"Due to the unique nature of the soul, while the array hub devices can be mass-produced, each hub within the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array must be personally activated by an array master.
“Furthermore, to ensure the array's precision, periodic debugging and calibration by an array master are necessary.
"And that is precisely the reason you are all here for this intensive training."
A small golden sphere suddenly appeared in Ji Hongdao's hand, the very same item distributed earlier along with their trainee attire.
"This is a Soul-Gathering Pearl, forged from Nether Spirit Jade. As the name implies, it has the function of collecting and imprisoning souls.
"See the golden light within? Those are all Souls Contracts of cultivators from the Five Elders Council!"
At Ji Hongdao's words, the expressions of the cultivators present shifted dramatically.
From the live demonstration of soul extraction earlier, everyone had learned that the golden light within a Five Elders Council cultivator's soul was the mark of a Soul Contract.
But each cultivator's soul only produced a faint trace of golden light.
To condense this seemingly tangible golden radiance... just how many souls were required? A thousand? Ten thousand?
The more they thought about it, the more horrified they became.
Some of these array prodigies had been immersed in the study of arrays since they began their cultivation journeys, and were rarely exposed to such brutal aspects of the cultivation world. Their faces now paled, hearts growing unsettled.
Ji Hongdao's voice deepened. "What? Afraid? Think we're too cruel?
"You must understand, in the battle of Tianling Province alone, the number of Myriad Immortals Alliance cultivators who fell was a hundred, a thousand times greater than the number of souls within the Soul-Gathering Pearls you hold!
"Not to mention the countless large and small wars that have erupted over thousands of years.
"Mercy toward the enemy is the true cruelty."
Ji Hongdao gave the young cultivators a profound look, making his point without delving further.
He shifted back to introducing the golden Soul-Gathering Pearl.
"Your task is to repeatedly observe and interact with these souls at close range, to perceive the mark of their Soul Contract.
"Ultimately, you must reach the point where you can discern the difference between souls with and without Soul Contracts without relying on external aids.
"Only then, when you construct the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array, will you possess the capability to debug and calibrate the array hubs.
"This process of examination consumes soul energy. You'd best achieve this before the souls within your Soul-Gathering Pearls are fully depleted. Otherwise..."
Ji Hongdao's voice turned cold. "We will deem you unfit to construct the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array. Not only will you be expelled from the Cosmos Branch Academy, but your sponsors will also be billed for the training losses."
At this, every cultivator's face darkened.
To fail the requirement and be cast out like that wasn't merely a matter of losing face. It likely meant ruined prospects, an end to their future on the array path.
The pressure weighed heavily on these recommended prodigies.
"However, rest assured. To reduce the difficulty, we have processed these souls with special methods.
"The vast majority of memories within the souls have been purged.
"With blank souls, you won't have to contend with the impact of memories and emotions, making comprehension far easier.
"As long as you're not utter trash here just to pad your credentials, there should be no problem."
Ji Hongdao finally shifted his tone again, offering encouragement to the gathered young talents.
Finally, he laid out their training plan for the coming period.
During the day, the trainees would follow Ji Hongdao to learn the construction of the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array.
At night, they would each return to their own courtyards to sense the Soul Contract marks.
Every month, an assessment would be conducted to check everyone’s learning progress.
And so, Li Fan began his training schedule within the Cosmos Branch Academy.
The Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array had truly lived up to the high hopes the Myriad Immortals Alliance had placed in it as the array that could turn the tide.
It was profoundly mysterious and staggeringly complex.
The outer structure of the array alone consisted of a full thirty-six million array templates.
Each array template was itself composed of numerous different and varied elementary arrays.
Even the simplest one was a composite of over ten thousand distinct array units.
Mastering the entire structure of the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array was no easy feat, even for these geniuses selected from various provinces.
However, Li Fan had the assistance of the secret art, Unity of Dao Transformation and Mind.
Everything he learned, saw, did, and even thought was recorded with perfect detail within the blue Dao Transformation Stone in his sea of consciousness.
He could review, cross-reference, and verify his actions at any time.
Li Fan’s mastery of the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array advanced by leaps and bounds, placing him at the forefront among the gathered prodigies.
In stark contrast was Li Fan’s ability to detect the Soul Contracts.
By the time roughly a quarter of the golden light in the Soul-Gathering Pearl had been used up, Li Fan had still made virtually no progress from where he'd begun.
Yet Li Fan took it in stride, feeling no pressure whatsoever.
Threats of expulsion from Tianyu Province or demands for reimbursement from his sponsor held no power over him.
If nothing unexpected happened, Zhang Zhiliang’s Dao would have already dispersed to the heavens by then.
Therefore, Li Fan maintained a steady mindset, neither arrogant nor impatient, proceeding at his own pace as he slowly contemplated.
Time flowed onward in this manner.
One day, as Li Fan once again drew a soul from the Soul-Gathering Pearl and prepared to meditate upon it, two vast surges of cultivation feedback suddenly erupted within his body.
Like a mighty, unending river, they poured forth, filling more than half of his third Tribulation Body in an instant.
A flicker of joy stirred in Li Fan’s heart, and he turned his focus inward. Have Ye Feipeng and Xiao Heng both broken through to the Golden Core realm?
Instinctively, he wanted to activate Formless Killing Mechanism to check on their situation.
But the distance was too vast; he couldn’t discern what had happened to them. This left Li Fan feeling somewhat uncomfortable and unaccustomed.
Judging by the quantity of cultivation feedback, they’ve each formed at least a Three-Law Golden Core.
To miss such a spectacular scene is truly a pity.
It seems I need to find a way to upgrade Formless Killing Mechanism.
Settling the faint joy in his heart, Li Fan’s divine sense expertly plunged into the blank soul in his hand.
It was as if he had arrived in a vast, boundless space of pure white.
Li Fan traversed this space, attempting to find the golden mark of the Soul Contract.
But just as before, he found nothing. The mark of the Soul Contract was hidden deep within the soul, like a single drop of water vanishing into the ocean, nearly impossible to detect.
Violently extracting a soul for examination was akin to boiling the entire sea to force the Soul Contract's mark to reveal itself. It was no different from murder. Using such a method for large-scale identification was utterly unfeasible.
The only way was to enter the soul's interior with one's divine sense, perceiving the presence of the Soul Contract's mark through close contact.