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.
- 51 The Book of Buried Ghosts 葬诡经 Most people know about Thailand's black magic, but few realize that China's own Jiangmen tradition is the true source of all such sorcery. As the saying goes: “A master of sorcery has no ancestors in the Southern Seas; reverence for the Three Teachings is the true tradition.” Let me tell you all about the Chinese sorcerers and their craft… 3.2kReads8.4Score410Shelves
- 52 The Soul Ferryer Between Yin and Yang 阴阳渡魂人 Soul-snatching ghost weddings, bathroom hauntings, the legend of the red-clad senior, Thai black magic, ghost soldiers borrowing the road, man-eating mountain demons, nightmare fiends that enter your dreams, the mystery of the headless woman, a bizarre bride in an escape room, vengeful child spirits, games that summon ghosts, human organ trafficking, a shocking exhibition of human deformities, and long-lost Maoshan secrets... Do these things send a chill down your spine? - The truth is, this wor 186Reads9.2Score102Shelves
- 53 Lighting the Sky Lantern 点天灯 Just how terrifying is corpse-driving in western Hunan? After failing the college entrance exam, I stumbled into the corpse-driving trade. Who could have guessed that on my very first job, I would run into... 715Reads8.3Score103Shelves
- 54 Hearse 灵车 A hearse is a vehicle used to transport coffins or urns. You could also call it a vehicle exclusively for the dead. I was a bus driver for four years, and for all four years I kept a secret bottled up inside. Now I'll tell you firsthand about the terrifying things that happen on trains, things you don't know about. Maybe you've never heard of hearses being converted into buses, but the buses you've ridden may not have carried only the living... 1.5kReads8.0Score131Shelves
- 55 Celestial Official of the Corpse-Subduing Sect 镇尸天官 The unfathomable mystery of immortality, horrifying strange happenings in a mountain village, a mysterious ancient tomb buried deep beneath the earth, and ancient legends from the barren wilderness... None of it should have had anything to do with me. But after my grandfather's bizarre death, I could no longer escape my fate and was dragged into this endless conspiracy... 461Reads7.3Score102Shelves
- 56 Notes on Strange Folk Tales 民间诡事札记 The countryside hides the strangest legends and lays bare the truest depths of the human heart. A single red embroidered shoe beneath an old pagoda tree holds a grievance and a hatred left unspoken. A strange peddler knocking at the door in the dead of night carries no ordinary goods in his pack, only old stories frosted over with time. A bronze mirror rising from an ancient well can reflect ghosts, but not the depths of the human heart... These curious tales scattered across bustling streets an 66Reads—Score—Shelves
- 57 Underworld: My Ghost Bride and I, Bound Forever by Yin Fate 冥域：我和鬼媳，阴缘永合 [Paranormal + Ghost Wife + Horror + Superpowers + Reincarnation] Li Xiaoshi is the reincarnation of a judge from the underworld. He was born nearly transparent, with his internal organs clearly visible. Later, he meets a female ghost named Gu Pannan, and the two become husband and wife in a union of yin and yang. His life is beset by misfortune. He eventually learns that his ghost wife came from the Nether Realm, but their pact between human and ghost has bound their minds together, making separ 54Reads—Score—Shelves
- 58 Who’s Watching You Sleep? 谁在看着你睡觉 A collection of horror stories, including The Haunting of the Girls' Dorm, The Peeping Eye, and The Abyss of the Locked Room: A Mother's Checkmate! I guarantee you'll be too scared to use the bathroom after reading them at night! Each story is 80,000 to 100,000 characters long. I'm a newcomer, and this is my first time writing on Tomato Novel! I hope you'll give me lots of encouragement! Your support is what motivates me to create more and better stories! 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 59 Taoist, Spare Us! Zombies, Ghosts, and Monsters Are Freaking Out! 道士请饶命，僵尸鬼妖慌麻了！ [Supernatural] [Feng Shui and Folk Customs] [Ghost Hunting and Corpse Suppression] [Transmigration] [No System] Chen Yang, a Taoist who used to sweep temple floors, transmigrates to a world without Taoist priests and discovers that he has become the village idiot tasked with guarding the village. The village chief says, "My dead father is causing too much trouble. You have to get in the coffin and keep him company!" Chen Yang replies, "Trouble? That's right up my alley. I'll have your dad settle 107Reads—Score121Shelves
- 60 The Yin Guardian: The Mysterious Divine Coffin Hidden Beneath the Mountain 守阴人：藏在山底的神秘天棺 After I encountered the Ghost Granny, my dad died. Later, I found my older brother, and then my grandpa died too. Somehow, I became the last Guardian of the Yin. Later, I discovered that it wasn't the Ghost Granny behind it all, but another conspiracy hidden from view. [Entirely written by hand, no AI writing!] 225Reads—Score—Shelves
- 61 The Yin-Yang Exorcist 阴阳摸诡人 I have two mothers, and neither of them is alive. The moment I was born, a heavenly dog swallowed the moon, blood rained from the sky, every beast bowed its head, and ghosts wailed... 812Reads8.7Score101Shelves
- 62 A Young Feng Shui Master Betrothed to a White Tiger at Birth 少年风水师，出生就和白虎定亲 At the Human Skin Inn, a hundred ghosts carry a coffin. A yin corpse borrows a life. A demon child lies hidden in a Buddhist womb… From the moment I was born, my father pledged his life to arrange my engagement to a White Tiger. Because of that, I embarked on a little-known path… 5.9kReads9.2Score541Shelves
- 63 The Yin-Born Child 阴生子 Before I was even born, someone plotted against me. I was cut from my mother’s womb before I was full-term, born with a congenital defect, and prone to attracting evil spirits. My fate was cursed, and I was destined not to live past a hundred days. To stay alive, I went to live with my maternal grandfather, a medium who could travel between the worlds of the living and the dead. After years of learning from him, I became a medium myself. From then on, I could communicate with the gods, enter the 110Reads8.9Score—Shelves
- 64 The Maoshan Occultist 茅山诡术师 My name is Fang Gang. I was stolen the moment I was born. From then on, my life unfolded into an epic tale, as turbulent as it was mysterious. 397Reads8.6Score106Shelves
- 65 The Terrifying School 极度恐怖校园 As the best university in the city, this school admits only outstanding students. But it also has many rules that are hard to understand: no studying after eight o’clock, and no leaving your dorm room after midnight. No matter who calls to you from the corridor, do not answer... The protagonists in this story are all independent, but their countless connections eventually bring them together. What secrets does this school hold? 247Reads—Score—Shelves
- 66 The Thirteenth Eye 第十三只眼 As a kid, I was a mischievous little brat, and I once caused a whole lot of trouble. As a result, I hit the jackpot and ended up with three shadows. One black, one red, and one blue. I bragged about them plenty, even though I was the only one who could see them. One night, the red shadow slipped away from beneath my feet and sprinted into the darkness... I panicked and chased after it! If you run off, what am I supposed to brag about? You've been with me this long. The least you could do is say 36Reads8.8Score—Shelves
- 67 The Last School Bus 末班校车 [A female-focused mystery thriller, a brain-teasing and hilarious redemption story] From here on, I'll personally take you on this last school-bus journey... You'll see a terrifying doll sitting right beside you... You'll witness a string of murders in a girls' dormitory, all within a single year... You'll shudder at the bizarre death of a school beauty who was three months pregnant... You'll rage at the evil hidden in a fog-shrouded residential complex along the way... And you'll encounter the 403Reads8.1Score—Shelves
- 68 The Seventh Night After Death 头七 My grandfather said that whoever a hanged person sees last is the one they’ll come back to haunt. When I was twelve, the village hired a troupe to perform ghost plays. I went to play with them, never imagining that the troupe’s leading performer was hanging from the beam right behind me. 22Reads7.7Score—Shelves
- 69 A Fading Lamp Shines on the Lonely Dead 残灯照孤冥 (Mystery + supernatural + no female lead) (Ghost case files + Taoist arts) (Tomato Original) The male lead is born under the fate of a lone star of calamity, destined to walk alone. A dying lamp lights the lonely darkness, and that darkness lights me in turn. 321Reads—Score—Shelves
- 70 The Ghost King Is Sealed Inside Me, Yet I’m a Good-for-Nothing 体内封印鬼王，我却是个废柴 A rainy night in a cemetery, a man-eating black cat, a man searching for his late daughter, a school guard hanged on the stairs, a wedding coffin sealed with red paper, a grotesque face hiding in a mirror... What secrets lie behind it all? What other mysterious events will Wang Shier, the gravekeeper, have to face? As terror and dread slowly close in, those secrets seem to be steering his fate. (The stories in this book are all adapted from real events. If anything sounds familiar, it is pure co 7Reads6.4Score—Shelves
- 71 Horror: Death Comes at Midnight 恐怖：夜半索命 I lived a routine life until the death of Old Chen changed everything. Beside his body lay a pile of handmade paper figures. One had been painted blood red and clutched in his stiff, dead hand. Blood-red words began appearing in the mirror: “Get out.” “He’s still in the building.” Then I received an ultimatum: his daughter needed a living substitute. Paper figures weren’t enough. Neither were his belongings. She wanted a living person in the building, someone warm and breathing. Tomorrow, at mid 17Reads—Score110Shelves
- 72 Is It Too Much for a Fortune Teller Like Me to Know a Little Yin-Yang Magic? 我一个算命的会点阴阳术不过分吧 [Maoshan Arts + Ghost Hunting + Face Reading + Powerful Connections + Walking Between the Yin and Yang Worlds + Team] Zhao Yang's grandfather made him study three books from a young age: the Zhouyi, the Ma Yi Divine Physiognomy, and a third book with no cover, whose contents were handwritten. After his grandfather passed away, Zhao Yang inherited his mantle. But now that cremation was the norm, all he could do was read people's feng shui, barely earning enough to get by. Just as he was thinking 323Reads—Score—Shelves
- 73 Records of Yin-Yang Mysteries 阴阳异闻录 The newly dead have their brows painted and faces made up; those long dead have their skin painted and bones carved. The people around you may not be human, and the stories you've heard for years may be more than just stories. 440Reads8.4Score—Shelves
- 74 Supernatural: Devouring Red Flesh 灵异【啖红肉】 My name is Xiang Sanpi. I was born in a village where people eat people. When I was eight, my father killed our entire family. After that, I studied Taoist arts of yin and yang under my master, specializing in strange and supernatural cases… Note: Believe in science. No feudal superstition. 13Reads6.9Score—Shelves
- 75 A Funeral Procession From the Start, Then I Married a Ghost Bride 开局红白撞煞，娶个女鬼回家 [Spiritual Qi Revival + Superhuman Martial Arts + Not Pure Wish Fulfillment + No System + Lighthearted and Fun + Multiple Well-Developed Heroines + Plenty of Romance + Positive Values, Not Dark and Gritty + Nuanced, Thoughtful Writing] What on earth has happened to this world? I just saw a wild monkey holding a stick and claiming to be Sun Wukong, and a chicken pluck someone's head off and use it as a ball... The world changed drastically, and spiritual qi revived! Monsters, demons, and ghosts a 43Reads8.2Score—Shelves
- 76 Paranormal Encounters: What I Saw and Heard 灵异事件之所见所闻 No System + no transmigration + no power fantasy + no harem + no invincible protagonist + no sweet romance + no clichés + no female lead + no cultivation. Important notice: if this isn’t for you, don’t read it. If this isn’t for you, don’t read it. If this isn’t for you, don’t read it! Do you believe there are things in this world that science cannot explain? Have you ever experienced anything supernatural yourself? Treat the events in this novel as stories, and remember: Fear and respect the sp 130Reads—Score—Shelves
- 77 An Unmarked Lonely Grave 无名孤坟 My grandfather buried my mother by our front door. Every night after that, a woman would stand outside our house... 1.2kReads8.8Score101Shelves
- 78 Tales of the Unextinguished Lights 不熄灯异闻录 More chilling than ghost stories, these tales recount the uncanny happenings secretly passed down by our elders! Children will be too scared to walk alone at night after hearing them, and adults will want to pay their respects to their ancestors. This is a book of taboos that the village elders tried to keep from being written! This collection of short stories features folk horror, supernatural mysteries, thrillers, legends, strange tales, and fantasy from across China and around the world. 23Reads—Score—Shelves
- 79 The Feng Shui Master of Qingwu 青乌风水师 My grandfather tells the fortunes of the living. I tell the fortunes of the dead. One day, my grandfather forced me to read his fortune... 1.2kReads8.8Score129Shelves
- 80 The Old Corpse: Strange Happenings in the Mountains 老尸：山中诡事 A thousand skeletons pillow the moonlit stele, their shadows sealed. Autumn tombs wear rosy clouds, blood soaking the steps. The boiling cauldron cooks souls, a thousand years of grievance. A grand feast for ghosts, with every skeleton withered. In the utter silence, corpse oil lights the candle. In a place shrouded from the world, a rotting hand pushes open the door. A lingering soul adorns the dressing table, a spider transformed into a hairpin. A name sinks beneath the mirror, maggots become 186Reads—Score—Shelves
- 81 The Last Grave Chaser 最后一个撵坟人 [Tomb raiding + the supernatural + suspense + Taoist arts + feng shui + spirit-walking + witchcraft + no System + original, not fanfiction + slow burn] In southwest China, there is a little-known profession whose practitioners are called grave chasers. They read the flow of qi and water, scour the mountains and track down tombs, and are experts in feng shui, burial sites, Taoist arts, and witchcraft. What are grave chasers really looking for? How did I get dragged into all this? It all began whe 6Reads—Score—Shelves
- 82 You Were Told to Guard a Village, So Why Did You Make the City God Cry? 让你守个村儿，你把城隍打哭了？ After the old madman died, I always thought I was the only person left in the village. Then one year, two men showed up carrying a camera and said they wanted to film a documentary about walking marriages... 469Reads8.5Score—Shelves
- 83 Old Tales of the Dead Village 死人村旧事 Chen Ergou holds a stalk of grass and gently pokes at the paper money still smoldering in front of him. Behind him, a dense crowd of “people” from the village and beyond stands packed together... Hanwa, his belly slit open and his tongue hanging down to his chest; Sufen, naked, with raw flesh exposed; the Fat Taoist, whose limbs and head are covered with tightly packed stitches at the joints; Tian Da, his body stiff, a walking stick jutting from his wide-open mouth; Xiao Zhao, pale-faced and dri 185Reads8.4Score109Shelves
- 84 EN Otherworldly Merchant 阴间商人 I’m a merchant who specializes in collecting sinister, supernatural objects. Anything that belonged to the dead is valuable! In the hands of ordinary people, these things can bring anything from a haunting to the ruin of an entire family. But in my hands, they can help you get promoted, make a fortune, defy fate, and meet every need a client could have. Want to know why? Shh. If you’re brave enough, come hear about the first terrifying deal I took after entering the business... 188Reads8.9Score—Shelves
- 85 The Spirit-Sealing Corpse Shroud 镇灵尸衣 On the day I was born, ghosts surrounded our home. I only survived because a master gave his life to save me. Only later did I learn the truth: I was born on a yin year, yin month, and yin day, making me a Yin Child. My master said that anyone born under all three yin signs would have a life full of misfortune and spend their days wandering from place to place. 140Reads—Score—Shelves
- 86 I Won’t Survive the Night 活不过今夜 At some point, a strange old beggar showed up in our neighborhood. The strange thing was, he never spent the money people gave him. He’d burn it or destroy it instead. Then one day, the woman downstairs was burned to death, and the butcher was brutally murdered. That was when I finally realized the truth. He wasn’t begging for money. He was begging for lives! 1.1kReads8.2Score102Shelves
- 87 Shattered Yin-Yang Jade 阴阳玉碎 [Supernatural + horror + suspense + first person + no idiots in the story + clever protagonist + a touch of angst] "I'm turning eighteen soon. I should die, too." Yu Yue and I are twin sisters, born eighteen years ago on Ghost Festival. A fortune-teller gave us each a jade pendant and said that on our eighteenth birthday, whoever's pendant broke would die. We're seventeen now, and suddenly both pendants have shattered. How can we possibly survive? 43Reads—Score—Shelves
- 88 Strange Tales, Volume 1 奇闻诡事录1 This is a collection of folk tales about the uncanny, strange accounts from across the land. Each chapter is a complete story, each tale a separate supernatural mystery, revealing the mysteries of yin and yang, folk taboos, and the obsessions of the dead. You never know when a casual remark might draw the attention of spirits lurking in the wilderness; when an old object you pick up might hold the memory of a tragic death; or when an everyday habit might already have crossed a forbidden boundary 21Reads—Score—Shelves
- 89 The Coffin Bearer 抬棺者 I’m a coffin bearer. After carrying coffins for decades, I’ve seen all kinds of sinister coffins: mother-and-child coffins, coffins without mourners, coffins for those who died violent deaths… And behind these coffins, a shocking secret was hidden… 192Reads6.7Score105Shelves
- 90 Forbidden Ground for the Living 活人禁地 Seek out the world's rare treasures, and plunder its hidden relics. The living should stay away from these places... 1.4kReads7.2Score133Shelves
- 91 The Bizarre Case Investigator 诡案惊探 [Mystery]+ [Supernatural]+ [Deduction]+ [Crime Solving]+ [Male lead versed in both Yin and Yang] After his girlfriend vanishes under bizarre circumstances and every effort to find her comes to nothing for two years, Qin Zhong loses heart and takes a job as a police officer at a remote township station. One day, he suddenly receives a bizarre case. The entire village of Niewa has vanished. As the investigation deepens, one strange Supernatural incident after another unfolds. Along the way, his pa 1.6kReads8.4Score186Shelves
- 92 Dragon-Subduing Art 镇龙术 When I was born, my grandfather foresaw that I would face four great calamities in my life. To change my fate, he traded his life for mine. That day, a thousand white cranes circled overhead, escorting my grandfather to his final rest... 24Reads7.6Score—Shelves
- 93 Strange Tales from the South 南方灵异事 4Reads—Score—Shelves
- 94 Ghost-Hunting Yin-Yang Master 捉鬼阴阳师 On the day I was born, the clear sky suddenly filled with lightning and thunder. A bolt struck a tree in our yard, and everyone in the village decided my birth was an ill omen. They all kept their distance. One villager accidentally offended me, and that night he mysteriously hanged himself. The body could only be taken down if someone knelt before me. On the day of his funeral, his brother died a violent death and the coffin fell to the ground. That was how the whole story began… 214Reads8.8Score100Shelves
- 95 The Corpse Leaps Over the Wall 尸跳墙 I’ve been blind since childhood, so I work as a massage therapist for the blind. Then one day, I met a terrifying woman who said she could restore my sight. The price was... 140Reads7.8Score—Shelves
- 96 The Yin Deliverer 送阴人 A burial master, also known as one who sends the dead into the shadows. When Li Mazi from my village died suddenly, I was drawn into the affair. I thought it was an accident, but later I learned it had been plotted for a long time. To stay alive, I began studying the Burial Scripture my grandfather left behind. The Burial Scripture has three volumes: one on burying people, one on burying ghosts, and a third whose whereabouts are unknown. Blood corpses in the Southern Ridges, ancient monsters in 668Reads8.4Score101Shelves
- 97 Stay Away, Spirits 阴人勿扰 Someone dug up our family grave and put the newlywed daughter-in-law who’d just died in their family in there. My uncle told me to go get her out in the middle of the night... 496Reads7.1Score—Shelves
- 98 Life with a Woman in Red Who's a Ghost 与红衣女鬼同居的日子 My name is Wang Chongyang, and I'm a struggling horror writer who gets by on attendance bonuses. One night, after falling behind on rent, I was kicked out by my landlord. I accidentally wandered into a haunted house and ran into a red-clad vengeful ghost. And that's how a whole series of events began. What the heck? I take Zhong Kui as my master, my wife is a red-clad vengeful ghost who dares to beat up even the Black and White Impermanence, and even the dog I picked up on a whim is the ancient 436Reads7.3Score—Shelves
- 99 Heir of the Classic of Mountains and Seas 山海传人 When I was nine, a horde of ghosts surrounded our house, all intent on taking my life! To save me, Grandpa went and found me a female ghost to be my wife… 208Reads9.0Score103Shelves
- 100 The Northeast Paranormal Investigator 东北灵异先生 Fangshi, spirit mediums, exorcists: these professions are famous, but their abilities are limited. There is one calling that stands above them all: its practitioners are known as paranormal masters. My name is Huo Jie. When I was nine, I encountered a vengeful spirit and nearly died of fright. To survive, I became a paranormal master! From then on, I roamed between the worlds of yin and yang, wielded the art of feng shui, and guided ghosts and gods through their trials! 230Reads8.5Score—Shelves
