of 4,000 meters and spans 500 kilometers. Regardless of which direction you enter from, once you cross the Holy Snow Mountain and enter its depths, the altitude suddenly drops from 4,000 meters to about 800 meters. This area is the legendary Phantom Beast Sanctuary.
If you haven't seen it with your own eyes, it's hard to believe that such a dreamlike land could exist amidst the snow-covered mountains. From afar, you can see various phantom beasts living freely within it.
However, when you try to enter, you'll find yourself blocked by a powerful barrier. It is said that only at the moment when the Black Sun and White Sun overlap, and only when led by a spiritual beast with the potential to become a phantom beast, can one enter the sanctuary.
Of course, these are just legends passed down among the people. The actual method of entry is said to be known only to the upper echelons of the Amy Empire, the Holy See, and the Xius Empire.
Some bards have heard a poem at a gnome's ball:
"Four primordial races left by the Creator,
The wise claimed the heavens,
The wicked seized the earth,
And the ignorant wandered the mortal realm.
The poor gnomes search for the Creator's relics.
When the light of life reappears,
The sacred phantom beasts will become the vessels of the ignorant's life."
This added even more mystery to the Phantom Beast Sanctuary, as recorded in *Shan Hai Jing: Strange Tales*.
"Amy, I've always treated you like my own son. Only those with the title of Imperial Nobility have the chance to compete for the position of Phantom Beast Knight," Chi Hanfeng said, sitting on the Snow Wolf's back, scratching its chin as it closed its eyes in contentment, purring.
"Amy, let me share a secret with you. If you want to quickly build a good relationship with a Snow Wolf or other phantom beasts, the easiest way is to scratch their chin. Hehe, these big dummies can reach every part of their body with their claws except for their chin. If someone is willing to do that for them, they'll be overjoyed," Chi Hanfeng instructed with a smile.
"But what does this have to do with learning how to use a weapon?" Amy, having returned to his usual calm demeanor, didn't fall into Chi Hanfeng's trap and asked coldly.
"Idiot!" Chi Hanfeng smacked Amy on the head. "The essence of dual-handed swordsmanship lies in six key principles: ruthlessness, strength, precision, agility, speed, and cleverness. This requires the swordsman to be incredibly nimble. However, all known spiritual beasts can only provide momentum, which is far from the speed required for dual-handed swordsmanship. If you choose to learn swordsmanship, you'll never become a knight."
Chi Hanfeng's face suddenly twisted into a sly grin. "My plan is for you to learn the lance from me. In five years, you'll be 15, just in time for the alignment of the Black Sun and White Sun. According to tradition, the Amy Empire will send an envoy to the Northern Hamian Empire to request five Snow Wolf spiritual beasts born from the Snow Wolf King. I plan to borrow one of these and take you to the foot of the Phantom Beast Sanctuary, where I'll teach you how to transform a spiritual beast into a phantom beast. That way, you can become a Phantom Beast Knight."
"Only five in total? There's no way they'd lend us one. You'll probably end up stealing or robbing it, won't you?" Having long been familiar with Uncle Chi's antics, Amy saw right through his plan.
"Hehe, so what? As an Imperial Noble, it's only natural for my son to become a Phantom Beast Knight," Chi Hanfeng shamelessly thumped his chest. "If it weren't for my desire to make you a noble knight, I wouldn't care whether you used a lance or a sword."
"Han Feng, have you heard of the Raging Vulture, an eagle species along the coast of the Hamian Empire?" came an old voice.
"Hey, Uncle Haber, when did you get back?" Both Chi Hanfeng and Amy noticed the elderly Haber standing in the courtyard.
"I've been back for a while. I saw you two talking happily, so I didn't want to interrupt," the old man replied in a deep voice. "The Raging Vulture is known for its agility and speed. It's incredibly fast in flight. One of my ancestors once tamed a large Raging Vulture and found it perfectly matched the speed needed for a great swordsman. Furthermore, the Raging Vulture itself is a spiritual beast, and it's said that it can enter the Phantom Beast Sanctuary to undergo training."
"Huh? Uncle Haber, how do you know so much about phantom beast cultivation?" Chi Hanfeng asked, surprised that someone in this remote village had such knowledge.
"Haha, the Chi family isn't the only noble family in the Empire. My ancestors were nobles too, but due to various reasons, we left the Empire," Old Haber said, clearly not wanting to delve further into the topic.
In the end, by a 2-1 vote, dual-handed swordsmanship became Amy's main focus, with lance and shield training as his secondary discipline, thanks to Chi Hanfeng's insistence.
In hindsight, many future great swordsmen breathed a sigh of relief. If not for Old Haber's intervention, Amy might have been coerced by Chi Hanfeng into a path leading astray. That would have deprived countless mercenaries and warriors of a noble profession as great swordsmen.
Training in dual-handed swordsmanship is said to be a grueling and dangerous task—or at least that's how Chi Hanfeng described it. According to Chi's theory, except for the last hand's grip, the rest of the greatsword is dangerous territory. Its swing could easily harm small animals like Little White or even Chi Hanfeng himself. Due to Chi Hanfeng's insistence, Amy's training sword was always a blunt one made by the village blacksmith—20 kilograms of solid weight, more akin to a large axe. Of course, the sword Amy used to chop wood in the afternoon was a real weapon.
By the year 196 of the Red Moon Calendar, at the age of 11, Amy had already achieved remarkable progress in dual-handed swordsmanship, especially in the areas of ruthlessness, strength, and precision. According to Chi Hanfeng's judgment, Amy had reached the level of Lake Haber in his prime. Without Little White's assistance, Chi Hanfeng's lance couldn't even penetrate Amy's sword defense. When compared in single-handed swordsmanship, Chi Hanfeng could only rely on swift, evasive maneuvers to avoid having his weapon knocked away.
Faced with such a situation, Chi Hanfeng often laughed bitterly: a great swordsman, known for his agility and speed, was being outmatched in raw power by a knight, famous for his charging ferocity.
Of course, this was a situation Chi Hanfeng couldn't allow to continue. While laughing, the quick-thinking Chi Hanfeng devised a new training plan for Amy.
In the summer of 196 of the Red Moon Calendar, the four-year endurance running training finally came to an end, giving way to what Amy would later refer to as "three years of demonic hardship."
Every morning, Amy still had to wake up early and head east into the dense Icebound Forest. Under the demon's watchful eye, he would strip off all his clothes—except for a pair of shorts—and wander or run barefoot through the forest.
All the trees in the Icebound Forest have needle-like leaves to withstand the ten-month-long winter. To prevent moisture loss, these needles are coated with a thick layer of wax.
When those long needles pricked the skin, combined with the bone-chilling cold wind, the sensation was beyond words—pain, itching, numbness... It's an experience unimaginable unless you've been through it.
If you try to avoid the crisscrossing branches, you have to move slowly, but slow movement makes it impossible to endure the extreme cold. If you run fast to stay warm, you have to endure the pain of countless needles pricking your skin. In the beginning, there were countless times when Amy collapsed, frozen on the ground. Without the healing properties of Snow Moon Lake, Amy might not have survived.
However, over time, Amy's body seemed to develop eyes in every part, allowing him to skillfully dodge the branches and needles, enabling him to start running through the forest.
Two years later, Amy could even gallop on Little White through the Icebound Forest, deftly dodging the branches and needles.
From that point on, Mr. Chi Hanfeng rarely engaged in ground combat with Amy. As he put it, "You've mastered land combat." However, whether this mastery meant surpassing the master was left unanswered.