I have read quite far into this novel (75% done) and skill taken by it. Xianxia genre's adventures made by MC often follow a certain loop... like, MC is powered up by various reasons: "MC discovers a secret dungeon", "MC accidentally comes across a powerful items/ amazing power up item"... and yes, this novel too, the circumstances the MC encountered, are similar to each other and yep, is a loop.
But I'm amazed at how good the author's writing skill is. Although it is kinda easy to predict the situation, but the way he wrote it and the way he made the MC solved it is satisfiying and exciting. In some other novel of the same genre, the protagonists either too cold (or "cool"?) or too smart, or too taken by leveling up that all we see is fighting fighting, lvling lvling etc and I feel like they are not really human. Well, ofcourse they aren't, they are super-human, the authors often forgot to put in them "personalities". This MC has personality, not too unique, but acceptable and distinguishable.
So a good xianxia novel, by my definition, is not about lvling or powering up, but about the way MC solves his problems and the way he treats his relationship with different kinds of people on his way to being superman, the way he solves the contradictions between "being a superman" and "a heart that is still of a man". Also, the idea of the "world" they are in and the adventures they made.
Considering all elements, this series deserves at least 8,5 by my own standard. But because it is one that treats relationship between people carefully, not just putting in random scarecrows to demonstrate MC's power, I will give a 10.
To bakaleaf: It's, ahem, not only about romance. And if you care about romance in this novel, I will give a spoiler to your 'loop":
1. Story of 1st girl has not finished yet. And up to 75% done, still not finished. The author tends to put relationships here and there in the story and when we least expect it, he make them pop out. And what? 1st girl didn't dump MC because her 'best friend" wanted MC. It's because her friend caused a misunderstanding between them, 1st girl misunderstood MC and made a mistake.
2. 4th and 5th are not even his girl? Just some random people he encoutered in his adventures.
3. There will be more to come, but in general he doesn't see the girls he meets as his girls. There are even some very ineteresting circumstances. But still, MC is a faithful person.