The establishment of St. Freya Academy also brought hope to commoners who couldn't even afford the cost of awakening their martial souls.
During the Peerless Tang Sect era, commoners had to pay a certain fee to awaken their martial souls, as setting up the awakening array and hiring the Soul Master responsible for the awakening both cost money.
Looking back ten thousand years, the Spirit Hall once massively and freely helped commoners awaken their martial souls, thereby recruiting more than half of the Douluo Continent's commoner Soul Masters.
At that time, the number of Soul Masters in the Spirit Hall even exceeded the combined total of the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire.
However, as time flowed forward to ten thousand years later, although the overall number of Soul Masters had significantly increased and the strength of the great empires was far beyond what it was ten thousand years ago, the path for commoners to advance became increasingly narrow.
For some impoverished ordinary families, the cost of a single martial soul awakening was enough to bankrupt them.
Take Shrek Academy, now hailed as the continent's foremost academy, for example. The conditions for admission are extremely strict.
Students not only need to possess extraordinary talent but also must obtain a recommendation letter from a city lord of a major imperial city to even qualify for registration.
For commoners, just awakening a martial soul was already difficult, let alone getting to know a city lord and obtaining a recommendation letter.
Even if a commoner child displayed great talent, those high-ranking city lords often preferred to recruit them for their own use rather than recommending them to Shrek Academy.
After all, for a city lord, it wasn't difficult to control a talented commoner if that city lord wasn't utterly incompetent.
In today's Douluo Continent, students capable of entering Shrek Academy to study almost all have some background; truly pure commoner family backgrounds are extremely rare.
These distinguished students flocked to Shrek Academy for two main reasons.
Firstly, naturally, for Shrek Academy's resounding reputation. After ten thousand years of history, Shrek Academy had established immense prestige in the Soul Master world. Its teaching quality and the outstanding talents it nurtured made it a sacred place in the hearts of countless Soul Masters.
Secondly, to build connections within the academy. Shrek Academy's admission standards were extremely rigorous; even outer court students were elites among elites. Any one of them chosen at random would either come from a wealthy family or an influential one.
Thus, Shrek Academy's outer court naturally formed a vast and high-end social circle.
Thinking about it, could students who went to Shrek Academy truly learn anything substantial from Soul Emperor and Soul Saint level teachers?
It's important to know that martial souls are inherited through bloodlines, and the research on their own martial souls by these high-born students' families often spanned hundreds or even thousands of years.
During their long exploration, families had already formed a unique and complete cultivation system.
Therefore, their primary purpose in going to Shrek Academy wasn't to acquire knowledge, but rather to expand their connections and make like-minded friends, paving the way for their future development.
Of course, if they were fortunate enough to join Shrek Academy's inner court and truly become a core member of the academy, that would be even better.
Establishing close ties with Shrek Academy brought nothing but benefits to the family forces behind them.
After all, Shrek Academy had profound foundations and numerous Title Douluo, which was undoubtedly a powerful force.
However, in the vast Shrek Academy, how many students could truly enter the inner court?
Precisely for this reason, Lu Jingming had no intention of sending Zhang Lexuan to Shrek Academy to study from the very beginning.
In his opinion, it was completely unnecessary. He didn't need to deliberately build so-called connections. Moreover, Zhang Lexuan had Jingliu, a peerless expert, meticulously guiding her.
How could Jingliu's strength and experience compare to those ordinary Soul Emperors and Soul Saints at Shrek Academy?
And Lu Jingming himself had no desire to study at other academies. Not to mention that Jingliu, Changli, and Herta were all extraordinarily capable individuals—which one of them wasn't qualified to be his teacher?
Furthermore, regarding connections, with Herta and others present, those insightful individuals would eventually seek him out to establish ties due to their abilities; he wouldn't need to go out of his way to actively cater to them.
The past experiences of the Spirit Hall made Lu Jingming realize that the commoner population held immense potential.
Within such a vast base, a few exceptionally talented individuals would always emerge.
As long as he could discover such talents, and if they weren't ungrateful, then all his efforts wouldn't be in vain.
Moreover, thanks to the soul tools manufactured by Herta, Lu Jingming was quite affluent financially.
For him, helping Haiyuan City's commoners awaken their martial souls for free and hiring a few teachers to impart Soul Master-related knowledge for free was not a difficult task.
Take Jingliu, for instance. Even though she was busy with daily affairs, in her spare time, she would make time to teach the students of St. Freya Academy a few sword techniques. It's important to know that Jingliu was a genuine Title Douluo. To receive her guidance, these students enjoyed treatment no less than that of Shrek Academy students.
According to Jingliu, as long as someone wanted to learn her sword techniques, she was willing to teach everything she knew, regardless of the disciples' talent level.
It was precisely because of this that most of St. Freya Academy's students had now learned swordsmanship from Jingliu.
However, it must be admitted that these students' talents were indeed limited. Whether in martial soul talent or swordsmanship talent, they appeared too mediocre, none comparable to Zhang Lexuan.
The architectural style of St. Freya Academy was unique, predominantly white in color, combined with modern glass curtain walls and metal structures, making it look stylish and grand.
This style was distinctly different from the traditional architectural style of the Star Luo Empire, instead bearing a strong resemblance to the Sun Moon Empire across the sea.
Although the academy was newly built, its infrastructure was complete. The teaching buildings were spacious and bright, providing students with an excellent learning environment.
The dormitory area was cozy and comfortable, allowing students to get ample rest after their studies. The training grounds were fully equipped to meet students' daily training needs, and themic Cultivation Room Mi was a major highlight of the academy—a top-tier cultivation facility usually only found in high-level academies.
The cafeteria offered a rich variety of delicious food, ensuring students' dietary needs were met, and there were picturesque scenic areas, providing students with a good place to relax and unwind amidst their intense studies.