[]
The First Step
  • Published: 17 March 2026
  • ISBN: 9798217188420
  • Imprint: Ace
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $59.99

The First Step

  • Tao Wong
Pre-order from…
Amazon Booktopia Dymocks QBD Readings Your Bookstore Abbeys Boomerang Find local retailers Find local retailers Collins Fishpond Gleebooks Harry Hartog Kinokuniya Robinsons The Nile Mighty Ape

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.

Now with a bonus story exclusive to this print edition!

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.

Now with a bonus story exclusive to this print edition!

It is said that a journey of a thousand li begins with a single step. . . .

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.

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.
  • Published: 17 March 2026
  • ISBN: 9798217188420
  • Imprint: Ace
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $59.99

Praise for The First Step

Praise for Tao Wong’s A Thousand Li series:

"Tao Wong is a magician. A Thousand Li is an expertly wrought foundation for one the most epic English-language cultivation book series of all time. This book is fused with magic and wonder and some of the most kick ass, heart-pounding action sequences I’ve ever read."—Matt Dinniman, New York Times bestselling author of Dungeon Crawler Carl

“A Thousand Li more than lives up to its name—a grand journey from the humblest of beginnings to a heavenly ascent. Tao Wong skillfully blends xianxia action, political intrigue, quiet poetry and fascinating historical details into a superlative cultivation epic.”—Travis Baldree, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Legends & Lattes

Praise for Tao Wong’s A Thousand Li series:

"Tao Wong is a magician. A Thousand Li is an expertly wrought foundation for one the most epic English-language cultivation book series of all time. This book is fused with magic and wonder and some of the most kick ass, heart-pounding action sequences I’ve ever read."—Matt Dinniman, New York Times bestselling author of Dungeon Crawler Carl

“A Thousand Li more than lives up to its name—a grand journey from the humblest of beginnings to a heavenly ascent. Tao Wong skillfully blends xianxia action, political intrigue, quiet poetry and fascinating historical details into a superlative cultivation epic.”—Travis Baldree, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Legends & Lattes