Led by Ye Guyi, the group finally stepped through the gates of Jianan Academy.
The scene before them caused everyone to involuntarily slow their pace.
Inside the spacious campus, neat buildings were scattered in an orderly fashion, with students moving about in twos and threes, their faces filled with the youthful vigor and vitality characteristic of their age. Sunlight spilled onto the stone-paved path, casting a warm and bright halo.
Ye Guyi raised her hand and pointed toward four tall buildings on the left, a hint of pride in her tone: "Those are the teaching buildings. There are four in total at the moment, with Spirit Master students and ordinary students separated, two for each—one for the lower grades and one for the higher grades."
She paused and explained in detail: "The lower grades refer to students aged six to twelve, while the higher grades refer to students aged over twelve up to eighteen."
Immediately after, she added candidly: "After all, we are not Shrek, and the academy was established only recently, so we don't have the time or energy to set up an inner and outer court system. Furthermore, the number of students is not high, especially regarding Spirit Master students; compared to other famous Advanced Spirit Master academies, we are indeed far behind."
Upon hearing this, Bei Bei nodded thoughtfully.
This was the plain truth. The academy had been built for less than a year, and no matter how famous the Axis Cult was, it was simply unrealistic to snatch excellent students from so many established academies in such a short time.
Students with high talent were either reserved early by major Advanced academies or did their best to get into Shrek. The remaining ones also tended to choose the established academies they were familiar with.
Moreover, Jianan Academy also recruited ordinary students. In the eyes of some Spirit Master Families, this would likely cause considerable resentment. After all, the vast majority of Spirit Masters considered themselves superior and looked down on ordinary people without Soul Power from the bottom of their hearts.
Although, to some extent, this was indeed a fact.
Spirit Masters could fight, while ordinary people could not. Spirit Masters had Martial Souls and Spirit Abilitys, while ordinary people could only rely on fists, kicks, and weapons. When encountering Soul Beasts, beast tides, or Evil Soul Masters, ordinary people could only run for their lives, and they might not even be able to outrun them, usually ending up in a dead end. Spirit Masters, at least, had the power to resist and could bite off a piece of the enemy before they died.
Furthermore, ordinary people lacked Soul Power and could not use Advanced spirit tools; at most, they could only use Hidden Weaponss. But compared to spirit tools, Hidden Weaponss were indeed far too backward, and since the Tang Sect had long since fallen into decline, not many people remembered Hidden Weaponss nowadays.
However, Bei Bei had a change of thought; Furina had mentioned before that she was developing spirit tools that could be used without Soul Power.
If this could truly succeed, it would completely change the status quo of ordinary people and the continent. Especially if one day, even level-nine spirit tools could be driven without Soul Power, the gap in status between ordinary people and Spirit Masters would likely be infinitely narrowed.
While he was pondering, his gaze was drawn to a scene not far away.
A group of students who looked like ordinary people were conducting some kind of training on an open space. Some were lifting giant rocks, some were running rapidly back and forth in the woods, some were sparring, and some were even using blades to hack at stones, and they had actually succeeded, with only a shallow nick on the blade.
Their movements were agile and powerful, and their breathing was steady and orderly, not at all like ordinary people without Soul Power.
Bei Bei frowned slightly and carefully sensed for a moment, confirming: "There is indeed no Soul Power fluctuation on them... but these training exercises do not seem like something an ordinary person could do either."
He looked at Furina in confusion: "What are they doing?"
Furina looked in the direction of his gaze and explained in a flat tone: "Cultivating. Just like Spirit Masters, they are learning specific Cultivation Techniques to Cultivate. These are all auxiliary exercises."
These students were all practicing the breathing techniques and martial arts Cultivation Techniques for Internal Energy that she had drawn previously.
Bei Bei was stunned, a look of disbelief flashing in his eyes: "Cultivation Techniques that allow ordinary people to Cultivate... do they really exist?"
Tang Ya, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao also pricked up their ears, their eyes filled with curiosity and shock.
This was no less shocking than the creation of artificial Spirit Bones and spirit rings. If ordinary people could truly Cultivate and become stronger, it meant that even without Soul Power, they possessed the capital to contend with Spirit Masters.
If one were to add spirit tools that could be used without Soul Power, what difference would there be from Spirit Masters?
Furina placed her hand on her chest and answered with a determined expression: "That is only natural. Isn't it right before your eyes now?"
She paused and explained in detail: "However, unlike Cultivating Soul Power, they are just making their bodies stronger and more agile; it is more like a method of Body Refining. Of course, they will also develop Internal Energy, an existence similar to Soul Power."
"They also need to constantly Cultivate and achieve Breakthroughs just like Spirit Masters, and it also depends on talent and opportunity. Of course, they also have to learn some martial arts techniques. Because no matter how strong the hardware is, if there is no matching software, how can it be utilized?"
Bei Bei was speechless. Taking what was before his eyes, it was indeed not something an ordinary person could do, and these were children aged twelve or even younger.
Wang Dong listened, half-understanding, and scratched his head: "What are hardware and software... again?"
Furina made an offhand comparison: "Just a metaphor. You can just understand it as the relationship between a Martial Soul and a spirit ring."
Wang Dong suddenly realized and nodded: "Oh—that makes sense."
The relationship between a Martial Soul and a spirit ring was very close; just like no matter how strong a Martial Soul was, it had to rely on a spirit ring to perform a Spirit Ability. The strength of a Spirit Ability was also closely related to the quality of the spirit ring. Without a spirit ring, without a Spirit Ability, no matter how high the quality of the Martial Soul was, it was useless.
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