Martial World is a long webnovel that I actually think encapsulates a lot of features of the cultivation genre, though it does have its share of brainworms and anime bullshit, like the main character having multiple wives and a few problematic scenes involving them. It does spill a lot of digital ink on the progression of the main character through cultivation realms, which is the shit I live for. It’s the long-running shounen version of the genre, imo (while I have some titles under my belt, I don’t know too awful many).
I haven’t read Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation as mentioned, but I did watch the donghua and found it quite good, though I don’t remember anything about it’s progression system. A great option for a more drama-oriented entry. BL (I also only know danmei as BL).
I remember really liking The Dragon, which is GL, though it may also be more a fun and dramatic romance set in a cultivation setting than a cultivation novel.
Honestly almost all of the response by leadership vs users is temp bans, so I’m thinking actual damages aren’t even that bad? But the blood is up so maybe cooling down while whatever behind the scenes stuff gets figured out might be good.