Ensnaring Palm and Boiling Blood

On the continent, it's commonly believed that only by reaching the supreme realms of Divine Mage or Battle God can one attain a lifespan of four to five hundred years. But what does it mean for a soul to have existed for over three thousand years?

This surpasses the lifespans of all the great empires on the Galan continent, more than doubling them!! Shen couldn't imagine what it would be like for someone to be trapped in a weapon, never finding release, after death. The mere thought of such cruelty was enough to make anyone shudder.

It was only now that Shen suddenly realized why, when Wilad first encountered him, he asked what year it was. Upon hearing it was the Galan calendar year 1652, he fell silent for so long. When he spoke again, it was to propose a deal: he would help Shen become stronger in exchange for Shen freeing him from the gauntlet...

It was terrifying. If what this soul said was true, being trapped for over three thousand years without going mad or losing his mind, still able to communicate normally, was truly incredible.

And what was a spirit weapon? Shen had never heard of this term before. On the continent, there were only ordinary weapons and magic weapons, differentiated by their materials and forging techniques. Spirit weapons could imprison souls? And the imprisonment lasted thousands of years, possibly forever?

While Shen's mind was reeling, Wilad finally calmed down and spoke, "When I first encountered you, your soul power was so weak it was insignificant, so I didn't have high hopes of you being able to free me. But now, given your cultivation speed, it's not impossible. Your speed, even with Galan Battle Qi, is comparable to those with superior talent... So if you can free me, release me from this gauntlet, I'll give you anything you want! This existence is worse than death, and I've had enough!"

"How can I free you?" Shen immediately asked. It was too shocking. During Wilad's earlier frenzy, Shen clearly sensed that Wilad's soul strength was vastly superior to his own. Shen couldn't even fathom who could imprison such a powerful soul in a gauntlet, and who could create such a terrifying gauntlet to imprison someone for over three thousand years!!

"To free me, you need at least the strength of a one-star Holy warrior! Only with that power can you take me and the other seven spirit weapons to that place and find a way to release me!" Wilad ignored Shen's shock and continued his explanation.

"A one-star Holy warrior? What place? And you said there are seven other spirit weapons? My God, are you saying each of them also imprisons a soul like this gauntlet?" Shen was once again taken aback. What he was hearing was beyond shocking.

"Yes, but you don't need to know too much about them now. Just know that if you can enter that place and find a way to release us, you will gain unimaginable rewards! For now, I'll teach you some more combat skills to further enhance your strength!! Don't worry about finding the other seven spirit weapons immediately; I've already waited over three thousand years..."

Shen couldn't describe the forlorn and desolate tone in Wilad's voice. Listening to it almost made him feel utterly despondent.

Fortunately, Wilad stopped this train of thought in time. Otherwise, the mere aftershocks of such emotions could have led Shen to a place of no return!

Next, Wilad taught Shen two initial third-level growth combat skills.

The first was called Ensnaring Palm, an auxiliary combat skill. When activated, it creates a force field around the practitioner, repelling all forces that do not belong to it!

Its primary function is to use this force field to neutralize a mage's attack magic! According to Wilad, Ensnaring Palm is one of the greatest assets for a Glorious warrior in combating a Great Mage, making them almost invincible!

It's worth mentioning the difference between mages and warriors here. When a mage reaches the rank of Great Mage, they can use the fourth-level wind magic Flight to fly through the sky. Even if they aren't wind mages, they can use the fourth-level magic Levitation to stay aloft! However, warriors can only fly under their own power upon reaching the Holy Rank!

Thus, an ordinary Great Mage can easily overwhelm a Glorious warrior by flying into the sky and casting spells, leading to a one-sided massacre!

Therefore, Glorious warriors must rely on area-of-effect combat skills to avoid defeat! According to Wilad, a one-star Glorious warrior using a two-fold Ensnaring Palm can cover a radius of fifty to sixty meters. Any fourth-level attack magic crossing this field would have its power reduced by half or more! By the time it reaches the warrior, it would be much less effective. That's its power!

Wilad reminded Shen that area-of-effect combat skills might no longer be known on the continent. After all, he had learned Ensnaring Palm over three thousand years ago, back when Galan Battle Qi was a highly sought-after advanced technique, unlike now when it's considered basic. So, if Shen were to use Ensnaring Palm, he should first ensure that area-of-effect combat skills aren't known in the current era...

This was different from Unbounded, Galan Battle Qi, or Breath Concealment, which are not easily discernible by others. An area-of-effect combat skill creates a force field spanning tens of meters upon activation!

Shen agreed with this caution! He knew that any of the items he possessed, if known, could lead to countless people fighting to the death for them. A gentleman keeps his treasure safe, but a wise man hides it. He understood this well.

Wilad then taught Shen another combat skill called Boiling Blood. This technique is a skill-based one, leveraging the fact that battle qi is converted from the body's internal qi. Upon entering the enemy's body, it reconverts to qi! This qi adheres to the enemy's blood, boiling it!

Additionally, during this process, the boiling battle qi can assimilate any unabsorbed qi energy within the enemy, causing further havoc! This is extremely lethal, as no one but those who cultivate Imperial Rank battle qi methods can convert 100% of their body's qi into battle qi. Even with Shen's high-level battle qi, only 90% of the qi is converted... So, Boiling Blood effectively combines the energies of both the attacker and the target to boil the target's blood... This isn't just a metaphor for excitement but a literal transformation of the blood into boiling water or even steam. The consequences... Just thinking about it made Shen tense up, his face paling!

Once hit by Boiling Blood, a warrior might still suppress it with their battle qi, but a mage's mental energy would be almost useless against it!

Therefore, Boiling Blood is almost a guaranteed kill against mages! However, its lethality comes with a significant drawback: Boiling Blood battle qi must enter the enemy's body through skin pores. If the enemy is protected by a magic shield or battle qi armor, Boiling Blood becomes useless as it lacks any inherent attack power!

At Shen's current strength as a five-star warrior, he could easily shatter a brick with a casual punch, but even if he used all his strength with Boiling Blood, it would do nothing to the brick. That's its downside!

It lacks any attack power unless it directly contacts a living body with blood!

Even so, it's an incredible combat skill!

Shen then began his training on Unbounded, Ensnaring Palm, and Boiling Blood. He spent the entire night learning to activate them. Of course, just because he could activate them didn't mean he could use them instantly and fluidly in combat. It would take time to become familiar with them.

Currently, it took Shen more than ten minutes to activate any of these skills from the start of channeling his battle qi. This was true for any of them, let alone switching between them! At this level, they would be useless in actual combat, so he needed more practice until he could activate them in an instant and control their strength with ease. Only then could he say he had truly mastered them!

This process required familiarity with the skills, not overcoming the star-level gap that typically prevents five-star warriors from easily using third-level combat skills. This familiarization process is necessary for any combat skill!