The First Step

By: Tao Wong

Published by Penguin Group, 2026-03-10

<b>In a spectacular world of immortals, spirit beasts, and mystical martial arts, the young farmer Wu Ying’s life will be changed forever when he is unexpectedly invited to join an elite school of cultivation.<br> <br>Now with a bonus story exclusive to this print edition!</b><br><br><i>It is said that a journey of a thousand li begins with a single step. . . .</i><br><br>Long Wu Ying never expected to become a real cultivator, never dreamed of having the chance to train and develop wondrous martial arts skills and magic of his own. As a farmer’s son in a rural village, his days were spent studying, planting rice, and spending time with his friends. Fate, however, has different plans for him.<br><br>Conscripted into the army and taken from everything he knows, Wu Ying’s chance observation of an incoming ambush prevents a bloody rout—and brings him to the attention of the powerful Verdant Green Waters sect, an elite school of cultivation. Invited to join the sect as a novice, Wu Ying is thrown into a world he is utterly unprepared for, one filled with demonic beasts, haughty nobles, and, most of all, the very real possibility of reaching immortality—if he’s brave enough to seize it.