CompletedPart 1 [Forging Souls in Fire]: In the final period of the Anti-Japanese War, Gu Tieshan, a master of Xingyi Quan, and Shen Lanjun, a Baguazhang inheritor and underground party member, pose as husband and wife in Linjiang Village, Northeast China, establishing a blacksmith shop as a transit station. Due to the betrayal of a traitor named "Black Fox," Shen Lanjun sacrifices herself to protect her husband and two sons. Gu Tieshan retrieves his beloved wife's body with the unique weapon "Dragon Scale Thorn" and, in despair, jumps into the river. His eldest son, Gu Huaiyuan, and his youngest son, Gu Niansheng, are separated during their escape.
Part 2 [A Thousand-Mile Solitary Journey]: Gu Tieshan channels his grief into strength and joins the torrent of the revolution. From the Liberation battlefield to the Korean battlefield, he pursues the murderer for thousands of miles and finally avenges "Black Fox" in a foreign land with his own hands. Meanwhile, Gu Niansheng is taken in by a Peking Opera troupe and grows into a martial arts actor, enduring hardships during a turbulent era. Gu Huaiyuan, inheriting his parents' will, becomes a soldier and dedicates half his life to searching the entire country for his brother.
Part 3 [The Journey Home Like a Rainbow]: In the early 1970s, Gu Huaiyuan, weakened by years of hard work and illness, is on the verge of death. He finally finds his brother, Gu Niansheng, who has been missing for nearly twenty years, in a hospital room in northern China. The token, "Dragon Scale Thorn," reunites the brothers on their wrists. All the past fires of war, love, and hate subside at this moment, leaving only an enduring spirit.