Soul Master Academy

As Spirit Hall's new headquarters, Spirit City was governed independently by Spirit Hall and did not need to pay taxes to any nation. This alone indirectly demonstrated Spirit Hall's formidable strength.

The hexagonal Spirit City had been built around the hill where the Papal Hall stood. As the capital of Spirit Hall, the Papal Hall held an exceptionally special status.

On the Douluo Continent, even the smallest city had a Spirit Hall presence. Small cities like Nahr City and Notting City could only have the lowest-ranked Spirit Hall Branches.

Above the Spirit Hall Branches were Spirit Hall Sub-Branches, and one level higher were Spirit Hall Main Branches. Only truly major cities could possess a Spirit Hall Main Branch, such as the capitals of imperial provinces, royal capitals of kingdoms, or the most important core cities.

Above the Spirit Hall Main Branches were the Spirit Hall Holy Halls. There were only two on the entire Douluo Continent, located in the imperial capitals of the two great empires. The Platinum Bishops presiding over those two Holy Halls might not have been particularly strong, but they were certainly capable.

Above the Spirit Hall Holy Halls was the Papal Hall, also known as the Spirit Hall Central Hall, the core of Spirit Hall's power. Although there were also institutions such as the Hall of Elders, Douluo Hall, and Worship Hall, the Papal Hall had always been the one steering Spirit Hall's overall direction.

Spirit Hall's influence covered every city on the Douluo Continent, and through those cities, it affected the surrounding towns and villages. Take martial soul awakenings, for example. The nobles and sects had naturally wanted to monopolize them, but Spirit Hall's emergence broke that monopoly.

Spirit Hall provided free martial soul awakenings for every child of the proper age on the Douluo Continent when they turned six. This was one of Spirit Hall's great merits, and no one could deny it.

In the original story, Tang San destroyed Spirit Hall to develop the Tang Sect and Shrek. Both were self-interested sects and academies, and they would never provide free martial soul awakenings across the entire continent as Spirit Hall had.

After Spirit Hall became history, it was naturally no problem for nobles, as the exploiting class, to awaken their martial souls. But what about commoners? If they wanted to awaken their martial souls, they had to pay to hire a Soul Master. That was another expense.

Moreover, once Spirit Hall was gone, the subsidies for low-level Soul Masters were gone as well. As beneficiaries of the system, the nobles would never want so many commoner Soul Masters to emerge and challenge their authority. Naturally, they would ruthlessly suppress commoner Soul Masters.

In truth, from Spirit Hall's destruction until the emergence of the Douluo Federation, it had been a dark age for commoner Soul Masters. Only after the Douluo Federation was established, public awareness awakened, and the influence of the noble class steadily weakened did commoner Soul Masters finally see dawn.

However, for Yan, compared to the chaotic era after Douluo One, when Evil Soul Masters rose again and all factions fell into conflict, this age, when Spirit Hall stood unrivaled in the martial soul world, was the best possible era.

Spirit City lay between the two great empires, with transportation extending in every direction. As Spirit Hall's capital, there naturally would not be any public security issues here. At least, not on the surface.

Spirit City did not have a particularly large resident population. Most were family members of Spirit Hall personnel, along with commoner Soul Masters from various regions. There were many shops lining the streets; it was not prosperous, but it was fairly lively.

"Uncle Lin, let's go straight to the Soul Master Academy!"

Yan lost most of his interest after casually looking around the city streets. Aside from Soul Masters being everywhere on the streets, this place was actually no different from an ordinary city. It was not even especially lively, leaving him rather uninterested.

The carriage ambled along the streets as Yan rested his head to one side and watched the scenery pass by. After leaving the bustling streets of the outer city and arriving at the city's central ring, they could see rows of tall buildings. They were the teaching buildings of the various academies.

As the most powerful Soul Master organization on the continent, Spirit Hall not only recruited graduates from Soul Master Academies year-round, but also had its own institutions for training Soul Masters.

Soul Master Academies on the Douluo Continent were divided into junior, intermediate, and advanced levels. Most advanced Soul Master Academies were semi-official in nature and had certain ties to the governments of the two great empires, as well as the many kingdoms and duchies.

These Soul Master Academies naturally needed to make a profit, and due to their close ties with the authorities, they were not particularly friendly toward commoners. Junior academies still had work-study students and the like, but once students reached intermediate academies, the steep tuition fees alone deterred many commoners.

Besides those Soul Master Academies, there was another option: joining Spirit Hall and becoming a Soul Master trained by Spirit Hall. Not only was the tuition cheap, but graduates were also guaranteed placements afterward.

Of course, to enter Spirit Hall's Soul Master training institutions, one's talent first had to meet the standard. At minimum, one needed innate third-rank Soul Power or above, ensuring a high probability of becoming a Soul Elder before one qualified for investment.

Since the dozen or so children traveling with Yan had been selected and sent to Spirit City, their talent naturally met the standard. However, due to their differing potential, they had been assigned to different Soul Master Academies.

The carriage carrying Yan finally arrived before a towering archway. The archway was constructed from hard stone, with two iron gates below, forged from fine steel.

Through the iron bars, he could see a winding path leading deep inside. A broad road ran straight inward, flanked by towering trees. Looking into the distance, he could make out the Soul Master Academy's plaza, where a tall teaching building stood out prominently.

"First Junior Soul Master Academy. A seed academy."

Yan looked up at the hanging plaque. The six characters for Junior Soul Master Academy were exceptionally striking, while two smaller characters beside them read First.

Spirit Hall had quite a few academies dedicated to independently training Soul Masters. The most famous was naturally the Spirit Hall Advanced Soul Master Academy. Liya had graduated from there, and every year it supplied fresh talent to Spirit Hall.

Besides its sole advanced Soul Master Academy, Spirit Hall also had numerous subordinate intermediate and junior academies. The First Junior Soul Master Academy was one of them, the most renowned among the junior academies, gathering many outstanding students and resources.

Given Yan's strength, he could actually have skipped ahead into an intermediate academy. After all, his strength had already reached that level. The graduation requirement for a junior academy was merely becoming a one-ring Soul Master, and he had long surpassed that, hadn't he?

However, Yan had no intention of skipping grades. On one hand, there was no need. The gap in resources between junior and intermediate academies was not actually that great, at least not for someone like him, who had the Soul King Feng Lin investing in him.

The other reason was that staying in a junior academy would grant him enough freedom. Since he had already become a one-ring Soul Master and met the graduation requirements, the teachers would not keep such a tight hold on him. That might not be the case at an intermediate academy.

Brothers, trial promotion starts at two tomorrow afternoon, and the contract has been sent off as well. The author is preparing to slightly increase the update speed. There should be a second chapter after two tomorrow afternoon. I hope everyone will keep reading and vote more. The data for a new book is crucial.