A Thousand Li

Best-selling author Tao Wong presents the second novel in the Thousand Li series.

Winter has passed, taking with it the hope of peace. The state of Wei deploy an increasing number of cultivators and soldiers, intent on taking over the state of Shen. Caught in between the armies is Wu Ying's village and all those that he cares about. Advised to keep away from the approaching war, Wu Ying will have to decide what is more important - his journey to immortality or the ties to the mortal that he holds onto still. Or perhaps, there is a third way, one that balances both the needs of Heaven and destiny and the karmic ties of the family.

Wu Ying's idle winter, one filled with training and recovery, is thrown awry when his Master and Elder Yang return, injured. The Three Seasons poison fills Master Cheng's veins, slowly killing the powerful Elder. His only hope - a rare antidote. But the ingredients for such an antidote are scarce and located in the deepest wilds.

Wu Ying saved his master from the machinations of the dark sect, but was gravely injured during the process. His body has changed, his bloodline awakened and his cultivation compromised. Physicians and healers at the Verdant Green Water can do nothing for him. Forced to travel to a new sect for healing, Wu Ying might find opportunity in his distress. But the dark sect is not done with him, or their machinations. Caught up in the winds of war, Wu Ying and his friends must continue to balance their journey to immortality against the pull of mortal politics.

When war wages, even innocents perish. Two years have passed, and the war between the kingdoms of Shen and Wei rages on. The Second Storm is the sixth novel in the A Thousand Li series, a book about immortal cultivation, wondrous martial arts, evil cultivation sects and spirit beasts.

Long Wu Ying has been banished from the Verdant Green Waters Sect for defying the orders of the Elders. Forced to prove himself in the outer world before he is allowed to return, Wu Ying begins a journey that will have him visiting old haunts and a new kingdom. Amidst new cultivators, new politics, and new challenges, Wu Ying must find the center of his dao and rise to the challenge. Or be forgotten on the steps to immortality.

Heaven Commands, the Middle Kingdom Concedes. Or so the story goes. As Wu Ying travels beyond the kingdom of Shen chasing enlightenment, he experiences the truth of that statement. Disparate forms of government, new cultures, and people abound with new ways of cultivating towards immortality.

As corruption seeps from the southern kingdom of Nanyue, Wu Ying sets out on a dangerous journey to uncover its source. Spirit stones have become corrupted, with twisted daos embedded within. If left unchecked, this corruption threatens to spread across the world.

Returning to the Verdant Green Waters sect over a decade after his exile, Wu Ying finds his position and place within the Sect in flux. Strong enough to be an Elder but not having achieved his rank via the normal methods, he has jealous and worried rivals to contend with. It is reminiscent of his own past, but now, he's an Elder and able to enact transformation in a broader sense. Wu Ying must find his own place in the sect or leave it once and for all. The cultivation wounds he received in the south trouble him, and it will require time and resources - resources the Sect is able to provide.