Recaps

Su Li spent a month helping Old Buck at the forge while secretly making refined-steel daggers to sell for money. After finishing the latest batch of work, he prepared to head to Grey Gull Port, where Saina emerged from the house as he got ready to leave.

• Su Li stayed with Saina and worked as Old Buck's son-in-law in Wading Village.
• Su Li forged iron with uncanny strength and precision, impressing Old Buck and Martha.
• Su Li secretly forged thirty refined-steel daggers infused with aether and planned to trade them in town for gold.
• Old Buck said Old Pete would arrive with a carriage to collect the family's goods, while Su Li planned to visit Grey Gull Port for business.
• Su Li finished his morning forging and went to the water vat as Saina emerged from the house in her nightgown.

Su Li traveled to Grey Gull Port to obtain clean identity papers and buy supplies for Saina, then tried to enter the Adventurers' Guild but was turned away for being a commoner. He returned to Wading Village that evening and found Saina sewing at home.

• Su Li left Wading Village after Saina warned him to be careful, and Old Pete told him about wartime conscription and the Baris Empire's new magic cannon.
• Su Li reached Grey Gull Port, avoided patrols, and traded an enchanted dagger to Old Jack for paperwork that would give him a clean Resident ID.
• Su Li sold more daggers to a goblin merchant and spent his Gold Coins on food, ale, clothes, boots, salt, and tobacco.
• Su Li approached the Adventurers' Guild, but its guards barred him from entering because he was a commoner while Baron Chelsea's eldest son was admitted without showing a crest.
• Su Li returned to Wading Village by evening and found Saina mending clothes in the main room.

Su Li brought Saina expensive food and new clothes after earning money by forging knives from scrap iron, and the two spent the night together. The next morning, he explained his earnings to Old Buck and gave Martha refined salt, while claiming all the workshop’s scrap iron for himself.

• Su Li surprised Saina with roast meat, white rolls, a silk dress, refined salt, and sheepskin boots, then spent the night with her.
• Saina learned Su Li had forged knives from discarded scrap iron and realized Old Buck had thrown away valuable material.
• Su Li told Saina he would take charge of the workshop’s scrap iron and urged her to wear her new clothes and boots.
• Old Buck found roast meat, white bread, and fine tobacco in the kitchen and suspected Su Li had stolen them.
• Su Li explained that he had honestly sold knives made from scrap iron and declared that all future workshop scrap belonged to him.
• Su Li gave Martha jars of refined salt, and she welcomed his gifts while Old Buck stayed silent.

Su Li grew wealthy by forging and selling aether-infused weapons, then secured a baronial title as war and conscription threatened Wading Village. He and Saina left for Saining City while Old Buck and Martha stayed behind with money for protection.

• Su Li forged enchanted weapons and sold them through Old Jack and Officer Ryan, accumulating gold and other valuables.
• Seven years passed, and Su Li and Saina had become prosperous adults living together in Wading Village.
• As the Baris Empire's magic-guided cannons devastated Blackstone Fortress, Orenda's press gangs began conscripting even young children.
• Su Li paid Ryan five thousand gold coins to obtain a baronial patent and decided to move with Saina to Saining City.
• Su Li gave Old Buck and Martha five hundred gold coins and urged them to use the money to protect themselves from conscription.
• Su Li and Saina departed Wading Village in two luxurious carriages, while Old Buck and Martha remained behind.

Baron Su Li sought a high-level Knight Breathing Technique but was turned away by Violet Trading House because his title was purchased. Elena offered him access to the Iris Family’s resources if he married her, but he rejected her and left to remain loyal to Saina.

• Su Li complained to Saina that Violet Trading House had refused to sell him a breathing technique because they did not recognize his purchased baron title.
• Elena invited Su Li to Red Leaf Manor after learning of his failed attempt to buy a technique.
• Elena offered Su Li access to high-level breathing techniques and the Iris Family’s resources if he married into her family.
• Su Li refused Elena’s proposal because he already had a wife, and he defended Saina when Elena insulted her.
• Elena angrily threatened to block Su Li from obtaining breathing techniques in the royal capital, but he left without looking back.

Su Li rejected Elena’s attempt to make him beg for a high-tier Knight Breathing Technique and spent the Flower God Festival at home with Saina, watching a play he had arranged. Elena visited his villa to confront him, but she found him relaxed with Saina and was stunned by the performance unfolding onstage.

• Su Li returned home, where Saina greeted him and reminded him of the Flower God Festival; he chose to celebrate at home with a play instead of going out.
• Su Li hired a theater troupe to perform a story based on Titanic, and Saina became engrossed in its romance.
• At Red Leaf Manor, Elena grew furious that Su Li had not come to beg for a breathing technique and ordered her carriage to his villa.
• Elena entered Su Li’s backyard and found him lounging with Saina while actors performed on a wooden stage.
• Elena told Su Li that only she could provide him with a breathing technique, but he refused to practice one rather than submit to the nobles’ airs.
• A male actor shouted, “If you jump, I’ll jump with you!” and Elena turned toward the stage.

Elena became a daily visitor to Su Li’s theater, where she and Saina bonded over the plays despite their rivalry. Elena offered to help Su Li obtain a breathing technique in exchange for a happy ending, and five years later Su Li was still relaxing in the backyard of No. 18 Broom Avenue.

• Elena became absorbed in Su Li’s tragic plays and returned to No. 18 Broom Avenue every afternoon, while Saina competed with her for Su Li’s attention.
• Elena and Saina bonded while condemning the villains in Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai’s story.
• After the play, Elena offered to settle Su Li’s breathing technique without requiring him to marry into her family, provided the next play had a happy ending.
• Elena teased Su Li about her figure before leaving, and Saina confronted Su Li for looking at her.
• Su Li and Saina made up in the backyard, and five years passed before Su Li was shown reclining in a rattan chair in Saining City.

After five years with Saina, Su Li demanded the high-level Breathing Technique Elena had promised him, but Elena explained that the Iris Family’s Violet Breathing Technique could not be shared with an outsider. Elena proposed that Su Li marry into her family in name so he could practice it legally, leaving Saina and Elena arguing over him.

• Su Li confronted Elena about failing to provide the promised high-level Knight Breathing Technique after five years.
• Elena explained that the Violet Breathing Technique was a closely guarded family secret and that sharing it with an outsider could endanger her family.
• Su Li threatened to make Elena pay for future performances, and Elena reminded him that she had handled local nobles who caused trouble for him and Saina.
• Elena proposed a legal fake marriage-in so Su Li could become a member of the Iris Family and practice its Breathing Technique.
• Saina accused Elena of using the marriage proposal to pursue Su Li, and the two women argued over him.

With the Baris Empire advancing, Elena persuaded Su Li to join the Iris Family through a marriage in name, offering him protection and a high-level Violet Breathing Technique. Su Li arrived at Red Leaf Manor for the wedding, where powerful nobles gathered because they believed he was a genuine Magic Forger.

• Elena warned Su Li that the front lines were worsening and the royal capital would conscript nobles, then offered him refuge under the Iris Family.
• Su Li agreed to Elena's proposal on the conditions that Saina could come with him and that he and Elena would keep separate rooms; Elena accepted under pressure.
• The next morning, Saina helped Su Li dress and warned him to be careful among the nobles before he left for Red Leaf Manor.
• Su Li arrived at Red Leaf Manor, where influential nobles had gathered for his marriage to Elena.
• A bearded earl and a marquis discussed Su Li's reputation as a genuine Magic Forger, a rare craft supposedly possessed by only two people in the empire.

At his wedding banquet, Su Li won the attention of nobles and merchants eager to profit from his enchanted weapons, surprising Elena, who had expected him to be snubbed. Old Ford then took Su Li to his study and gave him a transcribed copy of the Violet Breathing Technique.

• Count Bigbeard and other aristocrats regretted missing their chance to ally with Su Li and discussed how his enchanted shortswords could pierce the Baris Empire's armor.
• Su Li arrived at the manor, where nobles and a merchant eagerly courted him with offers and business proposals.
• Elena saw the nobles surrounding Su Li, abandoned her plan to rescue him from a snub, and joined him at the banquet.
• Old Ford led Su Li to his study and handed him a transcribed copy of the Violet Breathing Technique, warning that its violent aether absorption could burst an ordinary knight's blood vessels.
• Su Li opened the lead box and found the yellowed parchment scroll inside.

Su Li attended Elena’s wedding banquet after accepting an ancient breathing technique, then refused to stay with her on their wedding night and returned to Saina. He left the scroll to study the next day and spent the night with Saina.

• Su Li stored the parchment and lead box in his Space Ring, then joined Elena and the nobles at the banquet.
• Su Li spent three hours charming the guests and deflecting their attempts to recruit him while Elena stayed at his side.
• Elena tried to persuade Su Li to stay for their wedding night, but he refused and left the manor.
• Su Li returned to No. 18 Golden Broom Avenue, where Saina had waited up for him.
• Su Li showed Saina the breathing technique scroll, said he would study it tomorrow, and carried her upstairs.

Su Li studied the Violet Breathing Technique and realized his Sword Spirit Root absorbed aether far more efficiently than the method could. He discovered that his body had reached its limit and that he needed a rank-appropriate potion to advance.

• Su Li examined Old Ford's copy of the Violet Breathing Technique and understood how it drew aether into the body.
• Su Li realized the technique was a crude and dangerous way to absorb energy, while his Sword Spirit Root absorbed aether automatically and at far greater speed.
• Su Li sensed that his body could no longer retain the aether his Sword Spirit Root absorbed.
• Su Li read the parchment's final notes and learned that potions could break the body's saturation barrier and enable advancement.

Su Li learned that the Orenda royal family monopolized the potion needed to advance beyond first-rank completion, leaving him to find another way to obtain it. He set the problem aside for the moment and comforted the sleeping Saina.

• Su Li read that advancing to second-rank Copper required a potion controlled by the Orenda royal family, which granted bottles only to loyal families after applications and assessment.
• Su Li assessed himself as a first-rank knight at the peak of his current strength and concluded that he needed the potion to advance.
• Su Li considered applying to the royal family but dismissed the idea because of his low standing despite his marriage into the Iris Family.
• Saina turned over in her sleep, and Su Li covered her before she burrowed into his arms; he patted her back and felt less troubled.

Over five years, Su Li built a successful enchanted-weapon business and grew close to Elena and Saina, who became his partners in life. Forty years later, Saina withdrew from him as age changed her, and she died alone in her room after refusing to open the door.

• Su Li’s enchanted-weapon trade prospered with the Iris Family’s backing, while Old Ford persuaded the royal family to leave him alone.
• Elena complained that her father wanted Su Li to forge higher-grade enchanted greatswords, and Su Li cheered her up with card tricks and a new game.
• Su Li, Saina, and Elena shared a night together, their former marriage-only promise long forgotten.
• Forty years later, Saina shut herself in her room because she felt ashamed of her aged appearance beside Elena, who still looked much younger.
• Su Li tried to get Saina to open the door, but she refused, and her room fell silent when winter’s first snow arrived.

After Saina died, Su Li buried her and decided to leave the royal capital in search of a potion that could help him advance. He left Elena a hundred powerful swords to protect her hold over the Iris Family, then departed alone into the night.

• Su Li buried Saina beneath a bluestone slab while Elena laid bellflowers on her grave.
• Su Li told Elena he planned to leave for the sea or the Baris Empire, but Elena refused to abandon the Iris Family and her power in the royal capital.
• Su Li spent half a month forging a hundred aether-patterned longswords in the villa basement.
• Su Li warned Elena that her cousin was seeking her position as family head and that half of her father's old generals had been bought.
• Su Li gave Elena the swords, packed his iron hammer, and left the royal capital alone.

At the end of his life, Su Li reflected on his failed search for high-rank potions, his limited advancement, and Elena’s rise to power. He recalled seeing Elena ten years earlier and wondered whether she would welcome him or imprison him if she learned he had returned.

• Su Li burned the fraudulent map he had bought while sheltering from the three-day snowstorm in Dawn Mist Forest.
• Su Li considered how decades of travel had left him unable to cross the northern border of the Orenda Kingdom and how his sword spirit root had only advanced him to second-tier knight.
• Su Li remembered returning to Saining City ten years earlier and seeing that Elena had become a grand duchess and a fourth-rank knight.
• Su Li recalled hiding as Elena struck a maid and reflected on how power had changed her.
• Su Li wondered whether Elena would embrace him or capture him and force him to forge weapons if she discovered his return.

After Su Li died at the age of 105, the system evaluated his third life and assigned him low marks for survival and having no children, but high marks for wealth, status, and legend. The settlement remained underway after it revealed an S-rank evaluation for his legacy as the Founder of Duke of Iris and secret king of arms.

• Su Li died alone in a freezing shack after calculating that his wealth, status, and legendary weapons should earn him a strong evaluation.
• Su Li awoke in a gray-white space as the system announced that his third life had ended and began its settlement.
• The system gave Su Li a C- for surviving 105 years, an A for accumulating wealth, and an A for his status as a baron and Magic Forger.
• The system gave Su Li an E for having no progeny, and Su Li cursed the penalty.
• The system awarded Su Li an S for his legend as Founder of Duke of Iris and secret king of arms, and Su Li sprang up in surprise.

Su Li gained the golden Family Group trait, which let him share lifespans with up to three bonded people and raise weaker members to his realm. After learning that Saina and Elena both qualified for a reincarnation anchor, he chose Wading Village and returned there.

• Su Li received the Family Group trait and learned its rules and restrictions.
• Su Li decided to invite Saina first and considered Elena as a possible second member.
• The system revealed that Elena would retain her memories and offered anchors in Wading Village or Saining City.
• Su Li chose the Wading Village anchor and began his next life there.

Su Li found Saina distressed because she feared growing old while he remained young, and he convinced her to join his family group, which granted her his strength and lifespan. As they headed back to the village, Su Li considered the two remaining spots and wondered whether Elena had awakened with memories of her previous life.

• Saina told Su Li she remembered her past lives and urged him to leave her for Elena because she feared aging and making him bury her again.
• Su Li carried Saina into a secluded patch of bushes and forced her to face his decision to keep her with him.
• Su Li had Saina consent to joining his family group, and the system confirmed her successful invitation.
• Saina's body became stronger, younger, and able to share Su Li's lifespan, leaving her thrilled that she could stay with him forever.
• Su Li and Saina walked toward the village to get food, while Su Li considered the two remaining family-group spots and Elena's return to age eighteen.

Elena woke in her eighteen-year-old body with all the memories of her previous life, when she became a grand duke but remained an unwanted partner to Su Li. Determined to change their future, she prepared to find Su Li before he reached the royal capital.

• Elena realized she had been reborn after seeing her youthful body and remembering her previous life with Su Li.
• Elena recalled how Su Li had loved Saina most and had left her behind for fifty years.
• Mary told Elena that Old Ford wanted to see her, and Elena resolved not to be handed over to Su Li for enchanted weapons again.
• Elena ordered Mary to bring her most revealing red hunting outfit so she could leave for Su Li before he reached the capital.

Su Li planned to become a first-rank knight and leave Wading Village with Saina, while Elena raced there intending to reclaim him. The chapter ended with Elena arriving at the village and Su Li recognizing her voice.

• Su Li estimated that his rapidly accumulating aether would let him break through to first-rank knight within three months, and promised to take Saina traveling afterward.
• Su Li continued forging iron to build strength and protect himself and Saina from the dangers of the ongoing war.
• Elena left the royal capital with twenty elite guards, determined to take Su Li from Saina.
• Elena's convoy reached Wading Village, and she ordered her guards to find the blacksmith named Su Li.
• Su Li heard Elena's familiar voice from the courtyard and froze.

Elena arrived in the village intending to claim Su Li, but he used a secret from their shared past life to shock her. Elena realized Su Li had returned to the past too.

• Elena arrived with her knights and ordered them to bring Su Li to her.
• Saina stood in the knights’ way, but Elena bought a villager’s house and ordered Saina tied up.
• Elena dragged Su Li into the house and taunted Saina before trying to seduce him.
• Su Li revealed his knowledge of a secret from Elena’s past, and Elena realized he had returned too.

Elena realized Su Li remembered their past life, but stubbornly carried out her attempt to claim him before asking him to return to the royal capital with her. Su Li refused and chose to leave with Saina for a peaceful life by the sea.

• Elena recognized that Su Li remembered their past life and, despite her embarrassment, insisted on claiming him and proceeded with him.
• Afterward, Elena dressed and offered Su Li money, status, and high-level breathing techniques if he would return to the royal capital with her.
• Su Li freed Saina from her bonds, and she threw herself into his arms.
• Su Li refused Elena's offer, saying he wanted to take Saina to see the sea and hear the bards of the free city-states.

Elena confessed that she regretted choosing power over Su Li in their previous life and demanded to travel with him and Saina. Su Li’s bond with Elena then rose to Unforgettable, as she proved willing to abandon everything for him.

• Elena recalled the forty years she spent as Grand Duchess after Su Li left, regretting that she had not followed him.
• Elena confronted Su Li and told him she wanted to leave her noble life behind and travel with him to see the sea and visit the Free City-States.
• Saina pushed Elena and argued that Su Li was her man, while Elena insisted she had spent forty years longing for him in their previous life.
• Saina cried and accused Su Li of getting together with Elena after her death, and Su Li tried to explain that it had happened years later.
• Elena declared she would follow Su Li even if it meant giving up her noble clothes and forging iron.
• Su Li’s system detected a shift in fate and raised Elena Iris’s bond level from Deep Affection and Righteous Devotion to Unforgettable.

Su Li accepted Elena into the Family Group, strengthening her, then sent her back to the royal capital to retrieve her father’s potions. Elena agreed on the condition that Su Li wait for her to return in two months, while her departure left Wading Village stunned by her connection to him.

• Elena clung to Su Li and insisted she would give up her family’s wealth and title to follow him, and he invited her into the Family Group.
• The Family Group’s power surged through Elena, greatly increasing her strength.
• Su Li told Elena to return to the royal capital and retrieve the potions locked in her father’s secret chamber for their breakthroughs.
• Elena agreed to bring back as many potions as she could if Su Li promised to wait for her in two months.
• Elena left Wading Village with twenty knights and a carriage, astonishing the villagers who learned she knew Su Li.