Recommendations What would you like to see in a xianxia style original novel?

Less geniuses and don't have what so-called Dao child etc

 

1. Decent power scale and progression
2. Likeable female cultivators

 

1. A group a friends... I'm well past tired of reading about a MC all alone because he has no friends that can keep up.

2. No ditching his clan, sect, kingdom, world, or whatever group he belongs to the second he becomes stronger than them.

 

Same here, I'd like to see a calm and mature MC. Someone likeable with some charisma. Well I know it's easier said than done.
I don't have any expectations for the cultivation, except maybe to stop using fire element every frikin time.

A good romance subplot. The female lead should be relevant in the story, ideally one of the most developped characters (like Shi Xueman in The Avalon of Five Elements in the last arc, or Xu You Rong in Ze Tian Ji). So reading some chapters from her point of view really helps. For me romance in xianxia is like the icing on the cake, I can live without it but it's still better when there's one (a readable one I mean).
Oh and obviously no harem.

 

HAREM!!

 

Completely with you here, except for the harem, as long as it's not pokemon-style harem... When done right it's good.
It's just difficult to find

 

MC dying at the end

 

- A slow and steady MC that appears to be an average cultivator but eventually becomes a powerhouse by actually surviving till the very end.
-MC is born into a small average family, not a clan. He is loved by his parents and is raised to be calm and mature.
-MC does not aim to be the strongest in the Universe. Instead, the MC does his best with what he has available, experiencing life as he progresses. MC is not particularly talented, nor does he train 24/7. Geniuses and people who work harder often surpass him.
-The MC can have occasional strokes of luck, but most of the time he should rely on actual effort and knowledge to find whatever he needs to advance.
-The MC relies on schemes to avoid fighting other people as much as possible. When fighting other people, the MC relies on dirty fighting and his intelligence to exploit the opponent's weaknesses, allowing him to defeat opponents stronger than him or at least annoy them to death.
-Actual consequences where the MC sacrifices his life span or cultivation to gain more power, like passing away earlier than all the other characters at the end of the novel.
-The MC creates his own unique cultivation method and techniques through trial and error, but they are not overpowered, instead they fit the MC's needs and cover for his weaknesses.
-MC gets his own disciples that he teaches properly.
-The MC starts/leads his own sect, and he has to ensure that it can compete with other sects(like History's Number 1 Founder).
-Anyone who dies should stay dead.
-MC's parents stay mortal and eventually pass away and he attends their funeral.
-MC has multiple love interests but only chooses one while the others find their own happiness.
-The MC ages with time, eventually ending with him passing away(like the ending of Mushoku Tensei), where he thinks back on his mistakes and unfulfilled wishes, yet having no regrets because he had already done his best and lived his life to the fullest.
-After MC passes away, we have a 3rd person POV of his funeral where all surving side characters attend and state his achievements and what they thought about him.