A Travelling Man recommendation if you like a darker twist to your xianxia.
POINT OF NO RETURN
After failing in their quest to capture the treacherous Xu Shuanglin, Mo Ran and Chu Wanning pursue him to the impenetrable Mount Jiao, accompanied by the noble Nangong Si and the leaders of the cultivation realm’s great sects. There, they find the ancestral tomb of Rufeng Sect transformed into a macabre spectacle under the influence of Xu Shuanglin’s forbidden magic. And their adversary’s work is not done: as Sisheng Peak and their allies fight their way to the top of the mountain, Xu Shuanglin resorts to a powerful and mysterious magic that threatens to tear their world asunder. As the combined forces of the cultivation world race to stop Xu Shuanglin, Mo Ran must finally confront the past he’s been running from since his rebirth. Will Mo Ran lose everything he has gained in this life—including Chu Wanning? Series Overview: Cruel tyrant Taxian-jun killed his way to the throne and now reigns as the first ever emperor of the mortal realm. Yet somehow, he is unsatisfied. Left cold and bereft, abandoned by all he held dear, he takes his own life…only to be reborn anew. Awakening in the body of his younger self—Mo Ran, a disciple of the cultivation sect Sisheng Peak—he discovers the chance to relive his life. This time, he vows to attain the gratification that once eluded him: all who defied him will fall, and never again will they treat him like a dog. His greatest fury is reserved for Chu Wanning, the coldly beautiful and aloofly catlike cultivation teacher who betrayed and thwarted Mo Ran time and again in their last life. Yet as Mo Ran shamelessly pursues his own goals in this life he thought lost, he begins to wonder if there might be more to his teacher—and his own feelings—than he ever realized. This Chinese fantasy (xianxia) epic built around the desire between two men (danmei) has been translated into multiple languages and inspired a multimedia franchise in China. The Seven Seas English-language edition will include exclusive, all-new covers and interior illustrations from artist St with a translation by Rynn & Jun.