Starts with a fairly straightforward premise where there is a very stable group of civilizations of a bajillion worlds that have star-destroying tier people bound by civil agreements, yet have semi-frequent wars held by low and midtier cultivators. Thus the goal of each civilization is to produce the strongest mid-tier cultivators and somehow that is best done by creating the titular "Path of Ascension" where there are rules to uhm, prevent twinking in MMO parlance. What I love about this series is that while it's about the PoV characters, it's really about the system created by the above premise, and the machinations of different cultures to try and create the strongest mid-tier cultivators. I wouldn't want every series to go that deep into the government, industry and other systems to support it, but I enjoy that this series does.
For example, in both Defiance of the Fall and Primal Hunter, the main characters aren't truly integrated into these civilizations and are instead opportunistically dominating them as demanded by the plot, which makes them interesting in their own right.
