Recommendations New to Xianxia. Looking for Solid Rec

Hi,

Basically the title. I am new to Xianxia, and the novel scene in general, just looking for a decent Xianxia (I don't care if its "generic," I am new to the scene anyways, so it won't be generic to me) with a decent MC (not cocky or super rude or a piece of crap) and a solid plot (no excessive plot armor) / good worldbuilding (Expansive world, many settings), and good translation.

What I have read:
- Martial World (Loved this Xianxia, 5/5)
- Hail the King (Very good, not as good as MW, 4/5)
- Throne of the Magical Arcana (Idk if its Xianxia, 3/5)
- Sovereign of 3 Realms (3/5)
- When A Mage Revolts (Idk if its Xianxia, 3.5/5)
- The Human Emperor (Xuanhuan, 4.5/5, it's a lot more political then the rest of the list but the plot made it shine!)
- The Amber Sword (Wuxia, 3.5/5)

Looking for something like Martial World, basically. That's the first real xianxia I've read, a lot of the ones I've read are Wuxia / Xuanhuan, but it's really all the same premise, people becoming powerful thru stages, whether it be physical or magical or whatever kind of fighting. What really matters to me is the plot is good, well-written, not amateurish. But it can be generic! Just has to be good writing.

Edit: No evil and apathetic MC (Like Reverend Insanity), No comedy-centric novel (like Cultivation Chat Group)

What I have Tried:
- A Will Eternal (MC is kind of a Piece of S..., definitely dropped immedietly, plus its comedy ew)
- Reverend Insanity (POS MC, dropped)
- Cultivation Chat Group (comedy)
- Lord of the Mysteries (Industrial era, 17th century Europe vibes, deinitely not my thing)
- ISSTH: Boring intro, MC seems like a jerk, just a total turn-off
- Transcending the Nine Heavens: Cocky MC, but at least he cares for those close to him, but the novel is also really slow and the power dynamics and setting is really hard to visualize. Total opposite to Martial World.

Thanks! I hope you can help.

 

Reverend Insanity - deep and expansive story and worldbuilding, truly evil and apathetic mc

Cultivation Chat Group - comedy xianxia, has some gags and parodies but worldbuilding and story is well-planned and has direction. Mc is lucky but it has some logic to it, and he's relatable.

edit:

Pursuit of the Truth (xianxia) - dark and serious contrasted with some touching and comedy parts. This has some parts that might drag, but the plot moves in a forward direction with some twists that make the mc not get to always proceed according to his plan. Vast worldbuilding, sometimes quirky, but great and I don't agree with the ratings at the chapter that I stopped at around c900.


Top-tier xuanhuxan >> Lord of the Mysteries (one of the best and author of Throne of Magical Arcana), Transcending the Nine Heavens (very political and about schemes, so its not your usual all about strength yet still fits nicely and is very eastern-centric), Kingdom's bloodline (all about schemes again, feels like western fantasy),

Experimental Log of the Crazy Lich >> unsure of genre, but very comedic and the story is great and the setting is well-developed, the only cons are some info-dump dragging, dense protag (though not a dealbreaker), and some gags.

 

True Martial World
King of Gods

 

True Martial World is sequel of martial world so you might enjoy that.

Desolate Era
Coiling Dragon.

 

Nightfall

 

I Shall Seal the Heavens
A Will Eternal
Renegade Immortal
Martial God Space ? (not the best but ok)
God emperor

 

Yeah, Cultivation Chat Group too comedy-centric for me, Persuit of Truth worth trying, Lord of the Mysteries is way too dark for me and I personally hate like the industrialization period or anything that reminds me to this period in Europe. Transcending the Nine Heavens sounds really good so def will try.

 

Coiling Dragon
I Shall Seal the Heaven
Douluo Dalu

 

Reverend Insanity, after you read this, you will despise all other xianxia protagonists and antagonists for their stupidity.

 

Stellar Transformation
Warlock of the Magus World
King of Gods

 

Um... arrogant selfish schemers with plot armor thicker than a battleship are pretty much universal among xianxia. Even in Histories Strongest Senior Brother, which starts out mocking typical xianxia tropes, the MC eventually starts acting like just another narcissistic schemer.

You should probably look into xianxia written by foreign fans of the genera, such as This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder or Cultivating Change.

Though if you want a traditional xianxia, my favorite is Demon’s Diary. Unfortunately, it was originally translated on Gravity Tales (which was bought out and killed by Webnovel) so the first 300 chapters have to be read on one of the sites that Must Not Be Named.

 

hoahem
Zhu Xian
Ze Tian Ji
Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan
A Step into the Past

anyway how da heck wuxia, xianxia and xuanhuan tagged on same book? it beyond this cat comprehension, even if it quick transmigration shouldn't it be xuanhuan or pure fantasy?

@Wu Jizun explain

 

- Zhu Xian :
One of the best
- World of Cultivation
- I Shall Seal the Heavens
- Immortal Devil Transformation

 

If I had to guess, it's because xianxia and wuxia are more searched terms, so the one selecting the tags is chucking every tag under the sun in there to increase their chances of being discovered. I did a check of the xianxia tag last week, and I found that translators are claiming their series are xianxia when it's clearly labelled xuanhuan (or the genres within xuanhuan). It's not like they can't read Chinese.

The only series that has a case to make for being both wuxia and xianxia at the same time is the never-completed 蜀山剑侠传.

P.S. A Step... and Da Tang.. should be wuxia.
P.P.S. The Amber Sword isn't wuxia
P.P.P.S. The meagre few actual wuxias translated are in this list (https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/65/), save for all the yuri and BL that I haven't had time to scour through.

 

Everyone reccomends ISSTH, Idk why, started it and it kind of seems a little boring, but I suppose I will continue on rofl. The others are good recs. Thanks.

 

something like mt zhu? you know the movie

 

Yep, that's the one.

 

EDIT:
- A Will Eternal (MC is kind of a Piece of S..., definitely dropped immedietly, plus its comedy ew)
- Reverend Insanity (POS MC, dropped)
- Cultivation Chat Group (comedy)
- Lord of the Mysteries (Industrial era, 17th century Europe vibes, deinitely not my thing)

Still searching... I guess I will try ISSTH and Transcending 9 Kingdoms. Will look thru rest of list later

 

If you want a xianxia of really good quality, Cradle by Will Wight is stellar. I've read a lot of xianxia and this one is really far ahead of everything i've read. To be fair, usually xianxia are webnovel where the author does like 3/4 chapters a week, while cradle are published books so the author got a lot more time to create a coerent universe and avoiding plot holes.

Other than that, i'd say go for Transcending the Nine Heavens, that should perfectly be up your alley.

 

Spirit sword sect
My Disciple Died Yet Again
My senior brother is so steady
Plundering the heaven(dropped)