In the spring of the 195th year of the Red Moon Calendar, at the southern end of a small natural village called Heike, near the warm river mouth of the Frozen Continent, there was a rundown little courtyard surrounded by piles of primitive timber like small mountains.
"Hi… clatter… hi… clatter…"
In the midst of the logs, a rhythmic sound came from a young boy. If one were to step into the courtyard, they would see a boy chopping wood.
Humans truly are a strange race. Living in a warm land and consuming the best nutrition, they do not necessarily have good health, nor can they nurture boys as strong as mountains. The boy before us was a counterexample. For three years, he had been tortured day and night by an uncle who claimed to be an imperial noble yet had an unknown origin. He certainly wasn't consuming any superfoods, but with each swing of his arms, muscles, symbols of strength, seemed to vanish from his waist only to reappear in his biceps, and then disappear again.
The early spring by the warm river was quite cold. Generally, people would wear thick snow beast furs from head to toe during spring. However, this boy of around ten years old was only wearing a pair of leather shorts, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead and body onto the ground, quickly turning into ice pellets. White mist rose from his body.
He spat into his calloused palm, picked up a medium-sized ax nearby, and swung it down with all his might. A large log with a diameter of half a meter and a height of thirty centimeters was split cleanly in two with a single blow. He then grabbed a nearby hatchet, squatted down, and rapidly shaped the wood into suitable firewood.
He… was using… a hatchet?
Even the strongest lumberjack would need an ax to chop the tough coniferous wood of the Frozen Continent without much effort. If one were to use a hatchet, the thin blade would get stuck in the wood as soon as it was struck, making it impossible to continue chopping. Often, it would take five or six strikes to cut through, and the blade would wear out very quickly.
How much strength was needed to use a hatchet like an ax?
"Son, come here for a moment." The person inside the house shamelessly continued to take advantage of him.
"Okay, Uncle Chi, I'll be right there." Amy neatly stacked the firewood before entering the little wooden house that had just been built the previous summer.
"From today onward, you need to learn how to use weapons. You won't need to chop so much wood in the afternoons anymore, as the villagers don't need that much. Instead, spend half your time learning weapon skills." Chi Hanfeng rarely spoke so seriously.
"What kind of weapon do you like? Hmm—how about a combination of a knight's lance and a longsword? That would suit you perfectly. You'll surely love it." Without regard for Amy's attitude, Chi Hanfeng began forcefully recommending his own preferences.
"You see, although you're taller than your peers, you're not as tall as the barbarians, so a two-handed axe definitely wouldn't suit you. From what I know about you, you wouldn't like the archer's profession, which relies on stealth to make a living. The crescent blade combined with a shield has too little killing power, suitable only for those without strength. Hammer-type weapons are becoming increasingly rare; they're destined for obsolescence. Wow… you're not telling me you want to learn the infantry spear, right? Spears are only used in the army, specifically against cavalry; they have no other purpose." As he spoke, Chi Hanfeng observed Amy's expression, trying to find the words that would most likely persuade him.
"I want to learn the two-handed great sword, just like my dad." Perhaps it was the classic case of opposites attracting; due to having a chatty uncle, Amy was surprisingly quiet in his youth.
"Just as expected from your father's son, you have some personality; I like that." Uncle Chi smiled and patted Amy's cheek, but then suddenly pinched his face hard, his expression turning into that of a big bad wolf: "No, this time I'm calling the shots. You must learn the knight's lance. I want to train you to become an imperial knight like me. What's so great about the two-handed great sword? That's the lowest class in the army. You see, proper knights typically use a one-handed thrusting sword paired with a shield in regular situations; on the battlefield, it's always a knight's lance and shield—that's the main force of war."
Among all the military units in the empire and the federation, newly enlisted soldiers could only choose from three types: lance soldiers, two-handed sword warriors, or archers. After a year of training, promising recruits would be selected to enter higher-tier barracks. For instance, lance soldiers could become squire knights or axe warriors, while the archers' camp would often pick out the strongest soldiers to become longbowmen. Only in the swordsman's barracks were the weak or those without potential sent to train with the two-handed sword. Although exceptional two-handed sword warriors had the chance to become squire knights, they would have to switch to other weapons, and such opportunities were exceedingly rare. Furthermore, very few two-handed swordsmen actually made it to the battlefield. If it weren't for the low costs of their required equipment and their roles in maintaining public order, they would have long disappeared from military units across various nations.
No matter how much Chi Hanfeng tried to coerce or entice him, Amy remained silent—not that he had conceded.
"Oh my goodness, what have I done? How could such a glorious imperial knight have such a disciple? Brother, I'm so sorry; I haven't even met your sister-in-law yet. I'm too useless; I can't teach your child well. He wants to become a lowly, unremarkable two-handed swordsman!" Chi Hanfeng dramatically covered his face, howling with exaggerated grief.
"Why are you crying? A grown man shouldn't be sobbing, and besides, there are no tears. You don't need to look through your fingers at me; I won't change my mind," Amy retorted, showing a touch of dark humor—reportedly a trait that ran in the family, likely due to spending time with demons, even silent angels occasionally indulged in dark humor.
"It seems that unless I reveal my true identity, you won't be moved." The man covered his face and sat like a stone statue at the edge of the bed, his posture cold and unyielding.
"Amy, in fact, I'm not just an ordinary knight; I'm the highest-ranking knight of the empire—the Beast Knight. I hope you can become a proud Beast Knight like me! I summon you by my name; come forth, Spirit Wolf…" Chi Hanfeng pressed his fingers tightly together.
A massive pentagon-shaped barrier appeared in the center of the room. After a burst of dazzling white light, a snow wolf, twice the size of an ordinary one, manifested in the middle of the room. Its fur was as pure white as snow, flowing smoothly from its head to its tail. Its large tail wagged lazily as it lay comfortably with its head resting on its massive paws, zzzz, zzzz, zzzz, comfortably snoring.
The middle-aged man, who originally intended to surprise Amy, found his jaw nearly dropping to the ground upon seeing the massive white wolf.
"Xiao Bai…" he squatted down to stroke the wolf's ears, lamenting, "We haven't seen each other in three years. I had hoped you would rest and grow strong in the Spirit Beast Sanctuary, becoming the king of spirit beasts… But now, you've given me the biggest surprise of all: you've completely let yourself go…" Suddenly, Chi Hanfeng screamed hysterically, tearing at the wolf's ears with his hands, the white fur flying off in clumps.
"Wow—ugh—" The awakened white wolf was not pleased. It shook off the annoying human paws from its ears and turned its head to reveal its massive fangs and blood-red tongue, exhibiting a fierce expression that suggested it might eat him.
However, when the white wolf recognized it was Chi Hanfeng, a grin spread across its fierce face, and its tail wagged back and forth, knocking Chi Hanfeng down to the ground.
Throughout this process, the ugly side of humanity was vividly exposed in Chi Hanfeng.
Faced with the wolf's fierce demeanor, Chi Hanfeng immediately changed his tone, attempting to placate the beast by stroking its long fur. "No, no, I meant to say that after three years, Xiao Bai, you've grown up and become even more handsome."
Once the kind-hearted snow wolf was deceived into smiling, Chi Hanfeng quickly flipped over and mounted the wolf, grabbing its long mane with one hand while punching its head with the other. "Damn it, you dare to bark at me? From today on, you're not going back; you'll guard the courtyard for me every night." The poor snow wolf whimpered under the blows, but it had only itself to blame. As a spirit beast, it knew its master's temperament all too well; how could it expect Chi Hanfeng to treat it kindly? Wasn't it just asking for trouble?
From the beginning, Amy was indeed frightened. The presence of the snow wolf in the area exerted immense pressure on people. Seeing such a large wolf appear out of nowhere would scare even an adult hunter into immobility.
Chi Hanfeng was pleased to see the fear on Amy's face after the wolf appeared. He sat proudly atop the wolf, wielding a lance and shield from its side, and triumphantly called out to Amy, "How about that? Pretty impressive, right? If I were in armor, I'd look absolutely cool. And let me tell you even better news: you don't have to provide food for this mount; it will return to the barrier itself to find something to eat."
Cautiously, Amy reached out to stroke the white wolf's fur, his eyes filled with curiosity.
"Do you know why I've always called you my son?" Chi Hanfeng posed a significant question.
What young Amy didn't know was that among the three known continents, the highest-ranking warriors were the Dragon Knights. However, dragons were incredibly rare, especially those willing to cooperate with humans, making the emergence of Dragon Knights impossible to cultivate deliberately. The total number of known Dragon Knights across all nations was fewer than thirty. Although Dragon Knights were powerful, they were not suitable for regular military units.
Next in rank were the Beast Knights. Spirit beasts could use the power of barriers to float in the air, but most spirit beasts lacked magic and could not match Dragon Knights in one-on-one combat.
What made countries particularly interested was that Beast Knights could be cultivated.
A spirit beast was merely a knight's mount. Depending on the type of spirit beast and the environment, it could affect the knight's combat ability and provide various bonuses. For example, if Chi Hanfeng were to compete with other Beast Knights in the Frozen Continent, he would have a 50% higher chance of winning. If he faced a typical snow wolf knight, there would be no contest; ordinary knights had no chance against Beast Knights.
The Spirit Beast Sanctuary was located at the junction of the Amy Empire, the Haicha Mercenary Empire, and the Xiusi Empire, surrounded by the Sacred Snow Mountain, which had an average altitude of 4,000 meters and spanned 500 kilometers. No matter from which direction one crossed the Sacred Snow Mountain to enter its interior, the terrain would rapidly descend from an elevation of 4,000 meters to about 800 meters, and here lay the long-rumored Spirit Beast Sanctuary.
If one had not seen it with their own eyes, no one could believe that such a small piece of dreamlike land existed on the snow-capped mountain. From a distance, various spirit beasts lived freely within it.
However, when one tried to step inside, they would find themselves blocked by the immense power of the barrier. It was said that only at the precise moment when the black sun and white sun overlapped, guided by a spirit beast with potential, could one possibly enter the barrier.
Of course, these rumors were merely documented in folk tales. The specifics of the process supposedly existed only among the upper echelons of the Amy Empire, the Haicha Mercenary Empire, and the Xiusi Empire.
Some bards had heard a ballad at a gnome's dance that went like this:
Oh, the four great races left behind by the Creator,
The wise gained the heavenly realm,
The wicked obtained foreign lands,
The ignorant wandered the mortal world,
While the poor gnomes searched for the remnants of the gods.
When the spark of life is reborn,
The holy spirit beasts will become the life vessel for the ignorant.
This added an air of mystery to the Spirit Beast Sanctuary.
—*"Classic of Mountains and Seas: Strange Tales and Oddities"*