One Hundred Thousand Years of Qi Refining

📖 SYNOPSIS

For one hundred thousand years, Xu Yang has been refining his Qi. Not figuratively — literally a hundred thousand years stuck at the same cultivation stage while everyone around him ascends to greater power. His master ascended. His martial nephew ascended. Even the old dog guarding the sect gate managed to ascend. Xu Yang is still refining Qi. After spending ten thousand years in seclusion trying to finally break through, he comes out to discover the Tianlan Sect — the sect he helped found — is basically a ghost town with a handful of disciples left. So now he's got a new project: rebuild the whole thing from scratch while the cultivation world has moved on without him.

This ONA adapts a web novel and runs a hefty 360 episodes, so there's a lot of room for the story to breathe. The hook here is genuinely different from most cultivation shows — instead of a prodigy who speedruns power levels, you get a guy whose persistence is almost absurd. The sect-rebuilding angle gives it more structure than just endless power-ups, and the historical fantasy setting adds some texture to the world.

If you're into Tales of Demons and Gods or Soul Land, this hits similar notes but with a protagonist who's been around long enough to have watched civilizations rise and fall. Fans of Martial Universe will also find the cultivation mechanics familiar. The tone stays action-packed throughout, and the sheer scale of the timeline keeps things interesting even when the formula feels comfortable.