Applied Cultivation
CatVI
Demons slaughter his new family and betrayal strips him of everything; reborn as sect reject Yu Han, former corporate-warfare consultant Johan survives a sect civil war by treating cultivation like a hostile takeover — algorithms, audits, and data applied to the Dao itself. A cultivation progression fantasy (formerly Data-Driven Daoist on Royal Road) by CatVI; Book 1: Survival Protocol published July 2026.
Progression: Xianxia cultivation with a quantifiable Dao-as-system: computer scientist Johan, reborn as Yu Han, gains access to the mysterious system (the Dao) that all cultivators use to defy the heavens and subjects it to data-driven, algorithmic optimization — experiments, metrics, and corporate-warfare tactics applied to cultivation bottlenecks. Sect hierarchy (outer/inner sect, elders, young masters) plus explicit cultivation advancement structure the climb from worthless reject upward; formerly titled Data-Driven Daoist on Royal Road.
Royal Road
Goodreads
