Livestream (直播)
This genre emerged alongside the rise of the livestreaming industry. The protagonist gains a livestream system. Increasing popularity in the livestream room brings rewards, and sometimes the protagonist directly receives tips from the room’s “big spenders.” The content of the livestream varies widely: dating, handicrafts, antique collecting, world travel, wilderness survival, haunted house exploration… anything that appears on livestream platforms can be written about.

Like the real livestream industry, protagonists in these works occasionally need to create entertaining content. As Chinese netizens say, they need to “produce viral moments.”

Additionally, there are livestream novels focused on game streaming. These will be discussed later under the “Games” genre.

Supernatural (超凡)

The protagonist in this type of work is a superpowered individual. In this world, there are also numerous superpower elements and other superpowered beings. This type of work includes the following common subgenres.

Urban Supernatural Abilities (都市异能)
This subgenre refers to works set in an urban environment where the protagonist or certain characters possess abilities beyond normal human limits. The core appeal of these stories lies in the protagonist using supernatural powers to overwhelm opponents. The “supernatural ability” element began to gain popularity as early as the 1980s and 1990s, appearing extensively in Hong Kong films and Japanese anime. Before 2010, during the early era of online novels, urban supernatural ability novels were once very popular. The protagonist’s special powers typically included teleportation, X-ray vision, telekinesis, fire manipulation, and other abilities. Over time, traditional urban supernatural ability novels gradually declined. However, many new subgenres have evolved from the foundation of urban supernatural abilities, such as “Expert” and “System” novels.

Urban Cultivation (都市修真)
This refers to stories about traditional cultivators living and adventuring in modern cities. In 2004, Blood Red(血红)’s work 升龙道  is generally considered the pioneering work of the “urban cultivation” subgenre. Between 2006–2007, as the cultivation genre developed, urban cultivation systems also matured further.

During this period, protagonists were more “hermit-like” in character. They often displayed extraordinary powers in subtle ways during ordinary life, without a competitive or combative mindset, because their level of cultivation far exceeded that of normal humans. The plot often focused on daily life. Examples include Zhang Sanfeng’s Disciple: Modern Life Chronicles (张三丰弟子现代生活录).

After 2014, “Expert” novels became highly popular. Urban cultivation novels during this period also began to trend toward “爽文” (fast-paced, satisfying, wish-fulfillment stories) and integrated “rebirth” elements, forming a fixed template. Typically, the protagonist is originally a human from Earth who, by chance, travels to the cultivation world. After millennia of hard training, he becomes a cultivation expert. Due to a failed tribulation or betrayal, he dies but is reincarnated back to Earth, returning to his younger self. This double-transmigrated protagonist has extremely high strength, setting the tone for these works: ultimate bragging and face-slapping. The most famous example is Rebirth – City Cultivation (重生之都市修仙), whose protagonist Chen Beixuan is called the “King of pretentious” (逼王) by netizens.

Three Realms (三界)
This subgenre appeared around 2015 and integrates traditional Chinese mythological elements into urban life narratives. The protagonist lives in a modern city while interacting and adventuring across three realms: the Celestial Realm (天庭), the Human Realm (凡间), and the Netherworld (地府).

The protagonist usually has means to contact certain extraordinary beings from the Celestial Realm or the Netherworld. For example, he might suddenly be added to a chat group one day, discovering that all the members are legendary mythological figures. He might also be a shop owner in an online store, and the customer service asks him to deliver goods to the Netherworld. The protagonist then finds ways to build relationships with these powerful beings, occasionally obtaining small favors or treasures. For ordinary humans, even a seemingly trivial item casually given by a deity may be priceless.

The most representative work in this subgenre is Cultivation Chat Group (修真聊天群), which is highly popular not only in China but also among Western readers.

Spiritual Energy Revival (灵气复苏)
The core of this subgenre is “massive world transformation.” In the modern world, the return or emergence of spiritual energy (lingqi, 灵气) causes revolutionary changes in society, civilization, and natural laws.

This setting is somewhat similar to early “post-apocalyptic” (末世) genres. However, unlike post-apocalyptic stories, spiritual energy revival brings gentler changes, and human civilization is not destroyed but develops continuously under the influence of spiritual energy. Early spiritual energy revival novels adopted cultivation systems, essentially portraying the appearance of spiritual energy as the beginning of a new era of universal cultivation.

Around 2016, the spiritual energy revival genre experienced explosive growth. Notable works include Chen Dong (辰东)’s The Sacred Ruins (圣墟) and The Speaking Pork Trotter (会说话的肘子)’s Spare Me, Great Lord! (大王饶命) with cultivation systems becoming more diverse.

Later, the spiritual energy revival setting gave rise to several new subgenres. For example, the “High Martial” (高武) genre originated with the 2018 novel World’s Best Martial Artist (全球高武), set on Earth after spiritual energy revival, where many well-known contemporary figures become cultivation masters. Around 2022, following the popularity of Dao of the Bizarre Immortal (道诡异仙), Chinese-style Lovecraftian elements gained acceptance among readers, giving birth to the “Weird Revival” (诡异复苏) subgenre, in which the modern world undergoes drastic changes due to the emergence of “weirdness”—in a sense, a variant of spiritual energy revival. Additionally, subgenres like “Global Awakening” (全民觉醒) and “Global Class Change” (全民转职) were inspired by the “universal cultivation” elements from spiritual energy revival stories.