’t help but feel like it was a lot emptier than before.

Sure, there were only 100 jade slips, but for there to only be 30 people in the center, even after including them... It was a bit suspicious.

And evidently, his suspicions were true.

A man wearing a shabby flaming golden robe emerged from the forest, his arms bruised and his fingers devoid of all his rings and valuables. He looked like a homeless person. A handsome homeless person.

Xuan felt a little bad for him, to be honest, though he was still prepared for what was about to happen.

But nothing happened. The man just walked past their group and went into a spot where not many would bother him. Right on cue, the tournament overseer from before emerged.

"A grand total of 31 made it... Hm. Some of you have multiple people in your sects, so a total of 22 sects, then?" she muttered in amusement. "I see. In that case, congratulations to everyone who passed. The next part of the tournament is going to be a lot simpler..."

She extended her arms outward, trying to hype everyone up. In all fairness, everyone was bored and exhausted. No one wanted all this extra shit. When she realized that, she dropped the formalities and got straight to the next part of the tournament.

"The 22 remaining sects must undergo a basic technique learning test. Everyone will be given the same technique, and the first 12 sects who learn it get to move on, while the last 10 will be eliminated."

With that, she snapped her fingers, causing exactly 31 manuals to fall from the sky and land in the palms of every cultivator present, including Xuan. There was a lock made out of Qi on the manual, as if made precisely so one couldn’t open it before they had to.

Though he could still see the title of the technique, and it was something along the lines of: The Memory Myriad Cultivation Technique. Would he cultivate memories or something?

"Oooh! No way, is this the technique for photographic memory!?" Yuelan burst out in excitement, her voice catching the attention of everyone, including the overseer.

"That’s right," she said. "Though it’s a little different than simple photographic memory. With this, you can cultivate certain memories to be much better remembered than others, while also creating a Mind Palace to store all your existing memories."

She thought about it for a moment, then added:

"Essentially, it’s like putting certain memories on a pedestal. A lot of cultivators use it to never forget their techniques, and for some, whenever they put their techniques on a pedestal, they are able to draw them out much better, thus increasing their power."

In short, it was a really overpowered technique, but if it was so overpowered and easy to learn, to the point they’d get to learn it during the exam, what’s stopping them from having already learned it? Then what?

And it seemed like Sierra had this exact question, as she soon raised her hand and spoke:

"What about those who already have a Mind Palace?"

"Then they have a slight advantage," the overseer responded.

Sierra tilted her head. "Having 50% of the task finished seems a little more than a slight advantage. Shouldn’t you give us something more neutral?"

Xuan let out a sigh. "If she did, then all those young masters who set this whole tournament up would probably cut all her funding."

"Ah..." Sierra realized that too.

As for the overseer, she knew that what Xuan had said was the truth, so she kept silent in that regard, shifting the topic.

"I’ll unlock the techniques now. If you learned it, come to me and tell me. If you’d like to quit, just leave. Now then, remember, there’s no killing. If you try to kill one another, you’ll both be disqualified. Now then, start!"

Finally, the locks fell from the manuals, landing on the ground and signifying the start of the second round of the tournament. Just like everyone else, Xuan went ahead and started reading too.

He was honestly expecting some kind of hard manual, but right off the bat, it talked about some shit like meditation and finding someone to believe in. In short, it was stupid, so Xuan skipped to the parts where it actually told him what to do.

And for starters, he needed to sit down and gather Qi straight into his mind to try and create some kind of automatic connection. He had never heard of an automatic connection before, but it did seem neat, so like clockwork, Xuan was the first to sit down and also the first to start practicing the technique.

Since the majority of Qi application focused on imagination, Xuan was a natural. He imagined a path forming from his Dantian all the way up to his brain, and as expected, it worked wonders, allowing him to make that connection.

Then, with one final thought, Xuan supplied a constant stream of Qi from his Dantian to his brain, then from his brain to his Dantian. It made it so that no matter what he did, his Qi supply would never run out.

Obviously, he improvised it a little, and now the only thing that remained was for him to tap into his brain, so that was exactly what he did.

The moment he did so, however, his consciousness faded, and before long, Xuan found himself standing in the very center of the cosmos, his body intact, but his senses long gone. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think this was his Domain.

By the looks of things though... It might actually be it. Only then did Xuan realize that his domain must’ve existed somewhere. That certain somewhere was his mind, and every time he activated his domain, he subconsciously pulled it out from his mind.

So that could only mean the place he found himself in now was none other than his own mind.

And since that was the case, all he needed to do now was build his Mind Palace.