Chapter Summaries

Su Li settled into village life, learned blacksmithing from Old Buck, and grew stronger and more handsome over the course of a month. As village girls gathered to watch him work shirtless, Sena felt proud of him and possessive for the first time.

• Sena brought Su Li a stew that he praised and eagerly finished.
• Old Buck trained Su Li in blacksmithing, and Su Li endured the hard work without complaint until the old man's disdain became approval.
• Over a month, Su Li grew muscular and sun-browned while continuing to work at the smithy.
• After Old Buck left to deliver spearheads, Su Li remelted iron alone in the hot smithy with his shirt off.
• Village girls gathered behind the hedge to watch Su Li work, and Sena felt pride and secret possessiveness as they admired him.

Sena’s friends teased her about living with Su Li, and she admitted she was afraid to confess her feelings because she feared he would reject her. Su Li overheard her and wondered whether he had feelings for her, but remained uncertain as the girls hurried away and he waited for Old Buck to return.

• Sena proudly showed her friends Su Li and said he treated her well.
• Sena’s friends asked whether she and Su Li had been intimate, and Sena insisted they had not even held hands.
• Sena admitted she wanted Su Li but feared he would think she was not good enough for him.
• Su Li overheard Sena and wondered whether he had feelings for her, while worrying that he might ruin her peaceful life.
• Su Li struck the anvil, startling the girls into scattering, then watched the sunset as Old Buck’s return approached.

Martha tried to push Su Li and Sena together by insisting he move into Sena’s room, while Su Li and Old Buck objected over propriety and reputation. Martha left the two young people cornered by suggesting that Su Li’s refusal meant he had something to hide.

• Old Buck returned from delivering the spearheads with extra silver and brought home a roast goose for dinner.
• Martha watched Sena sneak glances at Su Li and decided to act before another woman claimed his attention.
• Martha told Su Li he seemed worn down and proposed that he move out of the stable and into the house.
• When Old Buck and Su Li protested, Martha pointed out that Su Li could sleep on the floor in Sena’s room.
• Su Li refused to risk damaging Sena’s reputation, but Martha dismissed his objections and challenged him to explain what he was hiding.

Su Li accepted Aunt Martha's offer to sleep in Sena's room and eased their awkwardness by telling her the story of Sun Wukong. After Sena fell asleep, Su Li reflected on his struggle to escape the cycle and put off thinking about it until tomorrow.

• Su Li agreed to Aunt Martha's request to sleep in Sena's room, while Old Buck drank and grumbled.
• Su Li entered Sena's room and settled onto a bedroll beside her bed as they both struggled with the awkward situation.
• Su Li told Sena a tale about Sun Wukong, and she listened eagerly as he described the monkey's adventures.
• Su Li ended the story with Sun Wukong trapped beneath Five Finger Mountain, and Sena fell asleep listening.
• Su Li wondered how long he would remain trapped in the cycle and decided to think about it tomorrow.

Two years later, Su Li had become a skilled blacksmith, while Sena had grown into a confident young woman whose teasing left him wrestling with his feelings. After a restless night, Su Li found her washing their blanket and accepted her flimsy excuse that she had spilled soup on it, leaving their unspoken tension unresolved.

• Two years passed, and Su Li became a strong, capable blacksmith while Sena grew prettier and more confident.
• Sena deliberately changed clothes in front of Su Li, but he left to cool off outside rather than respond to her teasing.
• Su Li told Sena the story of Wu Song fighting the tiger, and she watched him instead of listening to the tale.
• That night, Sena rustled her blanket while Su Li lay awake, weighing whether he should accept his feelings and take responsibility for her.
• In the morning, Su Li found Sena washing the blanket and claiming she had spilled soup on it, and he let the excuse pass without calling her out.

Sena found excuses to share Su Li’s blanket and bed, then told him a story that revealed her feelings for him. After they went to sleep, Sena moved beneath the blanket in the middle of the night.

• Sena came into Su Li’s room and claimed her blanket was still drying, so Su Li offered to share his.
• Sena complained that the floor was hard and persuaded Su Li to carry her to his bed.
• Sena told Su Li a story about a country girl who treasured the handsome man she had found, even if their time together might be only a dream.
• Su Li understood that Sena’s story revealed her feelings, gently patted her through the blanket, and went to sleep beside her.
• In the middle of the night, Sena shifted beside Su Li and lifted a corner of the blanket.

Su Li and Sena spent the night together, and the next morning Su Li asked Old Buck and Aunt Martha for permission to marry her. Old Buck accepted, leaving Su Li and Sena holding hands as they began their life together.

• Sena climbed onto Su Li and told him to push her away if he did not want her, but Su Li embraced her and they spent the night together.
• Su Li woke with Sena sleeping in his arms, and she hid under the blanket when she remembered what had happened.
• At breakfast, Su Li told Old Buck and Aunt Martha that he wanted to marry Sena and promised to care for her for the rest of his life.
• Aunt Martha enthusiastically approved, and Old Buck accepted while warning Su Li not to mistreat his daughter.
• Sena quietly took Su Li's hand beneath the table and held it tightly.

Su Li and Saina settled into married life in Wading Village, where their affection grew amid village gossip and their modest daily routine. After Saina proposed sharing a bath to save water, they spent the night together, and Su Li woke aching but content with his peaceful life.

• At their wedding, villagers mocked Saina as an unsuitable match for the handsome Su Li, but he reassured her and showed no shame in marrying her.
• Saina tended to Su Li while he worked at the forge, admiring his strength and admitting she wanted to keep him to herself.
• Saina suggested bathing together to save firewood and water, and Su Li joined her in the cramped tub.
• After their bath, Saina pursued Su Li in bed and said she wanted to give him a son, prompting him to agree in hopes of improving his evaluation.
• Su Li woke the next morning with an aching back and reflected that his simple married life was peaceful and warm.

Ten years later, Su Li ran Buck Blacksmith Shop with Saina and their son Su Xiaochui, while Old Buck had grown frail. The chapter left Su Li at work in the forge as Old Buck returned to check on him.

• Ten years passed, and Su Li carved a new sign for the blacksmith shop and took over its daily work.
• Su Li forged farm tools while his ten-year-old son Su Xiaochui complained and showed off the physics Su Li had taught him.
• Saina brought Su Li tea and food, wiped his face, and urged him to change his sweat-soaked clothes.
• Old Buck returned from outside, now white-haired and stooped, and asked Su Li how the work was going.

Su Li refused Old Buck’s suggestion to hire apprentices, preferring to work alone and keep his blacksmithing craft to himself. After dinner, he and Saina went to their soundproofed private house and shared an intimate night, hoping to have another child.

• Old Buck praised Su Li’s forged hoe and suggested hiring apprentices to help with the growing workload.
• Su Li firmly rejected the idea, saying he could manage the work alone.
• After dinner, Xiao Chui went to read while Su Li and Saina retired to their private house.
• Saina teased Su Li about his stamina and their lack of another child, and Su Li responded by pulling her into an intimate embrace.

Su Li spent the family’s savings to send Su Xiaochui to the Saint George Knight Academy so he could pursue knighthood. Ten years later, Su Li was still running the forge in Wading Village, where his daughter Su Na had become a skilled blacksmith.

• Su Xiaochui knelt and asked Su Li to let him attend the Saint George Knight Academy in the Baris Empire.
• Su Li agreed to fund his son’s journey and retrieved the family’s savings from beneath the floorboard.
• Su Li reassured the tearful Saina that Su Xiaochui could protect himself with the greatsword he had forged.
• Su Xiaochui left Wading Village with the family’s savings and the greatsword, traveling in a merchant caravan.
• Ten years later, Su Na practiced forging iron while Su Li watched and corrected her technique.

Su Li passed his master hammer to Su Na as his son Su Xiaochui’s long absence weighed on the family. After opening a letter from the Knight Academy, Su Li learned that Su Xiaochui had enlisted and was heading to the front lines at Graystone Fortress.

• Su Li recalled how Su Na had become a skilled blacksmith despite his original plans for her to study and cook.
• Saina worried that Su Li would tire of her as she aged, and he reassured her that he had chosen her for life.
• Su Na complained about marriage proposals and said she would rather marry a knight like her absent brother, Su Xiaochui.
• Su Li approved Su Na’s hundred-refined steel and gave her his master hammer, placing the forge in her hands.
• Su Li opened the thick letter bearing the Knight Academy seal and found Su Xiaochui’s military badge and note saying he was going to fight at Graystone Fortress.

At seventy, Su Li lived with his aging wife Saina and their daughter Su Na while grieving the son who had been missing in the war for fifteen years. He spent the evening playing Xiangqi with Old Kanlun, holding on to the hope that Su Xiaochui might still return.

• Su Li comforted Saina when she asked whether they had heard from Su Xiaochui, who had been missing since the defense of Graystone Fortress.
• Su Na arrived with dinner alongside her husband Kanlun, and Su Li agreed to visit Old Kanlun for wine and Xiangqi.
• Su Li brought his handmade Xiangqi set to Old Kanlun's courtyard, where the two men played several games and traded insults.
• Old Kanlun spoke of his hope for a grandson and reassured Su Li that Su Xiaochui might return, though both men knew he had been missing for fifteen years.
• Su Li insisted he was content, then challenged Old Kanlun to another game as the moon rose over the courtyard.

At seventy-eight, Su Li visited Saina’s grave, watched his daughter’s family from afar, and returned to the Old Locust Tree to die peacefully. Afterward, a scarred, black-robed figure carrying a greatsword found his body and bowed to him in grief.

• Su Li reflected on his life and shared a final drink with Saina at her grave.
• Su Li watched Su Na and her family from outside their courtyard without revealing himself.
• Su Li lay beneath the new Old Locust Tree where he had met Saina and died peacefully.
• A black-robed figure carrying a massive greatsword found Su Li’s body, arranged his hands, and bowed three times.
• The figure’s hood shifted to reveal eyes like Su Li’s, while a dark-red glow seeped from the greatsword.

Su Li settled the results of his life as a village blacksmith and learned that his son had become the feared Bloody Hand Butcher. He combined his traits to gain an incomplete Sword Spirit Root, leaving him with extraordinary cultivation talent but no way to hide his presence.

• Su Li received an overall D rating for his life, while his son Su Xiaochui earned him a C+ for becoming the Bloody Hand Butcher of the Baris Empire.
• The reward wheel gave Su Li the Sword Dao Leader trait, which let him learn sword arts with exceptional speed.
• Su Li chose to combine Sword Dao Leader with Introvert, permanently giving up the trait that helped him blend into crowds.
• The combination created the incomplete Sword Spirit Root, allowing Su Li to absorb aether and cultivate a hundred times faster while retaining his sword talent and striking appearance.
• Su Li recognized that his new power gave him an advantage over knights and mages, though his charisma would now attract trouble.

Su Li woke beneath the Old Locust Tree in Wading Village, where he discovered that Saina had also returned to her youth with memories of their life together. The system explained that their bond had shifted his rebirth anchor, and the reunited pair faced their first night back in their younger bodies.

• Su Li woke beneath the Old Locust Tree and questioned the system after finding himself in Wading Village instead of Grey Gull Port.
• Saina recognized Su Li, rushed into his arms, and revealed that she remembered their past life together.
• The system explained that their profound bond had corrected Su Li’s rebirth anchor and that Saina retained memories from the life in which their bond formed.
• Su Li learned that his [Sword Spirit Root] had revealed his handsome appearance, while Saina wondered whether Heaven had given her a handsome husband.
• Su Li pointed out that he was starving, and Saina tested whether she was truly alive by pinching herself.

After being reborn with Saina, Su Li stayed in Wading Village and chose a life with her over pursuing immortality. Sixty years later, he mourned her at her grave and reflected on the strength, limits, and sacrifices brought by his [Sword Spirit Root].

• Saina recognized that she and Su Li had been reborn, and the two reunited with their old familiarity as she ran home to bring him roast chicken.
• Su Li felt his [Sword Spirit Root] absorbing spiritual energy and restoring his strength, then decided to remain with Saina in the village.
• Over the following decades, Su Li became a remarkably strong blacksmith, but his cultivation stalled at a bottleneck when he was thirty.
• Su Li declined to leave the village to seek greater power, choosing instead to care for Saina as she had cared for him in their previous life.
• Sixty years later, Su Li drank the liquor Saina had brewed and mourned her at the grave stele he had carved.
• Su Li recalled that they had no children because his powerful body could not safely bear a child with a mortal woman, and he comforted himself that they had avoided the worry of raising one.

After Saina died peacefully at eighty, Su Li left Wading Village to fulfill her wish that he see the wider world. As he rode away, his Sword Spirit Root began circulating faster, suggesting the village had been holding back his cultivation.

• Saina told Su Li before her death to leave the village, see the world, and not search for her in another life.
• Su Li mourned at Saina’s grave, then decided to leave Wading Village after sixty years there without advancing past his cultivation bottleneck.
• Su Li set out with a small bundle, his iron hammer, and the fortune he had earned selling divine weapons.
• Su Li told the village elders he was leaving to find out whether the ocean went on forever.
• As Su Li rode away from Wading Village, his heart felt lighter and his Sword Spirit Root circulated faster.

Su Li left Wading Village and found his spiritual energy moving more freely as he traveled through war-ravaged lands. When five bandits tried to rob him, he quickly defeated them and turned the robbery around, though they had little worth taking.

• Su Li rode away from Wading Village and noticed that his spiritual energy flowed more freely beyond its boundaries.
• He traveled through ruined villages and desolate countryside devastated by the war between the Orenda Kingdom and the Baris Empire.
• The One-Eyed Dragon and four bandits stopped Su Li and demanded his horse, money, and clothes.
• Su Li kicked Skinny Monkey unconscious and swiftly injured the three other lackeys without drawing his sword.
• Su Li demanded the One-Eyed Dragon's money, rejected the meager pouch, and searched the groaning bandits himself.

Su Li arrived at Grey Gull Port and sought a forged identity from the city’s underworld. He found a shopkeeper named Little Jack, who claimed to have the noble identity Su Li wanted.

• Su Li spared One-Eyed Dragon and his companions after taking their coins and dagger.
• Su Li reached Grey Gull Port and bribed a gate soldier with a gold coin to enter the city.
• Su Li followed a secret underworld mark to Old Blind Man's Grocery.
• Su Li asked the shopkeeper for a clean identity belonging to a fallen noble and offered him gold.
• The shopkeeper introduced himself as Little Jack and said he had the identity Su Li wanted.