The First Steps on the Path of Immortal Cultivation

A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality #2

by Wang Yu, Doubledd (Translator)

A poor and ordinary boy from a village joins a minor sect in Jiang Hu and becomes an Unofficial Disciple by chance. How will Han Li, a commoner by birth, establish a foothold for himself in in his sect? With his mediocre aptitude, how will he successfully traverse the path of cultivation and become an immortal? This is a story of an ordinary mortal who, against all odds, clashes with devilish demons and ancient celestials in order to find his own path towards immortality.

Genres: Fantasy

ebook

Reviews

[Zurlo Enrico · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read many Wuxia and Xianxia stories by now. This one is still my favorite. The main character is a guy of low talent, but very good brain in his decisions. He is not the good hero who saves people no matter what the situation is, however he is not even evil either, and if he can help someone without any consequence for himself he would do it. Although the World System is similar to many other stories, in this case I appreciate it more, because it is explained the way the protagonist understands it, rather than a dump of information. I also like that the world building is quite independent from the point of the story. For example, in other stories the main characters always meet people at their own level of strength, with the complete absence of the stronger ones until they also become stronger. In this novel instead the fearsome people are already present from the beginning, but Han Li is smart enough to always avoid any confrontation with the enemies stronger than himself. Of course the story is not perfect, but good enough to fill my time.

[Michael Mc Donnell · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first book felt relatively fresh. The main characters goals and aspirations were explicit and understandable. The antagonist was entertaining and the back and forth between the two kept things interesting. This tension was absolutely required because the main character has basically no personality. He's incredibly boring. I've no problems with slow plot development but you need something character, situation, setting, etc. to keep you engaged. This was fine for the first book.

Unfortunately it all fell apart in book two. The protagonist has no clear goal or motivation other than wrapping up a loose end from the first book which he goes about in an inexplicably roundabout way. With no real goal or tension to keep the readers interest we're left to rely on the characters - which are largely non-existent. Characters other than the protagonist have no depth and it feels like they don't exist beyond how they relate to the protagonist and his needs. Which brings us to the next problem. Whereas the protagonist was merely boring before in this book he becomes actively unlikeable. 

He descends into the usual sociopathic hypocrisy so common to the genre. He kills both absolutely innocent people and the not so innocent but unrelated purely to make his life marginally more convenient or to satisfy his own curiosity. The unfortunately common sexist nonsense, which is a problem with the genre in general, rears its ugly head and we have the protagonist talking about he he doesnt need a woman to like him because "one she is his he'll make her like him" and other more specific references to marital rape. The women in the novel only exist to be adored, reviled or killed. 

So with nothing to keep the reader interested, and a fair amount to drive them away, I ultimately dropped it half way through book two.  If you don't care about sociopathic, sexist, rape apologists as main characters then stick with it. If you're in the mood for something that also has a slow build up but is significantly better written I'd strongly recommend Ze Tian Ji/Way of Choices. 

[William Moses Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far so good. I'm slowly getting more and more invested in Han Li. The world building is done well, where a high level idea of the world is given initially to set the scope and more details are given only close to when they are needed, so you don't have to struggle to remember things from hundreds of pages ago in the story. The interactions with different people and Han Li's continual growth despite the circumstances are a pleasure to watch. Especially seeing Han Li's personality and approach to things paying off.

[Awhie Rhashae]

Mantap..

[Rafaél · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical xianxia slop. Good and enjoyable for reading when you turn your brain off. Contains a lot of sexism and stereotypes, some SA as well.

[Wayfarer · Rating 3 out of 5]

slightly better than the previous book in the series.