Recommendations MC is stronger than male lead

I originally meant this in the context of xianxia/cultivation novels, but I'm open to other genres.
I'm looking for a story where the MC is stronger than the ML, but the ML is still the same "cold-hearted but warm to MC" kind of trope. I feel like every story I've read so far has the MC being extremely strong, one of the top in the world(s), smarter than the rest, etc etc... just not when matched against the ML, who is better than the MC in every way. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the typical domineering, possessive ML, but it gets a little annoying sometimes when it feels like no matter how hard the MC trains or whatever, the ML is unbeatable.
My ultimate dream? goal? bias? would be to read a story with all the typical tropes -- possessive and domineering ML, genius MC -- but when the ML tries to do his routine of "you're mine blah blah" the MC just raises a brow, entirely unimpressed, and is actually able to deliver. As in, none of that "no one owns me! you'll have to beat/kill me before you can!" before getting trounced. ML can be possessive or whatever after he's already won over the MC, and the MC allows him to. I don't think I'll ever be able to read a story like I'm imagining, but a girl can dream

 

Only reverse harem novel had MC that’s strongest than ML. Moreover MLs is not like control and possessive person.
Unscrupulous Enchantress: The Young Miss Has Arrived!
Xiebing Defies The Heavens
Cool Goddess Special Agent

 

Side Character Transmigrations: The Final Boss is No Joke

 

Transmigrator Meets Reincarnator

I wouldn't say she's stronger as in fighting or whatever, but ML only wins with her help, and she's much richer/smarter than him in general. And ML isn't best boi at martial arts either, but is brave and does save her (although she saves herself too and is only in the situation because she went out to help him). There are concerns about some consent issues while she is asleep (touching only), but if you ignore that?

ML has one of my favorite personalities of all ML I have ever read. Think tsundere. Sooo cute.

Also, it's finished!

 

The End Of The World’s Poisonous Mom And Monster Baby
Sons, Too Mensao
The Enchanting Empress Dowager is Really Poisonous

 

It’s Not Easy to be a Man after Traveling to the Future.

The MC is the daughter of a missing general and has to disguise herself as a man to prevent others from taking what belongs to their family.

The ML is considerably weaker than the MC (the ML at 25 years old would probably be weaker than the MC was when she was 13), but he is still strong when compared with less monstrous examples, and while he isn’t quite possessive, he does get jealous and competitive when others get the MC’s attention.

 

I’ve been looking for this type of novel too, unfortunately I haven’t found the one. I even browse the chinese websites but never found a novel like that, that I really like. Still searching.......

 

I'm picking up A Martial Odyssey 2 now. It is a cultivation/Xianxia. MC is a female with a ML. But the style if more fluffy type. The ML is also not a dominating type though. It doesn't have the usual, start from bottom and everyone else is a trash troupe because the MC is actually the clan leader.

Below is the story intro from the website.

Story
Young Ye Jing returns from a 5 year reclusive cultivation to take over the position of the Holy Consort of the Holy Citadel City. But even before her return, she found herself screwing up on many things, making her road to cultivation extremely uneasy.

 

Rebirth of the Film Emperor’s Beloved Wife

 

Consent is basically the main thing they're asking for though? Also, he's definitely stronger than her in a martial sense. Though, even if he wasn't, she seems to get a downgrade every time she comes near him to make absolutely certain she's weaker. At least, that's the way I remember. I dropped it as soon as we got to the chapter where he was convincing himself that he didn't do anything wrong when he molested her.

 

I agree. He was a much more interesting character when he still acted like a goofball. But then the writer decided that he had to be Mr. Perfect so the interaction between the leads flattened out and the whole story became boring. The biggest problem is that it's just not interesting when the main couple interact with each other.

I prefer books like Heroic Wife Reborn where the female protagonist is vastly stronger from beginning to end or 狐狸的本命年法则 where the character dynamics stay interesting and varied the whole time.

 

That's why I included what I did haha. It's up to them whether to take the plunge.

I prefer more realistic fics, and it's even better when MC isn't awesome from the beginning (I'm looking at you expert hackers/doctors/assassins/poison mistress! Although it's sad because these are the ones with op husbands, which ultimately makes it useless except to make her worthy of them)

That said, I also enjoy the same with my MLs. It's hard to find everything you desire in a single novel. You have to make concessions at some point. What'll it be? Dumb MC who brute forces everything but is stronger than ML, or smart MC who isn't stronger than ML but is competent nonetheless, and then a myriad of combination of others. It really depends on the novel, and the brute force mc I only like for the fact the other mc's are so overdone I'm dying.

I prefer it when my ML's eat lots of vinegar and are tortured before finally gaining the love and affection from their spouse. Transmigrator meets Reincarnator brought that out in me, and is what made me reccomend it. *shrugs* it is what it is.

What about To Be A Virtuous Wife? Features smart realistic MC who uses her status and smarts and favoritism with her husband to her advantage. Her thing is that she treats herself good and puts herself first etc. Because love in ancient times is foolish. This was the first cn novel I read actually. I sadly didn't finish it, but it was getting to the end where the ML was trying very hard to show her he'd love only her. I think this one is well known though haha.

 

Considering you didn’t mention anything about gender, both “Trash of the Counts Family”, and “The Novels Extra” both have a male lead who’s supposed to be the story’s original protagonist, but the main character is someone whose just below the main lead, despite how bugged they are.

 

I find that this only works if the male love interest is any good. All too often they either devolve into utterly boring characters by the time the romance solidifies or they are horrid stalkers/abusers from the very beginning. In these cases it almost doesn't matter what else was set up in the story because it's all going to be pretty bad reading. The only exceptions are the rare cases where the male love interest isn't given all that much to do so he doesn't have as much chance to ruin the story. In other words, good writing is a lot more important than the specific tropes being used, and bad writing always shows its ugly head.

This is a serious enough problem that I've seen plenty of harem novels that have better written romances than actual Romance novels.

 

Which brings me back to having to choose what you can stand in a novel to get the key specifics you can't go without. The fact of the matter is, I can ignore the typical 'abuse' as long as the ML is different from the usual. Which this one is. He's a Tsundere, basically, and I find it very cute. Of you're looking for different kinds of ML's, maybe try wattpad's light novels. Hold on I got some okay recs,

Learning to live as a cultivator - BL
The omega is a novelist - BL
He was almost absorbed by the System - BL

These three are all by Ebonsolaris, and all have good ML's.

Here are some maybe's with Female MC's, but it's been too long to say whether the ML's are decent. All I know is that I favorited them and I tend to like awesome female mcs.

The Legendary Female Strategist - Celestial_Immortal
The No-Good Seventh Miss Goes Traveling - YohoAruto
The Host and System.Matchmaking Team - YohoAruto
Ascension of a Reborn Woman - Saphire-Sheer
Second Wife - Mounchy

 

@Alina Moktan @Capsize @Shio @Aisha Ann @Novel-addict @Jojofann Thanks for your recommendations! I'll be sure to check them out, though I think I've read a few of these before.

@Innieminnie @jacobpaige @ToastedRossi While consent was more of what I was looking for, I'm used to having to make concessions in what I read like Innieminnie mentioned, so I'll give the story a try. It sounds like it's a relatively good story otherwise (and it's finished!!!), so I'll probably be able to look past dubcon stuff. I'm (sadly) pretty used to it now. Thanks for all of your input/recommendations, friends! Also thanks for the wattpad recommendations, Innieminnie! Admittedly, I'm always a little sketched out about wattpad stories because the few I've read have been so bad. I guess I can't really buy into the stereotype of wattpad stories being bad though, since I have read many fanfictions that have been masterpieces, despite their bad rep of being trashy. I'll give them a try when I have time, and attempt to go into it with an open mind.

@Radial My original post was more targeted towards female MC and male ML since that's more of where I see this happening, but I'm pretty ambivalent towards gender/gender pairings as long as the story is engaging. The stories sound interesting though, so I'll add them to my list. Thanks!

@Sam7 Ah, a comrade who is fighting the same bitter fight. I get the appeal of an OP ML, I really do, and I like reading those kinds of stories because even if the MC can never beat the ML, the ML is good enough that it makes up for it. But sometimes I'm just tired of reading the same old story, you know?? I talked to my mom (who reads them in Chinese and not their translations) and she doesn't really get it lol

 

@justinekang, if you ever find a novel like that, let me know, I would love to read it! I’m sick and tired of the male lead always being stronger than the female lead. I’ve read a few stories with the ML being weaker but its kinda a turnoff for me, plus I’m really picky. I’m trying to find a novel with the perfect balance, a strong FL, a strong ML but not stronger than FL, but not so weak either.
Its Not Easy To Be A Man After Traveling to the Future, is close to what I want, but I don’t really like the ML. I don’t like how he’s portrayed as a feminine beauty, thats a turnoff for me, but I do enjoy the FL’s strong character. Also I’m sick of the iceberg type, and I hate the overbearing, domineering type.

 

I agree! Like I feel like in all the stories where the ML is weaker, he's portrayed as more feminine or a lot weaker than the MC. I just want them both to be on equal terms. I'm not against the ML not being the epitome of "manliness" but I dislike the notion that being feminine equals being weaker, if that makes sense?

It's been a while since I've read it, but (if I remember correctly) the novel that Capsize linked (Side Character Transmigrations: The Final Boss is no Joke!) has the MC being stronger than the ML. I don't remember if the ML was described as a feminine beauty though. I just remember that it got pretty repetitive after a while so I dropped it.

 

I’ve read Side Character Transmigrations, its good, I do like it, but I also dropped it for the same reasons, its too repetitive. Thanks for the rec though!