Here's are my personal thoughts. Note, however, that I haven't read too many things off webnovel or translations, so my list is heavily biased towards western takes on cultivation.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: Cultivation. The current King of Progression Fantasy. Staggeringly good. Amazing characters, strong motivation, a beautiful system, rich world, and fast pace, it's a dream come true to read.
Hook: Lindon is Unsouled and forbidden to learn the sacred arts, so he forges his own Path.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: Cultivation with only slight academic focus. A great mix of classic progression with some top tier worldbuilding. The world is unique and interesting, characters empathetic, and their struggles all too real.
Hook: Scorio will rise from the ashes to conquer the ten layers of hell.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: Soft cultivation / isekai crossover with a unique magic system and expansive setting. If there's one thing I always love about Sarah Lin, its her worldbuilding. And now, she's written my favourite magic system as well.
Hook: A truly unique cultivation system with an amazing setting.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads, royal_road
Summary: Slice of life cultivation novel, very wholesome, about a reincarnated person trying to get away from Xianxia tropes. Incredibly wholesome and a pure delight to read.
Hook: A laugh-out-loud, slice-of-life martial-arts fantasy about . . . farming????
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: Female-lead cultivation novel with a hard magic system. A young woman with a broken soul joins her brother to find a solution in the wider world.
Hook: Determined to fix her soul, Raysha ventures out into the world with her brother, only to stumble into events larger than they realise.
Disclaimer: I wrote this one, and its currently free on Amazon.
Links: review, royal_road
Summary: LitRPG and cultivation parody about a sentient rock rolling down a mountain.
Hook: By a stroke of fate, a stone gains sentience and sets out on a grand quest to touch grass.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: Cultivation in a Greco-Roman setting, with amazing characters and absolutely fantasy dynamics.
Hook: The Scarlett Son and Son of Rome shake the heavens.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: A sect style western cultivation with multiple PoVs and rich worldbuilding.
Hook: Deryn escapes from servitude and joins the Sharded Few.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: A cultivation story with the faintest hint of LitRPG, featuring elemental powers and great worldbuilding.
Hook: Once a soldier, now an outcast. Luca must overcome fate as he walks the path of a cultivator.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads, royal_road
Summary: Scifi cultivation. It's not often we see wuxia in space. It's not common we see it done well, either.
Hook: Matt meets a mysterious couple, who sponsor him on the Path of Ascension.
Summary: Traditional cultivation manhua packed with action-packed, gorgeous art... and multiple wives.
Hook: Yang Kai goes from trainee disciple to shattering the heavens.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: Light progression featuring a relic hunting dragon-rider. Rich worldbuilding combining multiple mythologies and a fusion of cultivation and Indiana Jones.
Hook: Twillo and Adventus herald the recoming of the Age of Dragons.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: A school based cultivation story with a strong emphasis on tactical team combat, and a small and well-developed cast of characters.
Hook: Cam and his panda-friend head to the Ephemeral Academy.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: Epic fantasy with some progression. The Chosen One trope is delightfully flipped on its head.
Hook: The arrival of the Hero was worse than anyone could have imagined.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: Slice-of-life cultivation. Academia/sect focus. Chill read with slower pacing and lower stakes.
Hook: A young girl from the slums is found to have the Talent to become an Immortal.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: A Cradle-inspired cultivation story set in a fantasy world with African roots.
Hook: African inspired cultivation. Somadina starts his journey.
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: Cultivation with sect focus. Good premise, slow pacing, tends towards slice-of-life.
Hook: Given a chance at immortality, can Wu Ying grasp the fleeting opportunity?
Links: review, amazon, goodreads
Summary: Reincarnation/cultivation novel. If you just want to read an incredibly overpowered protagonist and don't mind them sounding like a teenager off /r/iamverysmart, go for it...
Hook: Cultivation. Magic. Empowering unwitting animals!
Thank you so much for posting this! And if anyone new to the series wants to check it out, it appears that the Cradle Foundation (which is just a volume including the first 3 books) is on sale for $0.00, without having a kindle unlimited plan.
Edit: you may have to access amazon through the desktop site, in order to actually “purchase” the book for $0.00; otherwise you just get the option for sending a sample to your device.