Novels like The Secrets of the Strange Arts
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as The Secrets of the Strange Arts, best match first.
- 1 The Coffin Man 棺人 There was an old coffin in our home. On the first and fifteenth day of every month, Grandpa had me paint it with red and black lacquer. This went on for years, but he never told me why. It was only after I turned eighteen and was buried alive inside that old coffin that I gradually uncovered one secret after another. From then on, I embarked on a very different path in life. Three calamities and six tribulations, nine coffins crossing together: ferrying people, demons, and restless souls! The Ye 256Reads5.8Score—Shelves
- 2 Secrets of Bashu 巴蜀密语 More than four thousand years ago, before wars or migrations, the ancient kingdom of Bashu mysteriously vanished. To break a century-old curse, I ventured into the primeval forests of the Qinling and Daba Mountains, met the guardian of an ancient tomb a thousand years old, and became a master who could manipulate feng shui and command the forces of yin and yang… I became the only person who knew the secrets of the ancient Bashu tombs. 1.4kReads7.3Score142Shelves
- 3 The Grand Mystic 大玄师 Sun Lei smiles faintly and raises a hand to split open the Yin-Yang Road. “Moved yet?” Demons, ghosts, monsters, and spirits: “Wouldn’t dare. Wouldn’t dare…” 132Reads7.0Score—Shelves
- 4 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 125Reads7.1Score—Shelves
- 5 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. 1.2kReads7.1Score116Shelves
- 6 The Strange Arts of a Feng Shui Master 奇门相师 When the Nine Stars align, a supreme fiend descends from Heaven. A beggar raises an orphan; humanity nurtures Heaven’s fate. Also known as The Nine Stars Ascend to Dragonhood. The Mysterious Maiden of the Nine Heavens gave birth to the Green Satchel, while Fu Xi, the Great Bright One, created the Eight Trigrams. One is feng shui, the other the Book of Changes; together, they form the art of physiognomy. Shennong, the Flame Emperor, tasted a hundred herbs, and the Yellow Emperor, Xuanyuan, compil 54Reads8.8Score—Shelves
- 7 The Art of Coffin Mountain 棺山术 Feng Lin is a small-time shopkeeper who runs an antique store in a flea market. While renovating an old house on the premises, he discovers a secret room hidden in a wall at home. In a corner of the cramped room sits a locked red wooden chest. Inside, he finds several objects: a palm-sized gold belt plaque, a badly worn ancient book on Dunjia sorcery, another ancient Ming Dynasty book recording numerous secrets, and a fragmentary map. The chest holds many secrets. Family secrets stretching from 260Reads—Score—Shelves
- 8 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
- 9 The Local Official 土官 In some parts of northern China, a local ritual master is the person who presides over funeral rites. The role is semi-official, and local ritual masters are also responsible for the village shrines to the Earth God. As the times change, this profession is destined to disappear. But the protagonist, whose mother died when he was ten, finds a different path: he lives with an open heart and no fear, and with kindness in his heart and no regrets. 4.6kReads8.9Score473Shelves
- 10 The Human Realm Soul-Ferrying Office 人间渡魂事务所 [A Soul-Crossing Sword that levels up and transforms] [Urban supernatural tales + detective investigations] [Cool, aloof senior boss and her younger puppy-like partner] [Uncovering the truth behind his mother's disappearance and the Soul-Crosser organization's dark secrets] The Soul-Crossing Sword levels up, with no mindless power fantasy. In a city teeming with vengeful spirits, ghost stories have become reality, and ordinary people can meet bizarre deaths at any moment. Everyone thinks they'r 10Reads7.0Score—Shelves
- 11 The Demon Wife at Home 家有妖妻 Grandma arranged a marriage for me. Only after the wedding did I learn that the bride I'd brought home was a fox spirit... Chapter preview: …I stole a glance into the pool. A beautiful older girl was standing by the washing platform, washing her hair. She was gorgeous, with snow-white skin, delicate willow-shaped brows, an oval face, and luscious red lips like ripe cherries. Most striking of all were her captivating, tender eyes, deep as a pool of spring water. She was alluring to the very cor 2kReads8.2Score140Shelves
- 12 After I Dumped My Jerk Ex, a Powerful Figure from the Underworld Set Their Sights on Me 和渣男分手后，冥界大佬盯上我 Two male leads + mystery and the supernatural + solving cases + powerful leads + satisfying revenge The sweet young love of college couldn't withstand reality. For the sake of a bright future, his boyfriend cheated on him and left without hesitation. Think he's just a college student working a part-time job? That's only because you haven't seen him at night, transformed into the director of the Special Events Investigation Bureau, judging yin and yang, deciding life and death, fighting evil spir —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 13 Maoshan Ghost-Catching Specialists 茅山捉鬼专门店 [Modern urban setting (no cultivation) + Taoist priests + cultivators + Buddhism + factions + witchcraft + cults + romance + satisfying read + a little brainpower + nontraditional] Huaxia is a place steeped in mystery, known as a sacred land of ancient culture. Here, many Taoist priests and cultivators each command a range of miraculous arts and techniques. Lin Xiu, an heir to the Maoshan tradition, gets caught up in a vast and complicated whirlpool because of a job! A mother-and-child corpse fi 159Reads—Score—Shelves
- 14 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... 96Reads—Score—Shelves
- 15 My Forensic Partner Is a Stunning Female Ghost 我的法医搭档是绝美女鬼 [A science-minded, straight-talking forensic doctor × a stunning thousand-year-old female ghost] [Science vs. the supernatural] [Hilarious bickering] [Feelings growing in secret] [Feng shui] [Magic arrays] Other people solve cases with deduction. We solve them with a little help from “ghosts.” Lu Mingzhe is Jiangcheng’s chief forensic doctor. Highly rational, he believes in science. That is, until he sees a breathtakingly beautiful thousand-year-old female ghost in a red dress on his autopsy tab —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 16 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... 781Reads8.7Score101Shelves
- 17 Folk Tales of the Mountain Wilds 民间山野怪谈 A lifetime spent roaming the martial world, telling tales of ghosts and strange happenings from the countryside. Stories of spirits and monsters in the wilderness have always been a staple of people's conversations over tea, and folk tales about mountain ghosts and gods come in every variety. There is a kind of extraordinary man who can help people choose burial sites and homes, divine life and death, reveal the secrets of fate, dispel evil spirits, travel to the underworld, save lives, and ward 1.1kReads8.9Score151Shelves
- 18 A New Life for an Obsession 执念新生 By day, he is a math teacher who keeps everyone at arm’s length; by night, he becomes an exorcist who punishes vengeful spirits. Gifted yet constantly in danger, he carries on until he meets her. She is clever and sweet, thoughtful and understanding, and willing to accompany him on the path to redemption. Along the way, she also fulfills the wish she has always held dear. Their love is a mutual choice, and neither of them ever backs down. With so many dear friends by their side, the senior and j 385Reads8.8Score—Shelves
- 19 Thriller Game: Slaughtering the Entire Village from the Start 惊悚游戏：开局屠杀全村村民 [Romance + not overpowered + one female lead] A mysterious cloud suddenly appears at Jinghai City's Central Primary School in Gaojing. Ye Tianming's father, the head of the universe's number one meteorology team, hurries to the scene with the entire team. A man dies mysteriously in the mist. His son, Ye Tianming, arrives at the scene wearing a suit and tie. The boy's consciousness grows hazy. When he wakes again, he finds himself transmigrated to the day of the college entrance exams. A strange —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 20 The Year I Was Born, Ghosts Came Looking for a Groom 我出生那年，鬼招婿 The year I was born, ghosts came seeking a bride. To stay alive, I slept in a haunted coffin. When I was twelve, I was forced to marry a ghost bride, bringing disaster upon us all. My grandfather had me take an unclaimed grave as my master. I thought things would finally be peaceful from then on. But the good times didn't last. I discovered by chance that my ghost wife had been by my side all along... 12.2kReads8.2Score1.1kShelves
- 21 The Republic-Era Book of Mysteries 民国诡秘录 Sometimes, the one who takes your life isn’t a person at all, but an evil spirit or demon. And the one controlling those spirits from behind the scenes might well be human... In the chaotic Republican era, foreign powers encircled the nation, eager to invade China, while warlords fought among themselves at home, leaving the land in ruins. On the other side of the jianghu, evil spirits rose everywhere and ghosts ran rampant, while mysterious foreign religions invaded as well. After waking from a 773Reads—Score105Shelves
- 22 The Divine Seer and the Eerie Doctor 神相诡医 Zhang Fan grew up with his grandfather, who ran a coffin shop. Blessed with peerless skills in face-reading, medicine, and the supernatural, he makes his way through the city. He can read the faces of the living and the dead, treat both human ailments and ghostly afflictions, take on local bullies, and capture evil spirits as he writes the story of a legendary life! 4.5kReads8.7Score587Shelves
- 23 Buried Blade 葬刀 There are two knives in my family, one for skinning and one for cutting bones. Grandpa always treasured those battered old knives, burning incense and worshipping them every day. I never understood why. Then one day, I used them to slaughter a fox. Only after disaster struck did I understand what those knives represented... 2.4kReads8.3Score248Shelves
- 24 Evil Projection 邪恶投影 “I’ve hacked evil gods to pieces in the Land of Corruption! Beaten ancient deities in the Wasteland! Fought monsters in city alleys! Caught pickpockets on buses! I’ve brought glory to my school, contributed to the Special Affairs Bureau, and shed blood to keep the world safe! How am I not worthy of a five-star review?!” Du Sheng squatted on the ground, chattering away at the corpse of the bizarre creature he had chopped in half. 1.4kReads8.4Score179Shelves
- 25 The Ghost-Hunting Qingfeng Lodge 捉鬼清风居 “Clear Breeze Hall” is a shop specializing in exorcising demons and driving away ghosts. A strange couplet hangs by the door: First line: If you’re free of disaster and trouble, don’t come in. Second line: If you’ve got ghosts or demons, come on in. The shop’s owner is a 21-year-old young man named Zhang Qingfeng, the thirty-ninth-generation heir of the Zixiao Sect. Some say the owner is obsessed with money and cares about nothing else. Others say he’s a living bodhisattva who came into the worl 6.2kReads8.8Score519Shelves
- 26 The First-Eye Feng Shui Master 第一天眼风水师 This is not your typical feng shui story. If that bothers you, please move along. Inside you’ll find the most terrifying human demons and ghosts, horrifying infant spirits, bewitching female ghosts, thousand-year-old flood dragons, and even a ghastly face that will make your heart race... There are no tired formulas here, so be patient. The further you read, the better it gets… The story begins on the day I was born. On the day of my birth, every last one of the chickens and ducks my family k 17.7kReads8.9Score1kShelves
- 27 749 Bureau: The Forbidden Return 749局之禁忌归来 (Mystery, classic supernatural elements, traditional fantasy, and modern technological civilization) From the day he was born, his destiny was already fated to astonish the world. To protect the everlasting dragon veins of Huaxia, he led members of Bureau 749 across the world, purging evil spirits from beyond the borders and vowing to keep the land secure forever. He is both an honored guest in the ghostly realm of Fengdu and the enigmatic "Mr. Nine" within Bureau 749. Yet the profound, bone-dee 700Reads—Score—Shelves
- 28 Calling on the Immortals 请仙儿 In our village, every adult child in the family has to visit the graves during the Qingming Festival and weigh down paper offerings on the graves. But when I went to pay my respects at Grandma's grave, I put the paper on the wrong one... 526Reads8.7Score111Shelves
- 29 Kunlun Gatekeeper: Ten Thousand Ghosts at My Back 昆仑守门人：我背后有万鬼 There's a long-standing rumor about the Capital Museum: though it's crowded with visitors by day, the palace is thick with yin energy after midnight. Palace maids carrying lanterns, eunuchs bearing sedan chairs, and guards in yellow robes stroll openly through its halls. For a hundred years, three generations of the Chen family have guarded the Capital Museum, suppressing evil spirits and the Three Fiends and Five Afflictions, and keeping the palace secure on all eight sides so peace can reign. 6.3kReads8.9Score493Shelves
- 30 Suppressing Yin and Yang 镇阴阳 [Supernatural The Underworld Comedy No female lead Not human] I used to think I was just an ordinary person. But on the day I was born, Yama sent a child into the world, ten thousand ghosts entered my body, and every ghost within a hundred miles hid in fear. The Underworld’s gods of the dead avoided me like the plague. In this life, I shall command yin and yang and tread the cycle of reincarnation. I only hope this song of sorrow ends in splendor… 3.9kReads9.0Score359Shelves
- 31 The Fated Spirit Medium 2 天命出马仙2 Shen Nan was an ordinary college student until he accidentally got caught up in a haunting at his school. He also inadvertently learned that he was born in response to fate and was destined to help Chu Yifan fight the immortals and Buddhas who were about to appear. Unexpectedly, they opened the passage ahead of time, and a great battle across the Three Realms is about to begin... Stride across the Three Realms and Six Paths, and continue the legend of the spirit medium! 4.1kReads9.2Score339Shelves
- 32 Young Feng Shui Master 少年风水师 When Grandpa died, the whole city was in an uproar... 9.8kReads9.0Score1.1kShelves
- 33 The Midnight Spirit Shop 深夜灵店 I'm neither a yin-yang master nor an exorcist, but I do have an unusual left eye. I run a shop that opens only at midnight, serving customers who have run into special troubles. A little shop, a cup of tea for a guest, and so my story begins... 1.8kReads8.6Score194Shelves
- 34 The Demon Taoist Breaks Through the Underworld Pass 妖道破阴关 (Supernatural horror, feng shui and geomancy, warding off evil and misfortune, one heroine) My parents used forbidden magic to conceive me, but on the day I was born, my strange appearance frightened them away... My third uncle raised me in a cage. I barely managed to grow up on borrowed yin virtue and incense offerings... On my eighteenth birthday, I was buried alive in the ancestral graveyard. She saved me... but she wasn’t human... 5.4kReads9.1Score470Shelves
- 35 Young Feng Shui Master 少年风水师 There are many things in this world that you and I have never encountered. Just because we've never encountered them doesn't mean they don't exist. Legends are often more than mere legends. And traditions must have an unknown reason for becoming traditions. 632Reads9.0Score114Shelves
- 36 The Maoshan Celestial Master's Art 茅山天师诀 [Maoshan Taoist arts] [Urban ghost-hunting] [Folklore and strange tales] [Chinese cosmic horror] Lu Xiaoyang, an heir to the Maoshan tradition, drank blood instead of milk for his first taste of anything after birth. After enduring three calamities and nine tribulations, he was personally appointed “Judge of the Living” by King Yama. To avoid becoming the son-in-law of the Great Emperor of Mount Tai, Lu Xiaoyang heads to the city to find the woman he was betrothed to as a child, only to be dumpe 16.1kReads8.1Score1.6kShelves
- 37 Strange Tales from Republican-Era Sanjiang 民国三江诡事集 Whenever Eunuch Li from the teahouse downstairs told stories about the many strange and uncanny things he had encountered in his youth, a crowd would always gather around him. Whenever I was bored as a child, I would run over to listen. A corpse that had been dead for days was pulled from the Yangtze River, yet bled when its relatives came to see it. The owner of Second Brother’s restaurant had a brother who was a sworn brother of the underworld. One night, he followed the gang’s leader to an ab 123Reads—Score—Shelves
- 38 Dragon-Suppressing Coffin 镇龙棺 The day Grandpa died, all the beasts paid their respects, and nine dragons carried his coffin... 2.5kReads8.9Score463Shelves
- 39 Old Tales of Jiangyang: The Evil Dragon of Sanjiang 江阳旧事之三江孽龙 Luzhou, in central Sichuan, was known in ancient times as Jiangyang Commandery and is also called the City of Liquor. The Yangtze, Tuo, and Chishui rivers surround the city, which also borders Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, making it an important transportation hub for the three provinces since ancient times. The constant streams of mule caravans within the city, cargo boats on the rivers, and merchants lining the streets, along with the local brotherhood halls where sworn brothers trained with f 65Reads—Score—Shelves
- 40 He Was Eating Noodles at a Roadside Restaurant, When He Found a Human Eyeball in His Bowl! 他在路边餐馆吃面，竟然吃出了人眼珠子！ He was eating noodles at a roadside restaurant when he found a human eyeball in his bowl! 38Reads—Score—Shelves
- 41 Horror Taboo: Returning the Soul Beneath the Coffin 恐怖禁忌，压棺回魂 The dead open their eyes, ghosts come to claim souls, the living borrow lifespans, and the dead press down on their coffins... One bizarre, uncanny experience after another keeps resurfacing in my mind like a nightmare. The strange tales in this book are mainly based on Yang Jian’s firsthand experiences... A warning: the actions in this book are for entertainment only. Do not imitate them! There are three kinds of people who read this book: thrill-seekers who aren’t easily scared... those who pu 973Reads6.2Score101Shelves
- 42 Carrying the Living and the Dead 载人也载鬼 After losing his job, the protagonist plans to buy a car and drive for a rideshare service. Instead, he ends up buying a Soul-Ring Car and helps a female ghost solve the mystery of her death. He then becomes a rideshare driver who transports ghosts. 11.3kReads8.4Score767Shelves
- 43 A Strange Man of the Republic 民国奇人 The Republic of China was an era of upheaval, teeming with extraordinary people. In those chaotic times, the martial world was vast. As the saying goes, “The heroes of our age emerge amid the world's turmoil; the seven extraordinary figures of the Republic are here.” But who were these seven? There was a Daoist priest who cried, “In prosperous times, Buddhist temples thrive on incense while Daoists hide away in mountain retreats. In troubled times, the Bodhisattvas turn a blind eye, so the Old L 15kReads9.2Score1.4kShelves
- 44 The Underworld Calls Me Little Sir 阴司叫我小先生 From the day he was born, he was unlike ordinary people. He could pass freely between the worlds of the living and the dead. Whenever Hei Bai Wuchang encountered him, they would bow and step aside, respectfully addressing him as Young Master. Others said he was born with the ability to communicate with the underworld and blessed with an extraordinary fate. Only the gods of the underworld knew that behind their respect lay an unmistakable wariness. As the years passed, the events sealed away for 4Reads—Score—Shelves
- 45 After College, I Became the Night Watchman at a Funeral Home 大学毕业，在殡仪馆当守夜人 Superpowers + passionate action + supernatural mystery + criminal investigations + an official organization "I'll protect every light in every home!" "At midnight, I'm the one who calls the shots!" After Lin Zhao was injected with zombie genes, his body underwent all kinds of changes. His wounds healed faster, he grew stronger, and he could even see things a hundred meters away at night. There was a side effect, though: he had lost his soul... The story mainly follows Lin Zhao as he assists the 2.1kReads9.2Score126Shelves
- 46 The Ten Arts of the Three Pure Ones: The Celestial Venerable Descends the Mountain 三清十诀：天尊下山 Gu Feng possesses the ten strongest immortal arts in the world. He is a mortal emissary of the Nine Heavens, sent to walk among humanity. By his master's order and out of duty, Gu Feng enters the modern city… After wiping out a series of demons, ghosts, and wicked practitioners, he discovers that the mastermind behind it all is hiding on the legendary Immortal Island of Penglai! This earth-shattering conspiracy reaches far and wide. It involves the demon Taoists of Mount Mao in Yan Country, a 3.4kReads6.6Score189Shelves
- 47 Republican-Era Detective Tales 民国侦探诡事录 [Standalone cases + Republican-era investigations + criminal investigation and deduction + paranormal mysteries + powerful partners] In the chaotic Republican era, the land is shattered and strange events abound. One bizarre case follows another, but the truth remains as elusive as a mist... In a village at midnight, residents die one after another. Rumors say the “Stinking-Mouth Ghost” has returned to exact revenge, leaving everyone terrified. A haunted house by the lake conceals an old massacr 372Reads9.1Score100Shelves
- 48 Folktales of the Mountains and Wilds 民间山野怪谈 The hidden truths behind ten major unsolved mysteries, revealing a host of terrifying taboos that will send chills down your spine! 14.5kReads9.1Score960Shelves
- 49 I Hear Snakes Speak and Walk Between Yin and Yang 听蛇语，行阴阳 Supernatural + feng shui + ghost-hunting + Bureau 749 + magic arts + demon-hunting + raising Gu + no System. My father's fate was that of a White Tiger Devouring Its Child. Of my mother's twelve pregnancies, eleven ended in miscarriage when the babies were five or six months along. Only one child was born alive, but that child didn't live to see the age of three. To ensure the Bai family had an heir, my grandfather had no choice but to seek out the White Python Embracing an Egg, a site of three 14.6kReads9.0Score1.9kShelves
- 50 Lu Ban's Secret Art of Feng Shui 鲁班风水秘术 Carpenters revere Lu Ban as their patriarch. He left behind the Lu Ban Book, divided into two parts. The first contains carpentry techniques, while the second is a collection of secret spells, never to be shared with outsiders. The patriarch also left a curse: anyone who learns the spells in the second part must suffer one of the fates of being widowed, orphaned, childless, or disabled. That is why later generations called the second part of the Lu Ban Book the “Missing One.” In the old days, mo 5.9kReads9.1Score832Shelves
