Novels like The Living Must Keep Away
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as The Living Must Keep Away, best match first.
- 1 Taboo of the Living 活人禁忌 There are many taboos passed down in everyday life. For example, never stick your chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice, and never look back when walking alone at night... But some people refuse to believe in them. The consequences? Death, or something worse than death! One taboo passed down by word of mouth in our village was never to touch the stone tablet beside the well. Then the village’s Eighth Master touched it, and terrifying events began happening one after another... 33Reads6.9Score—Shelves
- 2 The Final Celestial Master in the Age of Declining Magic 末法时代，最后一位天师 The Maoshan Sect Leader, impeached and driven down the mountain; a wet-behind-the-ears young upstart; a frost-cold ghost bride; an evil cultivation sect that stops at nothing; a master of Gu poison from Miaojiang; and the Shen family, Asia's richest. The Daoist sects of the realm are in turmoil. Watch as Ye Chen takes up his sword and roams the world! 13.2kReads7.4Score1.1kShelves
- 3 The Ghost Banquet 鬼禁食 A glutton's feast: can it really eat anything at all? Open wide, and nothing is off-limits? When you're indulging in wild game, have you ever felt a hint of murderous intent behind you... 25Reads—Score—Shelves
- 4 The Mystic Arts Curse Master 玄门咒神 On the day Yang Xuan was supposed to get engaged, a blood-red coffin inexplicably appeared in his home. Inside lay a beautiful woman with skin like jade. On the first day, his father died. On the second day, a yin-yang master told Yang Xuan: If he wanted to survive this calamity, he had to consummate his marriage with her... 115Reads—Score—Shelves
- 5 Walking Between Yin and Yang: Haunted 行走阴阳：撞邪 My mother was born under the rare fate of a nine-life yin woman, cursed with solitude. A fortune-teller said that women with this fate were destined to bring misfortune to their husbands, children, and parents. I survived only because my mother gave her life for mine. The night I was born, crows called out to summon souls, wild cats wailed like mourners, and a hundred ghosts fought over me... 274Reads8.7Score—Shelves
- 6 Whispers of the Ghosts 鬼魅低语 [Standalone Stories] [Eerie] [Thriller] [Strange] [Wild Imagination] Worlds full of distortion and absurdity. Whether it's seemingly ordinary snippets of everyday life or strange phenomena that gradually come to light, everything sends a chill down your spine and grows more terrifying the more you think about it. 36Reads—Score—Shelves
- 7 Possessed by an Evil Spirit 撞邪 Grandpa spent his whole life doing good deeds. He never imagined that one night, he would ruin a young girl's life... 306Reads8.4Score—Shelves
- 8 The Eerie Coffin Bearers 诡抬棺 Nine peaks, a sea of blood, mountains of bones... Murderous danger lurks everywhere. Every step is fraught with peril, and I never know how much longer I'll survive. It wasn't until I deciphered the nursery rhyme I'd heard when I became someone's disciple that I uncovered a shocking secret... 57Reads9.0Score—Shelves
- 9 Mo Chi Y 墨池Y The inspiration for this novel came from a real supernatural incident involving a residential compound security guard. As cities expand, they inevitably encroach on the homes of the dead. The Dingyuan Estate, where Yao Yan worked as a security guard, had been built on a mass grave abandoned for a thousand years. One late-spring night, deep in the darkness, all was silent beneath a fine drizzle. Suddenly, a girl’s spine-chilling cry for help came from outside the guard booth: “It hurts so much. C 10Reads—Score—Shelves
- 10 The Feng Shui King of the Underworld 江湖风水之王 On the day I was born, ten thousand demons emerged from the mountains, a hundred ghosts clawed their way out of their graves, and an immortal corpse guarded the way. My master, Daoist Jingxian, took me from a tomb and raised me for twenty years, only to fall under a curse and die a horrible death, skinned alive. Knowing he was going to die, my master left me a letter. First, he warned me not to seek out the killer. Then he urged me to stay away from the world. But I chose a third path, resolute 129Reads7.1Score—Shelves
- 11 Ghost Stories by Night 鬼话夜谈 The story follows Chen Xingchen and Jiang Chuyan, who grew up together in a village. They hear tales of the supernatural from the village elders and experience a number of eerie events themselves. —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 12 After My Face Was Stolen, I Drew the Six Realms of Living Beings 我的脸被夺走后我画出六道众生相 My face was stolen. It wasn’t disfigured. It wasn’t disguised. My face was literally gone. To stay alive, I had no choice but to paint one new face after another onto my own. Human, ghost, demon, beast, god, immortal. Every face I painted gave me a new ability. As I tried to reclaim my original face, I gradually discovered that this world was far more complicated than it seemed. 96Reads—Score126Shelves
- 13 Old Tales of Strange Happenings 民间旧诡事 The woman in red who knocks on doors late at night, the soul-binding bones beneath the locust tree, the copper-bell curse in an old house in an abandoned village... These old tales of the uncanny, scattered across the countryside, are the idle chatter of old folks and stories sealed away by time... 39Reads—Score—Shelves
- 14 Come Listen to a Ghost Story! 来听诡故事！ The chime of midnight is the switch that starts each story. Hidden here are 365 eerie legends from every corner of the world. Maybe it's the strange sobbing in the night-shift office during overtime, a stranger's long hair beside your pillow in an old residential complex, or a passenger in a white dress who vanishes in front of a cemetery. One short ghost story every night, tearing through the everyday facade to reveal the chilling truth beneath. Do you dare open this collection of midnight tale 34Reads—Score—Shelves
- 15 Strange Feng Shui Affairs 风水异事 My grandfather is a feng shui master. While he was away, a woman came looking for him. After I greeted her, I saw purple-black veins of blood on her face, writhing on their own… 1.5kReads8.8Score484Shelves
- 16 Daoist Bai Mei, Matchmaker of the Dead 白媒道长 Welcome to the works of Pangtou Yu! The author will do their best to bring you exciting stories. Thank you for your support and for sharing your criticism. Wishing all readers the best of luck. —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 17 Weeping Evil 哭邪 People watch over a temple for ten years; the temple watches over them for a lifetime. 114Reads6.9Score—Shelves
- 18 Coming for My Life on the Seventh Night? I Can Command the Most Ominous Creatures 头七索命？我能御大凶之物 Anyone who makes money from the dead knows there are three kinds of corpses you must never handle. First, don’t take the bodies of people who died violently or are missing limbs. Such corpses carry baleful energy, damage your fortune, and bind you to karmic debts. Second, don’t take a corpse that has been left unattended for seven days after death. After seven days, the flesh has begun to decay and the soul has nowhere to settle. Disturb it, and you may find yourself haunted by evil things. Thir 262Reads—Score—Shelves
- 19 Grandpa Started the Trouble, Three Generations Must Pay 爷爷闯下的祸，三代来还 The trouble Grandpa caused will take three generations to repay. 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 20 Spirit Village 灵村 Thrills and the supernatural! There's an ancient village called Lingzhuang, also known as Bagua Village. I was born there. Lingzhuang is always shrouded in an atmosphere of terror: Enormous pythons, centipedes, black spiders, strange birds, and ferocious beasts roam about, attacking people... Lingzhuang is also rife with strange tales and bizarre happenings: A female ghost haunts the village; a cave in Longmian Mountain holds an arsenal from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom; a mysterious master live 75Reads—Score—Shelves
- 21 The Bride in the Red Coffin 红棺里的新娘 The first book: horror, terror, and the uncanny. The sequel: comedy and humor! Two stories: The Bride in the Red Coffin + its sequel, also known as My Ghost Wife Keeps Trying to Scare Me to Tears. When crimson ripples spread across the deep pool, I finally saw the bone comb in the hands of the bride in the sunken coffin. Carved into it were my birth details, even though I had been missing for three years. Xu Xiaomo was drawn home by tales of the Sunk 182Reads—Score—Shelves
- 22 Chronicles of Strange Events 异事簿 When I was eight, I accidentally drowned. The village's mad Taoist came to my house and told my parents to give me a grand seven-day funeral with gongs and drums. After seven days, I would return to life. During the funeral, lightning flashed every day and the rain poured without stopping. Everyone in the village said it was a bad omen. On the seventh day, strange phenomena suddenly appeared in the sky. The mad Taoist returned to my house, told me to take the moon in the sky as my godmother, and 32Reads—Score—Shelves
- 23 The Living Burial Mound 活人坟 Never let an unfamiliar woman into your car! Especially at night! Because the person you meet... might not be alive! 64Reads8.0Score—Shelves
- 24 The Hundred-Ghost Storyteller 百诡传人 To solve the mystery of the Seventy-Two Ghost Mounds, Yang Tianming descends the mountain with the Hundred Ghosts Register, ventures into the city, and meets beautiful women. He rescues a Corpse Sister, practices forbidden arts, and guides wandering spirits to the afterlife. With the Soul-Whipping Whip in hand and the Hundred Ghosts Register at his side, when the Dragon Soul returns to his body, he won’t be alone! 68Reads8.6Score—Shelves
- 25 The Temple That Eats People 吃人的庙 The Man-Eating Temple 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 26 I’m Going to Lure 100 Lost Souls 我要勾满100个亡魂 Sequel to I Guide Souls at Wangxiang Terrace Lin Jiaojiao, 24, an overworked office worker, suddenly dies on the Nth night in a row of staying up all night revising proposals. When she opens her eyes again, she has already completed every step of the underworld’s procedures. But just as she reaches Wangxiang Terrace, the guide Zhou Yi stops her. “Your attachment remains unresolved. You can’t be reincarnated.” Judge Li Muzi offers her a way forward: work as a soul reaper under him, and she can be 9.7kReads—Score3kShelves
- 27 My Thousand-Year-Old Ghost Wife 我的千年女鬼老婆 My name is Zhang Shaobai. Behind our village stands an ancient pagoda that has been guarded for generations. Everyone in the village says it’s cursed. But outsiders refuse to believe it, and for money, I took them to the pagoda. From then on, strange things kept happening around me. It all began with that livestream one night... 220Reads5.4Score—Shelves
- 28 My Ghostly Roommate 我的阴室友 [Paranormal mystery] [Updates daily, though not on a fixed schedule] [Thanks for your support ❤️] Over the summer after my college entrance exams, I kept having the same dream about my college dorm and roommates. Then I dragged my suitcase into Room 304 and saw those familiar yet unfamiliar faces, along with an empty bed. I was stunned. They were Yaoyao and Xinxin, the girls in the photo from my dream. Was the empty bed Qingqing’s? She hadn’t shown up for months after the school year began, so w 3Reads—Score—Shelves
- 29 Fifth Watch 五更 The stories my grandpa used to tell me were probably meant to scare me into staying put, or maybe to lull me to sleep. He always told them with such conviction and vivid detail that I often found myself dreaming of the very scenes he had lived through. I met the old flower-growing woman on Yinshan Mountain, and one villager after another from Sangen Village. Their faces were gloomy and strange, and their deeds served as a warning, reminding us that “the gods are watching from three feet above yo 728Reads7.2Score100Shelves
- 30 The Maoshan Coffin-Raiser 茅山升棺人 From the moment I was born, someone secretly plotted against me, making my mother give birth prematurely and changing my birth date. My birth chart clashed with my parents' fates, and they both died on the very day I was born. I vowed to find the culprit, and in time became a Maoshan coffin-raiser! Coffin-raising is the practice of relocating graves. After death, people should be buried in a place with good feng shui to protect their descendants. But some ancestors are buried in malevolent place 1.2kReads9.0Score101Shelves
- 31 Strange Tales from the Countryside 乡村诡故事 Before you start this book, a warning: if you scare easily, don't read it. If you live alone, be careful. Every short ghost story here is based on an ordinary person's real-life experience. Not a single word is made up. From the damp old alleyways of the south to the frozen, deserted villages of the north; from late-night overtime in office buildings to lights-out in university dorms; the taboos our elders forbade us to talk about, and the moments you dare not dwell on in the middle of the night 120Reads—Score—Shelves
- 32 A Century of the Supernatural 百年灵异 This is a truly unusual book, recording the supernatural events that took place in a village over the course of a century. These events are unlike traditional tales of ghosts, fox spirits, demons, and immortals. There is none of the vulgar promotion of superstition or idealism found in popular culture. Instead, the book is filled with the world's strangeness and unknowns, leaving readers baffled. After the shock and terror, you can't help but question and imagine what lies beyond, and find yours 8Reads9.1Score—Shelves
- 33 The Bride from the Underworld 来自阴间的新娘 On the night my neighbor got married, the bride died because of me… 1.2kReads6.8Score106Shelves
- 34 Frightening Folk Tales of Ghosts and Monsters 民间吓人的鬼怪故事 This book collects folk tales about ghosts and monsters from China and around the world, both ancient and modern. They include deeply moving love stories, myths where good and evil are repaid in kind, and eerie tales that will leave you trembling with fear. We hope you enjoy them. This story is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual events or people is purely coincidental. 22Reads—Score—Shelves
- 35 The Great Master of the Ma Yi School 麻衣大相师 I was born on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. My grandfather, a feng shui master, never let me go outside after dark when I was little. Then one day, he had to leave the house… 243Reads8.6Score—Shelves
- 36 Midnight Terror 午夜惊魂 It started one morning when I stepped outside and found a yuan at my doorstep. I didn't think much of it. The next morning, I found a ten-yuan bill at the door. I thought I was pretty lucky, finding money two days in a row. But on the third morning, when I opened the door and saw a hundred-yuan bill on the ground, I finally realized something was off. After that, strange things kept happening around me, and I began venturing into one forbidden zone after another, all in the name of staying alive 2.1kReads7.3Score148Shelves
- 37 The Underworld Longevity Bureau 黄泉长生局 [Mystery + Tomb Raiding + Adventure + Ghost Hunting] They say the Yellow Springs are crawling with ghosts and demons. Once I raise my yellow talisman and form a hand seal, I'll wipe them all out. From three-eyed ghost lice and the Fish Kingdom tomb to the Ten-Thousand-Pearl Snake Woman... Li Que, a little nobody of the Daoist sect, and Fatty get caught up in a vast scheme for immortality. As the saying goes: “In paper shoes, I tread into the Yellow Springs; through the gloom of life and death, I 215Reads7.1Score—Shelves
- 38 White Russian Cemetery 白俄公墓 [Supernatural + Mystery + Horror + Forbidden Sites and Zone Exploration + Dark] While traveling, I passed through a small town called Beima and accidentally entered a strange internet cafe. The terrifying legend of a woman ghost hanging upside down, messages from an online friend dating back to 2001, an old school campus regarded as forbidden ground, a mysterious ghost village behind the school, and a cemetery that exists only in people's memories. Somehow, all of it seems connected to me. This 49Reads8.0Score—Shelves
- 39 One Horror a Day 一天一个惊悚 One terrifying tale every day, and a different world each time. Just because you haven't seen it from in front of your phone doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Enough chatter. See you in the book, everyone. 9Reads6.6Score—Shelves
- 40 My Pale Life 我苍白的一生 My name is Zhang Yuan, though my childhood nickname was Ergou. I'm male, born in 1990. Everyone encounters all kinds of strange, inexplicable things in life. By the way, do you believe in ghosts? 473Reads8.4Score101Shelves
- 41 The Corpse of a Mountain Village Woman 山村女尸 [Feel-Good Read + Urban + Suspense + Supernatural] He Xi is an ordinary security guard. One day, the west gate of Chaoxi Psychiatric Hospital desperately needs a guard. The pay is 30,000 yuan a month, but nobody dares take the job! Nobody else dares, but He Xi does! Only after arriving does he realize something is wrong. The west gate isn’t meant for people to pass through at all. It’s a gate for ghosts! 7.4kReads7.7Score341Shelves
- 42 Grudge-Locked Patterns 怨气锁纹 Dai Xiaochao, the protagonist, is a college graduate in architecture from the 1990s. Under heavy financial pressure, he moves into a tenement building where a locked-room murder took place two years earlier. Surveillance was scarce in those days, so the police had to investigate door to door, and the case made little progress. Then the ancient Taotie jade pendant inherited by Dai Xiaochao’s family, along with its Taotie patterns, begins to react... And that is where the story begins. 7Reads—Score—Shelves
- 43 Medium's Notes: My Left Eye Can See Ghosts 灵媒笔记：我的左眼能见鬼 The Cangye lineage of the Southern Frontier unleashes chaos. The Cherry Blossom Curse, Yin Soil summoning, Ruin Spirits, and malevolent earth veins emerge one after another, leaving the seals protecting the land on the brink of collapse. In a desperate battle, pure Yang Heavenly Energy collides with the turbid qi of Yin Soil inside him, forming a yin-yang vortex whose blessings and dangers are impossible to predict. His old enemies flee into the Hundred Thousand Mountains, seeking a chance to p 12Reads—Score—Shelves
- 44 Don’t Call My Name at Midnight 半夜不要喊我名字 Believe it or not, this is a true story. She is Yang Xiaofan, dumped by a man who had been using her for her money, then left with nothing. With almost no savings left, she had no choice but to move into a deserted house. The mysterious landlord disappeared without a trace after his first appearance. After midnight, terrifying knocks and calls to summon spirits put her life in danger. A black cat that comes and goes appears at strange moments, then vanishes without a trace. Again and again, I wa 1.2kReads8.3Score—Shelves
- 45 Feng Shui Yin-Yang Master 风水阴阳师 "Born under the Emperor Ziwei's fate, with yin-yang eyes from birth." An extraordinary life is his destiny. He inherits his ancestors' feng shui arts. In the world of the mystic arts, yin flourishes while yang declines. A thousand-year plan awaits just one person. 1.2kReads7.1Score114Shelves
- 46 The Orthodox Unity Taoist Acolyte 正一小道爷 My master vanished without a trace. As the sect’s last heir, I have the sect’s treasured spirit sword and a purple-gold spirit talisman brush. One man, one sword, one brush: I descend the mountain to subdue demons and ghosts. Note: Some events in this book are based on real experiences the author has had, and some of the methods are quite authentic. Do not attempt to imitate them! 607Reads6.1Score100Shelves
- 47 The Fragrance of Corpses for Ten Miles 十里尸香 Most people receive gifts that are heartwarming or romantic. Even if they aren't a surprise, they're at least well-intentioned. But the gift I received when I turned twenty was a very real shock, and a curse. 1.9kReads8.2Score165Shelves
- 48 The Soul-Returning Soup 还魂汤 I was born in a remote village. The day my mother gave birth to me, she died a horrible death! I was born disabled, missing an arm, and with a red birthmark shaped like a coiled snake on my foot. My master said I had been cursed by an evil spirit, and that the curse could only be lifted if I found the one who cast it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t live to see twenty... 83Reads—Score—Shelves
- 49 One Stick of Incense to Worship the Gods, an Outlaw Exorcist: Zhang Wulang! 一香祀神法外狂徒，端公张五郎！ This book is a work of fiction. The rituals, incantations, and water-based magic performed by Duangongs are invented for the story. Do not imitate them. What you read here is a story, not a craft. Cherish life and trust in science. Read the final chapter, and you will see with your own eyes what lies at the end of tearing down altars and temples. I transmigrated to the late Qing dynasty and became an outlaw. In other words, a man beyond the reach of the law. My skills came from ancient times, b 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 50 Visitor from Hell 狱下来客 A modern supernatural mystery. Not wish fulfillment, not brainless, and no System. In this life, you pass countless people on the street. What makes you so sure they're all human? I never believed in this stuff either, until my landlord tricked me into moving to a place called Happy Community. The people around me didn't seem to be people at all. Footprints on the ceiling, dolls made of human skin, bloated drowned giants, people raising zombies, mother-and-child ghosts... Just how many secrets l 658Reads8.0Score100Shelves
