Qi Jie Diyi Xian

Spiritual beasts are magical animals or other humanoid things that have affinity with the cultivator. Typically, they form a contract and the beast could then be summoned. It's not unlike the mechanism in Shin Megami Tensei or Persona games. These beasts are usually intended to be fierce, to be used as a last resort weapon, such that contracting a strong beast brings prestige, even, to the family.

Sometimes however, the beasts "lose all their power" and revert to a cute form that the protagonist keeps as a pet, sometimes not knowing their power at all.

Personally, I find this plot mechanic annoying, but some might find it endearing.

Xianxia, directly translated to 'immortal heroes' comprises a number of popular genres including 'Cultivation', is a genre of Chinese fantasy heavily inspired by Taoism and influenced by Chinese mythology, Chan Buddhism, Chinese martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese folk religion, Chinese alchemy and other traditional Chinese elements.

Protagonists are usually "cultivators" who seek to become immortal beings called xian. Along the way, they attain eternal life, supernatural powers, and incredible levels of strength. The fictional cultivation practiced in xianxia is heavily based on the real-life meditation practice qigong.

The stories usually include elements such as gods, immortals, yaoguai, ghosts, monsters, magical treasures, immortal items, medicinal pills, and the like. They often take place in a "cultivation world" where cultivators engage in fierce and usually deadly struggles to acquire the resources they need to grow stronger. Oftentimes, the initial setting is reminiscent of ancient China, but the stories usually become cosmic in nature, with the protagonists attaining godlike abilities, sometimes creating their own planets, galaxies or universes. While the primary focus is action and adventure, there are also romance-heavy stories.

Description taken from the wikipedia page about Xianxia subgenre.

Donghua refers to Chinese animated content, which can include TV series, films, and shorts. It's a term used to describe animation produced in China or by Chinese creators.Donghua is often compared to anime, which is Japanese animated content, but there are differences in style and storytelling. Donghua tends to have a realistic (3D) art style and often incorporates Chinese historical/cultural elements.

Some of the more popular Donghua titles include "Battle through the heavens," "Mo Dao Zu Shi," "Soul Land," etc.

bio credits: chat gpt

This list is not exhaustive but offers the titles I thought were relevant to include (and that I enjoyed the most). hope this helps ! enjoy :)