Building a Mind Palace, at least the way it was written, was a long and arduous process. It took years for some, while for the talented few, it took several weeks.

Even then, Xuan was expected not to finish this for a long, long time. Except... Didn’t he already get through the hard part?

With that in mind, Xuan imagined a temple appearing out of nowhere, as well as some footing to stand on. As expected, it appeared. There was furniture, some good food, and even a nice incense pot in the very middle that his imagination pretty much filled in.

Now, in terms of the Mind Palace itself, Xuan went ahead and imagined a large library, much like the ones he had passed while on his way to school. They seemed very practical, and that was the kind of basis he would use.

Or rather than basis, it was more like a foundation? Since he was a cultivator, it would take a lot longer for him to die, which also meant he’d have a lot more memories than normal people.

"Hmm... It’s best if I make it a little bigger. Actually, should I just make it like one of those big ass old-school libraries? They look cool. Maybe even a sunroof?"

It was a bit strange hearing his thoughts, especially since he wasn’t trying to talk. But oh well, he was inside his mind, so it made sense.

Anyhow, he went ahead and imagined a library appearing, and it did. Then, he expanded the library several times, adding a bunch of layers and even giving it a rustic look.

It took a grand total of less than 10 seconds to make it, and he was more than satisfied. Looking back on it, why did he even make a temple to begin with if he was going to store everything in the library outside?

Welp.

Whatever.

He was done with the Mind Palace, and now the only thing left was to go inside his library and start labeling some books. Those books would be the places where all of his memories would go after he finished setting everything up.

Though, instead of labeling books one by one, he went ahead and labeled sections. One section after another, with memories containing his loved ones, techniques, basic miscellaneous stuff, very important stuff, and some stuff he labeled randomly as though he were grocery shopping.

His library was complete, and now the only thing left, according to the manual, was to establish a Qi connection with all of the books there.

Evidently, since he connected his Qi with his brain, it would make the process essentially automatic. Except, there was the caveat of him needing to look through all 10,000 books there and infuse his Qi into every single one of them, make sure they matched the sections he had marked, and in the end, he was actually done.

Now, according to the manual, every memory he gained from now on was supposed to enter this place. So whenever he wanted to know something, he could just enter his mind, look for a book, and then have answers.

That, and it would generally help him remember everything better.

Theoretically.

As for the final part of the technique, all Xuan needed to do was create something like a pedestal, put any kind of book on it, and give it more Qi. Now, it appeared in his mind without even thinking too hard.

Honestly, if he were practicing some really hard technique, he might have a use for it, but as it stood now, it was a bit annoying. So while he did learn the technique, he didn’t have much of a use for it.

So with that in mind, Xuan hummed to himself and finally left his mind by imagining a doorway and walking through it. When he snapped out of it, he realized he was simply sitting there while the others were still reading.

That made him realize that time inside his mind passed much slower. Maybe time didn’t pass at all?

Anyhow, under the gaze of every confused cultivator present, Xuan went ahead and stood up, then approached the overseer, who didn’t even have time to turn around yet.

"I’m done. What’s next?" Xuan asked plainly.

She turned back to him and raised a brow. "Sorry?"

"I’m done."

"Oh... You are? Show me," she replied after regaining her composure. She didn’t believe him for even a second, since that technique took her several months to learn, even with the slightly slowed-down time inside her mind.

After all, unbeknownst to Xuan, he was the only person in this whole group who could slow down time to such an extent inside his mind. For others, the time dilation was roughly 1/10th of the normal time outside.

But even then, he wasn’t normal by any means, as it took him less than 30 minutes to complete the task.

"So how do I prove it to you?" Xuan asked.

"Let me into your mind," she replied instantly.

"Mm? No." Xuan let out a chuckle. "Find another way to check it, since I’m not letting you anywhere near my mind, lady."

Obviously, he wasn’t petty, nor an idiot. He knew that no good would come of it if he let her anywhere near his mind. After all, he hadn’t forgotten what happened just before the tournament ended.

"I’m sorry, but there’s no way to check if you don’t show me your—"

"Is there a problem?" Hanbi asked, chiming in with a smile. "I believe him being a part of my sect is enough to trust his word, no? Or would you like me to call some of the elders from the Serene Blossom Valley to attend to your request?"

The overseer’s expression paled.

"N-No. Not at all. It’s okay. You pass. The Serene Blossom Valley may pass to the next round. Follow me, all of you. I’ll explain what it is. Oh, and... Please don’t mention my transgression to your sect."