From all the xianxia series I've read only a few actually do this. The most notable one was bai xiaochun in his dao of immortality and you can say in Stealing The Heavens the historical main characters dao of conquering where they are doing everything to free themselves of their curse and rule the heaven and earth. I want a real dao focused story instead of one where it is a convenient plot armor to power themselves up. I want a story where their dao helps and harms them
Martial World - the MC's that "martial idiot" you find in cultivation novels pursuing the peak. In his own words, he's like a moth to a flame, who gets burned because of his dao but continues on. It's a completed novel. Emperor's Domination - arrogant as fuck MC who pursues the peak knowing he'll get there without doubt, fighting for some answer and a final fight, in his own words. It's good for the most part and is ongoing, but well, the author has been bullshitting in the current raws.
I think that purely pursuing Dao didn't exist. It's like earning the money without use them. Can you be more specific?
Honestly asking for an author to give a detailed sequence of how a character understands their dao is like making the author create a systemized way of how each Dao works. Now you're not wrong. The problem is that 9 out of 10 times Xianxia authors get lost while traveling the Dao. They basically name tiers of cultivation stages, add level 1 to 10 in between or add early stage to peak or half-step stage, and add various cheats that lets you fight above your normal level, and let the minor characters lose their heads. The remaining authors prefer to put more thought into the characters themselves rather than focus on just the dao. There's a reason for this. The Dao an author creates by itself is boring. No matter how much you force a character to train in the dao, if he fails to interact with anyone else at a meaningful level, that is the crossing and intersecting of other daos to form a world, makes it boring. The plot does not advance. At the end of the day the Dao does not define the characters. The characters defines the Dao. Therefore asking the author to focus solely on the one Dao is like asking the author to ignore building a world for the remaining characters to live in. While the crude system most authors create are stale, it at least gives the characters an identity. Hope this brings some enlightenment.
This was what OP wanted: MW and ED kind of satisfy these. How is it "anything but what OP wants"? Purely pursuing dao is non-existent in most others.
Can u read MTL ? if yes, Definitely check out Grasping Evil : https://lnmtl.com/novel/grasping-evil one of the best plots and usage of Dao Comprehension and Dao Path, Karma and Samsara, it's my most favorite novel since 2016. MC basically is going toward the Path of Grasping Fate Cultivator, a cultivator who is hated by the heavens coz they want to change their fate and control their destiny themselves. there is a LOT of intriguing plot and stuff going in this novel, it's a bit complicated tbh if u don't read it carefully u might miss a lot of stuff, hints and forshadowings etc. Sadly, the best stuff and Dao stuff happen after Cultivator become immortal and choose his Path ! but Human Translation is only like 120 chapter atm and nothing much happened yet, so... up to you if u want to read it. https://www.novelupdates.com/series/grasping-evil/
Probably not exactly what you want but The Lazy King , everyone focuses on their sins. And by cultivating their sins they grow both mentally and physically. So much so that their sins become their obsessions and can completely alter their lifestyles to facilitate theirs sins. It isn't a xianxia though.
Emperor's Domination - pursue for dao is the only thing that matters to him. At of his dao he will have his 'answer' and of course his path to dao is paved with bones of his enemies Well .. I think For most other xianxia its just cultivation and getting stronger ... LQ cares so little abt cultivation that he has crippled his own cultivation multiple time .. some times to perfect his own grand dao
So, any novel that MC seek the sword dao? I'm talking about only sword, the sword being your life, something similar to samurai but chinese, because I can read the raw.
I think Linley from Coiling Dragon had the most Sword Related path of Cultivation, Then there is Desolate Era too i guess. but a bit less. IET ( i Eat Tomato )'s book all got a lot of sword in them, i think his new book is named Seeking Flying Sword or something as well lol