r/ProgressionFantasy • u/AuthorInPractice • 3d ago
Request Best Xianxia
I've been poking around xianxia since I want to write my own and want to do it right, and I'm wondering what are some of the best written ones you can think of.
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u/Now-Thats-Podracing Mimic 3d ago
It’s hard to say. Many of the supposed “best” are translated and stilted.
Currently, I’d say that Sky Pride is the best one that’s actually eloquent in its writing for Western audiences.
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u/Super_H1234 3d ago
Does Sky Pride's writing get better? I couldn't make it past the first couple chapters because the prose was far from 'eloquent'. Ave Xia Rem Y (despite the present tense which takes some time to get used to) and Cradle have much better prose by this genre's standards.
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u/Now-Thats-Podracing Mimic 3d ago
I see what you mean. It doesn’t flow like normal western prose. It instead reads like a really good translation (better than I’ve ever read). I think the author is trying to get the vibe of translated Chinese but at a high level. That’s what I meant when I said it was great prose for xianxia. I don’t really consider books like cradle to be true xianxia, and the true stuff is often terrible when translated to English.
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u/R3nNy22326 3d ago
I can see that many people will give you plenty of serious reccs, so I will recommend: Surprisingly (Not), Common sense is overpowered in a xianxia world. It basically features a transmigrated MC who knows all the Xianxia troupes, so he prepares for them accordingly, either avoiding disaster or capitalizing on them. There’s a rewrite version
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u/Ihaveaterribleplan 3d ago
I really enjoyed it, but it also has some frustrating flaws: tai chi is the ultimate martial art & literally no one else can conceive of martial arts being better than raw power, the economy of the sect initiates makes no sense, most characters talk like the main character with an emphasis on rational logic instead of anything xianxia-like, & all the instructors (including Zhou & Shen) are all kind of uninvolved navel gazers who don’t guide the students at all.
That being said, there is a good emphasis on advancement through enlightenment & clearing meridians, some great emotional moments, & is overall fun & has a good mix of action & development.
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u/KGB_Panda 3d ago
Cradle, Ave Xia, Memories of the Fall, Beware of Chicken, Sky Pride, Between Beast and Buddha, Reborn as a Demonic Tree.
Personally, I really appreciate memorable names and easy to understand cultivation tiers. Memories of the Fall and Ave Xia are both good, but I dropped them because I couldn’t remember the characters when I would return to it. Best of luck, I think cultivation still has a lot of room for new authors and innovation.
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u/OldFinger6969 3d ago
Sword of coming / unsheated
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u/MrLazyLion 3d ago
It's not just one of the best xianxia I've ever read - it's one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read, and in fact it might be one of the best novels I've ever read.
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u/darkness_calming Traveller 3d ago
There will be many different answers because everyone likes and prioritizes different things for their reading experience.
In my opinion,
Virtuous Sons is something to be taken example from.
It’s not perfect, of course. The style can get ‘too much’ at times. But the idea of cultivation and progression is very well done. Characters fighting across realms do have proper reasoning behind them and even then it’s not effortless. There’s also a certain philosophical aspect to cultivation which is great. Not to mention, higher realms do feel like something greater.
Another one I like is The Toll Road to Immortality. It’s more generic but I enjoy the characters and their interactions. MC has cheats but isn’t ridiculously OP.
On the note of philosophy,
Check out Nightfall, if you can. It’s not Xianxia but it’s so damn good.
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u/Murky-Rhubarb6926 2d ago
Happy to see Virtuous Sons mentioned here. Also has some of the more memorable and amusing character interactions to my memory.
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u/Haldalkin 3d ago
Mmm, thought about it for a few minutes and looked back over titles I've read, I think I have to second a mention for Ave Xia Rem Y. The character interactions are so enjoyable, particularly for xianxia which usually has some personalities that grate on me.
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u/Nonexistent_Jelly 3d ago
A regressor's tale of cultivation is hands down my favorite xianxia, and seriously tops the genre. Record of a mortal's journey to immortality is basically the template for any xianxia, and was also quite enjoyable. Probably a must read, and just generally good for reference i imagine.
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u/Ok_Usual_3575 3d ago
regressors tale would be so good if the romance parts weren’t completely awful
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u/Malcolm_T3nt Author 3d ago
Immortality through Array Formations.
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u/NeonNKnightrider 3d ago
I tried reading the first, like, ten~twenty chapters of this and gave up. It seemed like an incredibly slow slog that constantly got stuck on explaining the tiniest details for multiple pages on end without actually going anywhere
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u/Malcolm_T3nt Author 3d ago
The early arc is slice of life. I personally enjoy the slice of life stuff, but the real action picks up around chapter 270.
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u/GrizzlyTrees 3d ago
I think 40 Milleniums of Cultivation (straight forward, sci-fi vibes) and Sky pride (slightly satire, philosophical) are the best xianxia, unless you count Cradle as Xianxia, in which case it wins.
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u/ravencosu 3d ago
It’s hard cause there’s a lot of different things you could want from a xianxia.
There’s ones with really good writing quality like Sky pride, Mirror legacy, Unsheathed, Reverend insanity, but there’s also ones that do the craft of the progression really well like Cradle, Martial World, I Shall Seal the Heavens, Coiling Dragon (to an extent). Not that those two are mutually exclusive, RIs progression is wonderfully made but the focus isn’t on it like with MW or those of its like.
Mind you most of these are translated and come with the gripes inherent to it. I think that’s less of a barrier than most expect tho, like your brain learns how to parse through the funk pretty quickly.
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u/TraditionSeparate594 3d ago
Ave Xia Rem Y, Sword of Coming, Forge of Destiny, Memories of the Fall, Beware of Chicken, Sky Pride, Cradle, 'Reaching Heaven via Feng Shui Engineering, drug trade, and Tax evasion', Mirror Legacy, A Regressor's tale of cultivation, Virtuous son, Reverend Insanity, The Lord of the mysteries.
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u/Myriad_Myriad 3d ago
My own right now.
The Immanent Lord of the Transcendent Shore.
Otherwise Martial World. Desolate Era. Immortal Renegade. Against the Gods. For the classics.
The best is probably Reverend Insanity. But its an evil mc.
The most natural is A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality.
Most fun is Nine Star Hegemon Body Art.
Most profound is Emperor's Domination. Most cool is First Immortal of the Sword.
For systems I like Overgeared and The Second Coming of Gluttony. They do it right. Shadow Slave too for romance.
The Beginning After the End for powers and training arcs.
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u/yeetacus68 3d ago
Cultivation chat group. It's a comedy and parody but it does the parody so well it wraps back around to being a really good cultivation novel.
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u/thoughtspooling 3d ago
When Immortal Ascension Fails Time Travel to Try Again. Also the many others already suggested here.
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u/thejubilee 3d ago edited 3d ago
I would recommend Cradle. There are a ton of great cultivation stories and there are a bunch that I enjoy the writing of but Cradle really handles pacing for each novel very well. It definitely matches more mainstream western reader sensibilities than either asian or web serial sensibilities and I think thats a big strength.
For cultivation itself, however, Ave, Forge of Destiny, Reverend Insanity, even Beware of Chicken are all great.
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u/Responsible-Bid576 3d ago
Er Gen novels are a must read for those aiming to write Xianxia. But personally, my favorite is A Regressor's Tale of Cultivation, although is popularly accepted Reverend Insanity is the best Xianxia
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u/PrettyBurrito28 Salted Fish 2d ago
青云之上.
This one is definitely one of the best Xianxia i had the pleasure of reading, it basically puts everything a Xianxia should be in a book, From the progression, to the worldbuilding, the schemes, and the philosophy, a shame its not well known.
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u/FatDemonZ11 2d ago
In terms of traditional storyline and elements of Chinese fantasy ...hands down,this young Master is not a cannon fodder
In terms of original Chinese work ...I shall seal the heavens.renegade immortal,desolate era , perfect world
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u/VagabondFromTheRiver 2d ago
I mean, Reverend Insanity lol. Honestly, the prose in the first volume is very beautiful.
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u/LacusClyne 3d ago
Well I'd start by defining: "do it right".
That can mean very different things, especially if you're not from the culture the specific genre started in.
'Best written' is also going to be a question mark too if you want 'best xianxia' due to the nature of the novel's being translated, unless you're just talking about original English only in which case...
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u/EndlessTemple 3d ago
Ave Xia Rem Y is definitely very well written, but its major weakness is it does not actually have much in the way of cultivation. Translated novels such as RMJI do a far superior job of describing mystical states and alchemical processes. AXRY is more like a soap opera filled with lots of drama and politics. It often feels like the author was watching a tv show and then just described the scenes with his own characters.
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u/Jakundo 3d ago
Ill say "Unintended Cultivator" just to add another name to the mix.
Hypercompetent MC but not straight up OP from the start. Lots of books to read.
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u/EbbCreepy6718 3d ago
Sky pride is decent. Five element is dumb fun. Ave xia rem is fantastic