Friends and Family (Revised)

At the moment of his death, Shi Fen felt his life flashing before his eyes.

Shi Fen instantly recalled his entire life, the loved ones of this incarnation, and this cursed inheritance.

In this life, he did not have many loved ones; there were only six people closest to him: his father, his mother, his older brother, and his three good brothers, Luo Feng, Luo Hua, and Wei Wen. Then, there were the elders of the Luo and Wei families.

His father in this life was named Shi Tie.

He currently possessed the strength of an intermediate Dojo student.

When Shi Tie was very young, he followed his father to learn the craft of blacksmithing. The old man, Master Shi, was a man of high intelligence who, relying on his own comprehension, managed to master the "Pseudo-Patterned Steel Forging Technique" entirely through trial and error, allowing him to craft expensive table knives and greatly improve their family's circumstances.

Shi Tie had been burdened with high expectations since childhood, and under Master Shi's careful tutelage, his blacksmithing skills improved rapidly. Master Shi saw the hope of a "Master of Divine Weapon Forging" in Shi Tie, believing that Shi Tie could reach the level he had dreamed of his entire life.

He hoped he could forge the "Divine Blades" of Huaxia in the future.

Unfortunately, the emergence of the RR Virus shattered their beautiful dream. After the catastrophe, Shi Tie was the only survivor of the entire Shi family.

Master Shi's beautiful wish turned into a lingering, bitter regret.

Shi Tie was a stubborn and single-minded man, yet very intelligent. For the sake of his father's dying wish, he changed his name to Shi Tie, constantly reminding himself to sprint with all his might toward his father's unfulfilled goal.

After enduring countless hardships, he opened a repair shop, struggling to make a living through blacksmithing and mechanical repair. Because he hadn't finished high school when the RR Virus crisis hit, his mechanical repair skills were entirely self-taught.

A half-baked blacksmith and a half-baked mechanic, barely scraping by.

Later, he met Shi Fen's mother, Li Ziyi, and the two fell in love, soon giving birth to Shi Fen's older brother, Shi Tian.

Nourished by love, Shi Tie relied on the foundation his father had poured into him, combined with his own diligent study and contemplation, to rapidly improve his blacksmithing skills. He soon reached the level Master Shi had attained in his prime, and their family's living conditions soared.

It was under these circumstances that Shi Fen was born.

Ever since Shi Fen's genius intellect erupted, he began to teach Shi Tie in return, and Shi Tie saw the shadow of hope in Shi Fen.

Sure enough, when Shi Fen was around ten years old, Shi Tie finally managed to fulfill his father's dying wish. After "Three Stones" opened for business, Shi Tie launched an assault toward the higher level of divine weapons!

His mother in this life was named Li Ziyi.

Li Ziyi was also a smart person. Although her strength was poor—only that of an elementary Dojo student—before the RR Virus broke out, she was still a minor, following her parents and learning a bit of accounting through osmosis.

When the RR Virus broke out and her parents passed away one after another, Li Ziyi relied on her own wit to find an accounting job at a small factory, struggling to make ends meet; life was very bitter.

After meeting Shi Tie, they lived through many years of hardship together. It wasn't until Shi Fen appeared that their bitter days finally came to an end.

The first child the two gave birth to was Shi Fen's older brother, Shi Tian.

Shi Tian was ten years older than Shi Fen, a standard academic underachiever; the two smart parents had somehow produced a "fool."

Shi Tian's academic grades were poor, and his talent as a martial artist was also lacking. He only barely possessed the strength of an intermediate Dojo student at eighteen, and reached the strength of an advanced Dojo student at twenty-six; if nothing unexpected happened, that would be the end of his life.

Fortunately, Shi Tian had excellent comprehension for forging, and Shi Fen helped his brother change all of that.

Shi Fen cared deeply for this older brother.

This was because, in his previous life, Shi Fen had an older brother who had unfortunately passed away before he turned ten, also named Shi Tian. Later, his parents had a "late-life child," which was Shi Fen. Before his parents passed away, they had mentioned Shi Tian countless times; they always felt they had failed him.

At first, Shi Fen didn't think things could be such a coincidence; it was very likely that some great existence had "casually" saved Shi Tian.

Holding onto that slim chance, Shi Fen tried every possible method to treat his brother well.

Ever since his own awakening, Shi Fen often tutored his brother in his studies, eventually sending him directly to the higher institution his brother most wanted to enter to study "Cold Weapon Forging." Later, as his forging abilities improved, Shi Tian even successfully "passed the postgraduate entrance exam" to continue his advanced studies.

Relying on the study materials Shi Tian brought back, combined with the information from the treasure-refining inheritance, Shi Fen helped both Shi Tie and Shi Tian raise their forging levels by several grades.

After Shi Tian graduated from graduate school, because his talent as a martial artist was too poor—only reaching an advanced Dojo student level at twenty-six—he failed to catch the eye of any forging masters and could not successfully take on a mentor.

Shi Fen returned home to find work, and thus "Three Stones" appeared as a matter of course.

The current "Three Stones" was in its prime, and the income was very substantial.

In this life, Shi Fen had done right by his family.

It could be said that even if he died, his family's future would not be bad; he had already laid a foundation for them. Relying on the fame of "Three Stones," they would have no worries about food or clothing in the future.

Compared to his family, Shi Fen regretted more that he could not roam the universe with Luo Feng; he had accidentally become a passerby in Luo Feng's life.

He and Luo Feng were neighbors, having grown up together since they were in diapers, as close as biological brothers.

The two had been "each other's master and apprentice" since they were children.

Shi Fen taught Luo Feng knowledge, and Luo Feng taught Shi Fen "martial arts."

Influenced by the deep-rooted habits of his sixty-some years in his previous life, his talent for learning practical martial arts and strength training was not as good as Luo Feng's, who started from scratch.

It was shameful to say, but Shi Fen had studied ancient martial arts for thirty years and practiced lethal techniques for thirty years, yet he had never engaged in a decent "spar." Although his moves were all "lethal," he had absolutely no consciousness of attacking an enemy.

Ancient martial arts remained stuck in the utility of strengthening the body.

Current practical martial arts, however, were filled with killing intent at every turn; otherwise, they wouldn't be called practical martial arts. This contrast, under the weight of inertia, made it difficult for him to adapt and change.

Thus, Luo Feng became Shi Fen's martial arts teacher.

The two often "sparred," improving together.

Shi Fen tutored Luo Feng in his academic subjects, and the two had always helped each other back and forth.

As time went on, because of Luo Feng, Shi Fen became good friends with Luo Hua and Wei Wen.

Shi Fen could not change Luo Hua's fate, so he could only spare time to help him more. With Shi Fen's "economics lessons," Luo Hua successfully soared in the stock market, with a promising future ahead.

Compared to the deliberate tutoring of Luo Hua, Wei Wen learning blacksmithing was purely an accident.

Wei Wen knew his family was opening the "Three Stones" forging studio, and out of curiosity, he looked up information online and discovered that the forging industry was "super lucrative."

When Wei Wen learned that the cheapest three-piece set of pattern-welded steel dining knives hand-forged by Shi Tian cost at least several thousand yuan, he completely latched onto Shi Fen, begging him to teach him how to forge.

Shi Fen communicated with Wei Wen very patiently.

He explicitly told Wei Wen that forging required at least several years of hard work, diligently laying a foundation and learning various techniques.

Even after initially mastering the basics and beginning to touch upon the pattern-welded steel knife forging process, there was still a high failure rate after several more years of study if one "didn't have the knack." Yet, Wei Wen remained extremely interested.

Shi Fen had no choice but to buy some pig iron and teach Wei Wen the basics of forging.

To his utter surprise, Wei Wen's talent for forging was on par with Shi Tian's. With the help of his decent comprehension, Wei Wen's "blacksmithing skills" improved rapidly.

Shi Fen felt a slight headache regarding this; having unintentionally changed Wei Wen's future, he was very afraid of something bad happening.

But seeing Wei Wen's excited expression, Shi Fen really couldn't bring himself to say anything.

After practicing for a few days, Wei Wen felt that the craft of forging was particularly interesting, as if he were naturally suited for this work.

Consequently, he called Luo Feng over as well.

Shi Fen was already conflicted, and upon discovering that Luo Feng also wanted to try forging, he felt completely uneasy.

But seeing Luo Feng's expectant gaze at the time, he couldn't very well refuse to teach him, so he could only teach Luo Feng the basics of forging.

What made Shi Fen feel relieved was that Luo Feng did not like the feeling of wielding a hammer to strike iron; Luo Feng preferred using a blade. After trying it once, Luo Feng no longer thought about forging and focused on practicing martial arts and blade techniques.

This made Shi Fen breathe a huge sigh of relief.

If Luo Feng had become a blacksmith, Shi Fen would have truly gone insane.

In these 18 years, because he had activated his inheritance not long after arriving in this world, he had gained a new life goal in this lifetime.

He did not want to follow the old path of attending school and conducting scientific research.

To escape the fate of going to school again, he had displayed freakish intelligence since he was young.

Before the age of three, he learned to speak, read, and write, and began self-studying all the books in the house—his father's books on forging and mechanical maintenance, and his brother's various study materials. They all became his "leisure reading."

After figuring things out, he began to teach his brother and father in turn. Under his diligent "tutoring," his brother was later cultivated by him into a postgraduate student, and his father finally fulfilled his grandfather's long-cherished wish.

At the age of seven, he followed his brother and father to learn forging. Relying on the professional knowledge of his brother's future university major in cold weapon manufacturing, combined with his own treasure-refining inheritance, he acted out the charade of "gradual learning" for a period before taking the lead and teaching his father and brother how to forge.

Regarding his own strength.

By the time he was 16, his strength was already very close to that of a high-level martial arts academy student. At 18, his physical fitness was not far from the level of a prospective martial artist.

The year he hit a bottleneck, his brother graduated from postgraduate school. Because his brother lacked sufficient cultivation talent and did not gain the appreciation of any big shots, he had to find a job himself. After the family gathered and discussed it, they used most of the savings from these years, along with the money he had made from stock trading, to open a pattern-welded steel knife forging studio named "Three Stones."

His family rented a fairly large storefront, and after carefully renovating it, the whole family worked there.

Shi Tie, Shi Tian, and Shi Fen, the father and two sons, were responsible for the forging.

Li Ziyi was responsible for managing the accounts.

They hired an additional photographer to be responsible for recording and editing work.

"Three Stones" not only sold standard dining knives and utility knives but also offered high-priced custom services. Each piece was purely handmade, and every purchase came with a "birth certificate" for the knife.

The birth certificate was the entire manufacturing process of the knife, which would be edited and sold along with the knife. This method was used to showcase the birth of the knife and prove that it was truly handmade.

Once "Three Stones" was launched, it immediately became a hit.

Among the four people, including the "apprentice" Wei Wen, in terms of forging ability, Shi Fen was indisputably the strongest.

However, in order to keep a low profile so he could focus on researching the "Qualification Trial," everyone wore masks when forging knives to hide their true forging strength. In the eyes of outsiders, the blacksmith of "Three Stones" was a person wearing a mask.

The photographers who participated in the recording all signed confidentiality agreements with "Three Stones" and could not leak information to the outside world. Only a few people knew that the masked blacksmith was actually three different people.

If nothing unexpected happened, after he died, this matter would likely be gradually exposed.

After all, without him presiding over "Three Stones," all of the highest-tier orders for "Three Stones" would gradually disappear.

Customers would notice the anomaly.

Relying on his astonishing forging techniques, his amazing ability to make money from stocks, and his talent that guaranteed he would become a martial artist by his twenties, Shi Fen received special treatment from his family.

Since opening "Three Stones," he could live in a room by himself and do whatever he wanted. His consciousness could spend all day secretly undergoing trials while his body slept in the outside world, and no one would bother him.

In these 18 years, he had lived quite comfortably.

As for school?

He had always just been a name on the roster. He had barely stepped foot inside a school gate.

Although 18 years was short, it had been wonderful enough.

Being able to live a second life, Shi Fen was actually very content. Having lived another 18 years in the world of his dreams and realized his past life's wishes, what else could he be dissatisfied with?

But this was just a visit.

Shi Fen felt more than a little regret in his heart.

Regret that he hadn't been able to take good care of his friends and family, and regret that he hadn't been able to see the outcome of this wretched inheritance.

Fortunately, over the past eighteen years, everything had been developing for the better.

This time, even as death drew near, Shi Fen felt no fear. He had already died once before; was there any reason to fear a second time?

Shi Fen had a clear conscience toward this world.