Long Haochen was somewhat puzzled and said, “I don’t know what ‘Divine Shield Block’ is. My teacher only said it’s a blocking skill.”

Nalan Shu took a deep breath, calming his agitated emotions, and murmured, “That’s right, it’s Divine Shield Block, it has to be. Xin’er, I’ve seen Divine Shield Block more than once. Whether it’s Guardian Knights or Retribution Knights, they all must learn this skill when they reach the Glorious Knight level. If it wasn’t Divine Shield Block, there’s no way Haochen could have blocked your attack just now. No wonder, no wonder Lord Xingyu would have him challenge a knight. With Divine Shield Block, it’s not impossible to withstand a knight’s attacks for a quarter of an hour.”

“The threshold for the Divine Shield Block skill is indeed the Glorious Knight level, but that’s our Knight Temple’s threshold, not the threshold for learning the skill. As long as you have talent, sufficient judgment and reaction ability, and are taught by a knight of at least the sixth rank, anyone can learn it. But the prerequisite is that our Knight Temple allows it to be taught. There was once a Great Knight who was exceptionally taught because he performed a great service.”

As an Earth Knight, Nalan Shu understood the Divine Shield Block skill much more than Li Xin, and that’s precisely why his shock was even stronger.

The effect of the Divine Shield Block skill is simple to describe: it instantly makes one’s defense a single, unified whole. To put it simply, if you describe someone’s defense as a metal frame, when the attack power exceeds the frame’s defensive strength, it can be broken apart. However, if a metal frame of the same volume and hardness is melted into a single metal block, the same attack power naturally cannot break it.

Divine Shield Block is the process of turning the metal frame into a metal block. It sounds simple, but it’s extremely difficult in practice, because you can’t move for the instant you’re in the Divine Shield Block state, so you must have sufficient prediction.

Moreover, if Divine Shield Block is cultivated to a certain level, it can even temporarily convert some of the opponent’s attack power into one’s own strength to be used in the next attack or defense. It’s not without reason that Divine Shield Block, when practiced to the extreme, is called the Divine Defense.

To break the defense of Divine Shield Block, you must have at least three times the spiritual power of the skill user. And it also depends on the user’s mastery of Divine Shield Block.

“Hall Master Nalan, have I passed my assessment?” Long Haochen, unaware of the shock he had caused, asked.

“Of course, you’ve passed. Wait a moment, I’ll get the things Lord Xingyu wants you to take back.” As he said this, Nalan Shu quickly turned and left. But the turmoil in his heart showed no signs of subsiding.

Li Xin looked at Long Haochen as if he were a monster. “Little brother, tell me, what high-level knight skill did you use to block my Lightning Thrust just now?”

Long Haochen shook his head and said, “Nothing! I was just reacting to your moves.”

“You purely reacted to break my Lightning Thrust?” Li Xin’s voice rose slightly. She naturally didn’t know that Long Haochen’s defense was much more freakish than his offense. The torment in the Ant-Eater Lair for the past year hadn’t been in vain. With the soaking of the medicinal hot springs and the removal of impurities from the twelve meridians, his cultivation in this year was at least equivalent to three years of hard work for ordinary people.

Before long, Nalan Shu returned and handed two items to Long Haochen: a circular badge engraved with a shield and sword, and a golden gemstone the size of a chicken egg.

“This is the badge of a Pre-Knight, the one star on it represents your rank as a Pre-Knight level one. You can be re-evaluated at any time after you make some breakthroughs. This Awakening Stone is what Lord Xingyu wants you to take back. Be sure to keep it safe.”

“Thank you.” Taking the two items and putting them in his pocket, Long Haochen respectfully bowed to Nalan Shu.

Nalan Shu said, “Should I have Xin’er show you around our Haoyue Branch Hall?”

Long Haochen shook his head and said, “No, thank you. My teacher has assigned me a task to complete. I need to hurry and go.”

Nalan Shu didn’t try to persuade him to stay, and he and Li Xin escorted Long Haochen to the door.

“Sister Xin’er, how do I get to the Adventurers Guild?” Long Haochen asked Li Xin as he was about to leave.

Li Xin said, “The Adventurers Guild isn’t far from here. See, turn right at that street corner ahead, go straight for about a kilometer, then turn left, and you’ll be there.”

“Thank you, Sister Xin’er, it was nice meeting you. I’m leaving now. Hall Master Nalan, goodbye.”

After saying goodbye to the two, Long Haochen quickly went in the direction Li Xin had indicated.

Watching his departing figure, Li Xin almost couldn’t wait to ask Nalan Shu, “Uncle Nalan, what exactly is this little guy’s background? It’s impossible for him to have made outstanding contributions to our Knight Temple at his age, so how could he have learned Divine Shield Block? And who is his teacher?”

Nalan Shu sighed softly, shook his head, and said, “I can’t tell you those things. You just need to know that the way he obtained Divine Shield Block is completely in accordance with our Temple’s rules. In the near future, I’m afraid our Haoyue Branch Hall won’t be able to avoid becoming famous. Xin’er, you see, you’re not the only genius in this world! You have to work hard in your cultivation, otherwise you might return empty-handed when the Alliance selects Demon Hunt Squads in four years.”

Li Xin nodded silently and said, “I wonder when I’ll be able to see this handsome little brother again.”

Nalan Shu smiled and said, “I can tell you this: he will be back in two years. And he will at least stay until the Alliance selects Demon Hunt Squads.”

Following the path Li Xin had pointed out, Long Haochen quickly found the location of his second mission: the Adventurers Guild.

Compared to the quiet of the Knight Temple’s Haoyue Branch Hall, the environment around the Adventurers Guild was much more chaotic, with crowds of people constantly entering and exiting, dressed in all sorts of attire.

His eyes lit up as he spotted the place he was looking for: a counter on the left, with a sign for accepting missions hanging above it. He immediately walked quickly over.

There was no one there at the moment, so Long Haochen walked up to the counter and said to the young woman in her twenties behind it, “Excuse me, I’d like to accept a mission.”

“Ah?” The young woman behind the counter looked at Long Haochen, who was only a head taller than the counter and had a pretty face, and couldn’t help but be stunned.

“Oh, our Adventurers Guild is really inclusive now! This kind of little tyke is running around to accept missions, it’s hilarious.” A somewhat exaggerated, boisterous voice sounded from the side.

Long Haochen turned to look and saw a burly warrior with a full beard looking at him with a disdainful laugh.

Long Haochen frowned but ignored him, and once again said to the young woman behind the counter, “Excuse me, I want to accept a mission.”

The young woman behind the counter was also a little curious. “Little brother, what kind of mission do you want to accept?”

Before Long Haochen could speak, the boisterous voice rang out again, “What little brother? It’s clearly a little sister. Little sister, how about Uncle taking you to buy a lollipop, haha…” The boisterous man’s words caused some of the nearby adventurers to burst into laughter.

“I want to accept a level two mission. Preferably one involving hunting magical beasts.” Long Haochen frowned even more, but still spoke to the young woman behind the counter.

The young woman said with some difficulty, “Little brother, I’m afraid that won’t work. You need to be a second-tier professional to accept missions above level two.”

“That’s right, hurry up and go home to suckle. I wonder if your mom still has any milk for you. If she does, how about letting me have a couple of gulps? Looking at your pretty face, I bet your mom is pretty good too. It would be even more perfect if you had an older sister or something.”

It was the same voice again. Hearing it again, Long Haochen’s eyes had already turned cold.

PS: Little Haochen is about to get angry. Hehe. We’re also going to explode today, with three updates. We’ll strive for three updates tomorrow too. Today, Old Third has to set off for Zhuhai, so the afternoon update might be a little late, around six o’clock. And the third update will be at 12 o’clock at night. At that time, please join Old Third in rushing the charts. The real climax will be presented to everyone next week. Aren’t many people speculating about why Xingyu would seek out Long Haochen? I’ll tell you next week. Hehe.

Please collect, please recommend tickets.