Chapter 3870: Selecting the Elite

Three days passed quickly. Early that morning, Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan took Wang Qiuting to worship their ancestors, and then arrived at the training ground.

A giant, red-glowing pagoda stood in the center of the training ground; it was the Li Fire Illusionary Demon Pagoda. Wang Qingshan had sent people to collect the souls of Chaotic Beasts and other materials, transporting them back to the family. Artifact refiners like Wang Jiye and Wang Zongyun had incorporated these souls into the pagoda. The Li Fire Illusionary Demon Pagoda could then conjure Chaotic Beasts to attack those challenging it, capable of manifesting up to four-colored Chaotic Beasts at the late True Immortal stage.

Tens of thousands of Wang family cultivators had gathered in the square, including over forty True Immortals. Yue Lei and Yang Chunqiu were also among them.

This time, the Wang family's clan competition was limited to True Immortal stage family members. The others were there to watch the spectacle.

Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan descended from the sky, landing on the main platform with solemn expressions. "Greetings, Ancestors!" the Wang family members bowed respectfully.

Some True Immortal stage family members, such as Wang Chuanming and Wang Mengshan, were occupied with other matters, while others, like Wang Qingbai and Wang Qingcheng, had not yet emerged from their secluded cultivation, thus missing this clan competition.

"Yongqian, begin!" Wang Changsheng instructed.

For this selection of the Immortal Armored Army, Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan made a personal appearance, signifying its importance. In previous clan competitions, their presence wasn't necessary; Wang Yongqian would preside.

Wang Yongqian nodded and announced, "Enter the Li Fire Illusionary Demon Pagoda one by one to challenge the trials." Participants could enter individually or form teams. Dealing with Chaotic Beasts emphasized teamwork, as it was very difficult for an ordinary True Immortal to defeat a Chaotic Beast of the same cultivation stage alone.

If the Immortal Armored Army could hold its own against Chaotic Beasts, they would have no problem dealing with cultivators of the same realm.

Wang Mengbin entered the pagoda alone, while Wang Yingjie and Wang Huayue teamed up. Most other True Immortal stage family members also formed teams. Particularly eye-catching were the four individuals named Wang Changxian.

All four were True Immortal cultivators, identical in appearance, making them hard to miss. Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan also took extra notice, as Wang Yongqian had previously introduced these four to them.

Wang Mengbin stood in a spacious and brightly lit hall. The Chaotic Beast pattern on the stone wall instantly lit up, and from it emerged a one-colored Chaotic Beast at the early True Immortal stage.

"Right on time!" Wang Mengbin summoned a silver-glowing halberd. Countless silver arcs of electricity enveloped the halberd, radiating a violent surge of energy.

He swung the halberd, cleaving the air towards the Chaotic Beast. A clap of thunder sounded, and a silver lightning blade shot out, striking the beast.

The Chaotic Beast let out an extremely pained roar. The power difference was too vast; Wang Mengbin could injure it with a single strike, and he hadn't even used his full strength.

Wang Mengbin, a Five-Aperture True Spirit with cultivation at the mid-True Immortal stage, was no match for it at all. The beast was destroyed in less than three moves, and Wang Mengbin easily entered the second floor. No sooner had Wang Mengbin left than the four Wang Changxian entered. A one-colored Chaotic Beast again emerged from the stone wall and pounced on them.

The four reacted quickly. Their palms glowed with dazzling silver light as they cleaved the air, sending out four formidable heaven-cleaving blade lights that swept directly towards the Chaotic Beast. The four sharp blade lights struck the one-colored Chaotic Beast in succession. The beast's body gained four shallow slash marks, but it was not significantly harmed and continued to lunge at the four Wang Changxian. The four flickered, evading the one-colored Chaotic Beast.

The Chaotic Beast's initial attack missed. Before it could launch another, a barrage of fierce blade energy swept over it, striking it repeatedly, leaving four more shallow blade marks on its body.

Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan watched their family members challenge the pagoda from the main platform. Yue Lei and others could also observe Wang Mengbin and the rest attempting their trials.

Wang Mengbin's trial speed was incredibly fast. One-colored and two-colored Chaotic Beasts were simply no match for him. This was despite the Chaotic Beasts being relatively tough; if they were cultivators or demon beasts, his progress would have been even quicker.

Wang Mengbin effortlessly reached the ninth floor. This time, his opponent was a four-colored Chaotic Beast with four wings on its back.

The moment he appeared, the four-colored Chaotic Beast transformed into an afterimage and lunged at him. A silver lightning glow illuminated Wang Mengbin's back, and a pair of shimmering silver feathered wings, the Thunder Roc Wings, appeared. They had already been upgraded to a low-grade immortal artifact.

Immortal artifact refiners such as Wang Qingfeng, Wang Zongyun, Wang Jiye, and Su Hongshang were all capable of forging immortal artifacts. After family members advanced to the True Immortal stage, they could gather materials and request their assistance in upgrading their Natal Spirit Treasures into Natal Immortal Artifacts.

Only high-ranking individuals like Wang Qingshan, Wang Mengbin, Ye Haitang, and Wang Yingjie could ask Wang Changsheng for help. Ordinary juniors couldn't persuade Wang Changsheng to act; being able to get Su Hongshang's help with artifact refining was already considered fortunate.

With a gentle flap of the Thunder Roc Wings, Wang Mengbin vanished, becoming a streak of silver lightning. The four-colored Chaotic Beast missed its target. An incredibly thick silver lightning bolt struck down from high above, heading straight for the four-colored Chaotic Beast.

The four-colored Chaotic Beast flapped its wings fiercely, swiftly dodging the strike. However, soon after, dense silver lightning bolts rained down, all aimed at the four-colored Chaotic Beast.

Wang Qiuting was seated right next to Wang Changsheng, and he began to chat with her.

The Wang family's minor competitions primarily aimed to select and intensively train elites. In the past, these competitions chose Mahayana cultivators to serve as family guards, mainly to protect Qinglian Island and the family's merchant caravans. Elites were then chosen from these guard teams, given Chaotic Armor, and formed into the Immortal Armored Army.

This time, members were directly selected from True Immortal stage family members to form the Immortal Armored Army. In the future, the Immortal Armored Army would select its members from the guard teams. If the army could expand in the future, individuals like Wang Lihe would serve as captains and form the core.

The Wang family's Immortal Armored Army was not large in number and currently consisted solely of Wang family members. If the family were to grow and prosper in the future, guest elders or members of affiliated forces could be allowed to join the Immortal Armored Army to bolster its strength.

Wang Mengbin's performance was outstanding. Wang Yingjie and Wang Huayue also performed exceptionally well; the father and daughter teamed up to deal with the Chaotic Beasts, progressing through the trials quite quickly. Furthermore, the four Wang Changxian also performed admirably.

Wang Yangsheng and Liu Yushuang displayed skilled coordination, but the three-colored Chaotic Beasts were quite challenging. Even working together, they were no match. They had only opened four apertures, indicating a significant gap between them and Wang Yingjie, who in turn had a considerable gap compared to Wang Mengbin, given that Wang Yingjie was not a True Spirit.

After roughly half a day, the trials concluded. Wang Mengbin achieved the best result, followed by Wang Yingjie and Wang Huayue, while the four Wang Changxian also secured good rankings.

A total of forty-five True Immortal stage family members participated in the clan competition, and nine were selected to join the Immortal Armored Army. Of course, only the high-ranking members of the Wang family knew they were the Immortal Armored Army; this information was kept secret from outsiders, serving as a trump card.

This force could prove very useful in treasure hunts or combat. During the last encounter against the Changyuan Clan and the Heavenly Ghost Sect, Wang Lihe and his two companions had not even utilized their Chaotic Armor.

With the clan competition concluded, Wang Changsheng offered words of encouragement before announcing its end. The family members dispersed, each attending to their own affairs.