.

-Half an hour later-

.

The students were huddled in a hall. An old Phisopher-looking type of person was presiding. The students started yapping away excitedly. Despite what the traitor teacher just said about being quiet.

The old man slapped down a cane in front of him. Leroy already covering his ears knowing this was bound to happen to quiet up teenagers and such.

"Silence!" His voice boomed out immediately afterward. "Be quiet in the Test Hall! Although Freshman, you still have to obey Heavenly Theocracy Academy Rules. I am the Vice-Principal of Heavenly Theocracy Academy. You may call me Jin, I am responsible for your test today."

'How grateful I am they are using English now.' Leroy uncovered his ears. The students were slightly dazed by the noise still. As they walked up, the Champion paid attention to the "Sphere" that looked like a crystal ball on the table. It would help label them for future training. 'Whelp wonder what will happen when it tries to read me?'

"On each table, you will find a Testing Sphere. You have to inject into the Sphere a piece of your Qi with your mind." Jin said steadily and professionally. Having said the same thing so many times before it was no trouble. "All so we can determine your innate talent."

A few of the students grumbled at that. They were systematically about to have their future determined because of this. It made some of them depressed and were not in the best shape to take the test.

"Those of you who can sense two branches of Spirit Root qualify to attend classes. Those who can sense three branches have excellent talent, and those who can sense four branches.. have the makings of a genius."

The old man let the last bit trail on a bit.

"Wow.." A student let slip out. Jin gave him a glare. "Sorry…" The teen retreated in on himself.

"Also, those who are sensitive to three or more soul crystals will be able to become personnel disciples of Heavenly Theocracy Academy's most outstanding masters. Every single one of them is a powerhouse of at least Nascent Soul Realm."

Most of the students looked on in awe as they were at most exposed to members of the Foundation Realm if they were lucky. Those in the major cities came across them before and those in the big towns came across Foundation and Qi Refining members. Even having older siblings at the middle stages of Qi Refining.

At the Body Tempering VII Stage, Leroy was not worrying about those that were not from Military or Noble families particularly.

The traitor teacher stepped forward as if on cue. Capturing the attention of the students before the Vice-principal spoke.

"Ok, Chan-Yeol, start the exam!" Old Jin ordered.

"Yes!" Chan-Yeol cupped his hands in respect and bowed. He was really good at being a traitor. No one currently suspected a thing from him. "There is enough room for everyone! Put your hand onto the Testing Sphere and pushed as much Qi as you have gathered in your body already. Everything will happen naturally."

Always people with the strange hairdos doing something in these places it seemed. At least Leroy thought that way because of the cut sway hair that didn't move despite the man movements.

The test started at once after that. The teachers talking away already as a noble kid did three off the bat. Leroy waited a bit. Chen Xue started up to test but stop as the crystal ball looked too much like something foreign to him. Then he did it after poking them slightly.

"Feels like fake breasts.." Leroy mumbled. He missed being a plastic surgeon already. Something was just fun about mixing fake things into people. "Ah well, here we go."

Unknown to the students, a few Nascent Soul Realm Cultivators from various families that made contributions and donations to the Akademy were watching. Forbidden from entering of course, they paid close attention for people they could recruit while looking through View Mirrors.

View Mirrors were literally Large Mirrors with Formations on them connected to one point from another. Basically video calling that ran off of Qi Stones. But it only required small amounts. Something easily afforded by these families but worth a fortune to regular folk.

Three were paying close attention to Leroy. With one holding a spyglass that shined gold over their eye. The Spyglass was an artifact that allowed one to see the unseen. Unfortunately for them, the lens was breaking.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

*Crck!* With the lens about to completely shatter, the cultivator pulled it away frustrated. Out of all the students testing only Leroy could not be seen through. What was worse they only got a glimpse of Demon Beast's silhouette wrapped around his body. Unable to even make out what the beast was.

Shutting down the Viewing Mirror, the CUltivator left their Hermit cave and shot off across the continent in a stream of white light. Not rushing but not dallying, the cultivator went to gather material to fix the Spyglass as well as heading in the direction of the Akademy.

The test went on without any problems until a bit of his concentration dropped.

*Bing!* The first branch lit up. Then a second and third at the same time. The fourth lit up with a little effort. They shined like Christmas trees along with the fifth and sixth slowly showing out. Mentally, Leroy was having trouble with the soul of the original Leroy from this Dimension once more.

The soul was fighting to keep the refining process of the Flame Vortex from ending him completely. He should have known it would not be this easy to have it all squared away. The waste of a person had some of the Lost Generals temperament after all. Having waited until the perfect time to strike with someone able to intervene.

If anyone could free him, the fool thought the Teachers at the Academy could do it.

The current Leroy was pulled into himself mentally. Feeling this needed to be handled quickly, his mind was already made up on how to do it. He briefly saw the old tiger laying to the side huffing and puffing.

"Look here, not completely by choice I am here. Freak accident some would call it. Blame the Heavens and all that shit!" Leroy of the Dark Tigerfire was not that willing to let go. "I am not that bad of a guy. But not that good after all the people I killed. I do not want to die or stay here brat!"

"Then give me back my body!" The original yelled in defiance. A waste and disgusting person he may be but one thing he knew, if he did not fight back all would be lost. Meaning his life would be done for. "Do you know who my family is!?"

A last-ditch effort to scare the trespassing Leroy that pushed back against him. Seeing the form take on more of his appearance was not good.

*Fwish!* The Flame Vortex flared up. A bit of the fire touched them both. The contact burned away parts of both their souls. Not liking that at all, Leroy became enraged since nothing the Afterlife Backdoor Terminal told him he purchased was here still.

He started punching the young man and pushing him into the flames. Venting every bit of frustration as he thought that the original may have something to do with it.

"If this was my original body, this would have been over already!" The Champion yelled. Touching the other started to make him hungry in a way. Whisps of the soul moved into his body satiating the feeling. As if the soul itself was a food of sorts for him. "So that's it! Bottoms up! Get eaten!" The almost flame form of Leroy lunged at the original body owner.

"Ahhh!" He cried out as he was bitten. His soul tearing away with each bite. "I do not want to die!"

"Neither do I!" Leroy ripped at the jugular continuously devouring away. Nothing would stop him from living, even destroying the soul of another person!

His fingers dug into the other organs to increase the pain. Even a few atrocities of attacking the eyes and temple. If there was a way here, then a way back existed he was sure besides what the Terminal implied.

"Watch me do what you couldn't! Waste of flesh and blood!"

As he ate away, the outside world continued on as normal. The Testing Sphere was almost all lit up. The last one shined briefly. But this was due to exhaustion it didn't stay lit. He actually did all 7 of the Branches!

*Clatter!* The purity of the Qi within Leroy caused the Testing Sphere to crack! His spiritual root was upgrading from the process of soul consumption he was undergoing! The damage to his soul from arriving in this Dimension was sublimated by the nourishment from the soul of the other.

Not to mention recent events with the Corpse Pit and the Sucking Plant!

"7 branches!" A student cried out in alarm. Then he saw the fuss with a few others to the side. "Another with a high Spiritual Root! It is that weirdo Bai Xing!"

"Are these old eyes deceiving me?" A teacher was astounded. The beads under his neck slightly rattled as the inscriptions on them lit up signifying danger briefly. "This young man managed to invoke quite a show of a spiritual root with seven branches!"

"Yet there are two others, hopefully, the vice-principal doesn't act greedy!" Another teacher voiced loud enough for to be heard all around. "It's a good thing the Teacher Armed Divison are not in attendance! We would lose all the good disciples!"

"It is said that a five-branch talent can only be found in several hundred years. A talent of six branches can only be found in several thousand years. To have two at once…" Old Jin was beside himself. Trapped between bewilderment and shock. "The amount that has it, can be counted on the same hand!"

The only problem that came from what happened was the flames that left Leroy. Blue Qi flames and White Qi lighting bolts were generated as he broke into the upper rank of Body Tempering. All the way to the Peak but stopped himself once he gained control of the body fully.

No way would he allow himself to have a problem develop by breaking through multiple ranks. He still had something he could do to make sure his Body gained an edge.

The students fussed about it. A few members of the Dark Tiger-fire family moved to congratulate Leroy. It was groveling and false praise. But let him know who to watch out for as he digests the memories fully.

This only fueled the rumor mill, however. Nodding to the members he made sure to check on those from the Hamlet/Town he was a part of. Nothing too extraordinary but they at least qualified to stay as students.

"What did you say your family name was?"

"Agu and Shentai..." Leroy gave him an odd look as the boy was too close to him. With a push, the teen was forced back giving him breathing room. Biting back the urge to say give me 50 feet or use proper social distancing. "..none of my family are alive so don't get any ideas."

He was not entertaining any idea that he was related to the Dark Tiger-fire family or the Lost General. Keeping up with that kind of lie would be exhausting on top of everything else he was having to deal with.

A servant came over towards the vice-principal, passing over a small scroll before backing away. The content of the scroll was not to surprising as Old Jin knew he would want one of them. Giving a simple nod, his eyes went toward Bai Xing.