So, if you're hunting for the 'number one supreme warrior' protagonist, a lot of folks will steer you straight to Chinese xianxia and wuxia web serials, and they're not wrong. The trope is basically the bedrock of the genre. The narrative is almost always about a climb, either reclaiming a lost peak or ascending from nothing to an unchallenged height.
But I get a little tired of the same 'young master' archetype. The more interesting versions, to me, are the ones where being the absolute strongest is actually a narrative burden, not just a power fantasy. There's a series called 'I Shall Seal the Heavens'—Meng Hao starts off weak, but his ascent feels earned, and by the end, his isolation at the top has a melancholic weight to it. It's not just about slapping down arrogant young masters; it's about the cost of that supremacy.
For a different flavor, you could look at progression fantasy in the Western indie scene. Something like 'Defiance of the Fall' features Zac Atwood, who becomes an unstoppable force through sheer, brutal persistence in a system apocalypse. It's less about mystical cultivation and more about raw, grinding stats and overwhelming power. The appeal is visceral and direct, scratching that same itch of watching an uncontested powerhouse evolve.