Novels like The Water-Taming Beast
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as The Water-Taming Beast, best match first.
- 151 Corpse Driving in Western Hunan: The Soul-Calling Guide on the Night Road 湘西赶尸：夜行引魂人 A sudden disaster at a mass grave! Wu Liangzi is struck on the back of the head and wakes among rotting coffins and bones, clutching a bloodstained piece of yellow paper. It bears the name of the man he has spent three years tracking down for murdering his father! Seven corpses in black robes dance around him all night, their lifeless eyes seeming to “acknowledge their master.” A mysterious corpse driver tosses him a life-and-death contract. “Four of your seven souls have scattered. If you can’t 325Reads—Score—14d adds
- 152 Mysterious Curse 1 神秘诅咒1 [Supernatural Mystery + Urban Cultivation + Folk Taboos + A Passionate Coming-of-Age Story] Enter a sinister world concealed beneath the bustle of the modern city! I have no control over life or death. My name is Zhang Wen. I thought getting into college would let me escape that bleak village in the southwest. Then my grandfather died suddenly, with these words written in cinnabar on his palm: "Dig three feet down at the southeast corner of the wall." I unearthed a bloodstained notebook. Its fir 6Reads—Score—14d adds
- 153 Top Secret: Paranormal Investigation Bureau 绝密：灵异事件调查局 To investigate and handle supernatural incidents, the nation established a special task force. All files, mission reports, and research are classified as the highest level of national secrecy. As a field operative, I was fortunate enough to take part in handling all kinds of cases: the madness of thousand-year-old corpses, the wonders of supernatural abilities, and incidents involving hybrids of spirits, demons, and monsters... 166Reads—Score—14d adds
- 154 I Dropped Out of College, Then Turned Around and Wreaked Havoc on Bureau 749 大一退学，我反手祸害749局 [Pure wish fulfillment + ruthless action + comedy + endless memes + cunning protagonist] “Li Xuan, you’ve been expelled from school.” “Why? All I did was ruin the freshman welcoming ceremony, sneak into the girls’ dorm twice, blow up a few toilets, and break a couple of windows.” The principal clutched his chest. “Go! Disappear! Get the hell out of here!” As Li Xuan stood bewildered at the school gates, a bald man approached with a young man. “Li Xuan, we’re investigators from Bureau 749. Join u 463Reads—Score—14d adds
- 155 I Just Came Out of Ailao Mountain, and 749 Took Me in as a Monster 刚出哀牢山，被749当怪物收容 [Ruthless and decisive] [Wild man] [Wipe out the roots] Su Yang is an experienced traveler. After transmigrating to this world twenty years ago with a monster compendium as his golden finger, he hasn’t encountered a single monster. He’s ended up living like a wild man. On the verge of starving to death as a penniless pauper, he places his last hope in the mysterious Ailao Mountain. On their first night in the mountains, his fellow travelers spot a monster. Su Yang grabs his Luoyang shovel and st 147Reads—Score—14d adds
- 156 Bureau 749: Special Case Investigation Division Nine 749局：九处特案调查科 The third installment of The Bureau of Mysterious Incidents As the internet continued to develop, the times called for change. In 2014, Bureau 749 established the Ninth Division's Special Cases Investigation Section. Yun Cong Feng, who wielded lightning and fire abilities; Li Yi Chu, with psychic abilities; Ye Luan, with enhancement abilities; the Taoist Zhang Shan Ling; the physician Li Fu Ling; and computer expert Chi You You joined the team. In the days that followed, the six-person squad dea 1.2kReads7.1Score10014d adds
- 157 Yin-Yang Headhunter: I Find Jobs for Ghosts, and They Ask Me Out 阴阳猎头：我给诡找工作，诡问我处不处对象 On the day he was laid off, Jiang Ye received a death notice: in thirty days, someone would throw him off a rooftop. To stay alive, he was forced to take a job at Yin-Yang Headhunting Co., Ltd., a company that specializes in finding jobs for ghosts. Every time he finds a job for a ghost, he unlocks part of the truth behind his own death. Every time he fails, another corpse spot appears on his body. Once they cover him from head to toe, the company will devour his soul. Every high-level order com 2.3kReads8.4Score34314d adds
- 158 My Master Gave Me a Car for Investigating the Supernatural 师父传我一辆看事儿车 A thousand-year-old van? Built by hand from scratch [Traditional horror]➕ [Even more immersive as an audiobook]➕ [Uncovering the truth about my origins] Greetings, dear readers! [Traditional supernatural horror, primal fear] The original experience of horror is the fear a person feels when experiencing it firsthand. [First person, highly atmospheric] Give me a chance to tell this story from my own point of view. [Uncovering the truth about my origins] Along the way, I met many people. “The gates 14Reads—Score—14d adds
- 159 Twin Haunting: My Brother Is Actually a Corporeal Ghost 双生诡怨：我哥竟是实体鬼 [No romance] [No female lead] [Mystery and supernatural] [Mild horror] [Traditional setting, no cultivation] P.S. Younger brother: Chen Xing. Older brother: Chen Yan. The older brother is a ghost. He has long hair early on, so if that bothers you, please don’t read... The twins were born fifteen minutes apart, yet their fates turned out to be worlds apart. One of them was... an omen of great misfortune. A secret lies hidden in the attic. Inside, there’s a coffin. Who is lying in it? Is it me? Wh 910Reads8.8Score14514d adds
- 160 Don't Look Back During Evening Study at School 学校晚自习别回头 Don’t Look Back During Evening Study at School 6Reads—Score—14d adds
- 161 One Chilling Story Every Night 每晚一个惊魂故事 [One story per chapter] [Chinese-style horror] [Folk tales] [Urban vengeful spirits] [Haunted houses] [No main plot] Collected and adapted fictional tales of terror from all over, one story per chapter, each one different. No grand lectures, just bone-chilling tales rooted in everyday life. All adapted from strange folk tales passed down for years. They sound true, and the more you think about them, the more unsettling they get. Great for unwinding, but don't try to “unwind” alone in the dead of 1.2kReads—Score10314d adds
- 162 Lost in the Linhai Forest 林海迷踪 A grudge between humans and wolves, and a curse passed down through generations. A ferocious pack of wolves on Mount Daibai, led by a mysterious chief whose existence is unknown to the outside world. A spiritual golden eagle in the desert wasteland, a wondrous species that defies nature. An ancient giant serpent on a desolate island in the North Sea, the undisputed king of pythons. A colossal beast in the depths of the ocean, and an unexpected second world. Three people are brought together by t 7.5kReads9.2Score69014d adds
- 163 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 230Reads7.1Score—14d adds
- 164 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. 17Reads6.9Score—14d adds
- 165 Pregnant with Evil, Again and Again 阴孕连连 The consequence of one wild night was that I got pregnant, and I had no idea who the father was. Filled with anxiety, I had no choice but to ask my best friend to come with me to get rid of the baby. But from that day on, strange things kept happening. A little ghost that ate people, a night road I could never escape, a lecherous man who kept appearing in my dreams, and the baby in my belly that I just couldn't get rid of. It all told me one thing: I had… encountered something supernatural… 179Reads5.4Score—14d adds
- 166 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 45Reads8.0Score—14d adds
- 167 I’m Not a Character in a Play 我不是戏中人 On his way back to his hometown, 33-year-old writer Xi Chuan is involved in a strange car accident. After falling unconscious, he plunges into a dreamlike version of western Hunan where truth and illusion are impossible to tell apart. His gravely ill grandfather struggles to his feet and takes him to an ancient opera stage plagued by strange events, where he performs a Nuo exorcism opera. Xiao Hei, a loyal dog, transforms into an earth spirit beast to fight the unseen things lurking in the darkn 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 168 Hidden Haunted Paths: Yunnan's Forbidden Land 幽藏诡径之云南禁地 A thousand-year-old mystery lies buried in the wilderness, hidden along ancient roads. Those who venture in never return. Hou Zirui was an expert in the antique trade around Panjiayuan. Though raised in an archaeological family, he had always kept his distance from the secrets buried beneath the dust. But a sudden incident dragged him into a mystery stranger than any legend. An ancient tomb forgotten by time, a black mark he could not escape, and a dynasty whose dead still lingered... The las 82Reads—Score—14d adds
- 169 Haunted University: I’m the Only Living Person on Campus 诡大学：全校就我一个活人 [Supernatural + one female lead] He scored 320 on the college entrance exam and just wanted to find a decent university to attend. He never expected to meet a ghostly version of Zhang Xuefeng, who recommended a ghost university 😭 His classmates and teachers are all ghosts 👻 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 170 Rule Horror: Don't Look Back During 72 Hours in the Dorm 规则怪谈：宿舍72小时不要回头 A word of warning: this is terrifying, so timid readers beware. (No female lead, no cheats, no romance, game instances, infinite flow, horror, mystery) Eight university students who returned to campus early found a mysterious sheet of rules in their empty dormitory building: Rule One: No matter what strange “person” you see, don’t cry out or scream. Rule Two: No matter who calls you from behind, don’t turn around or answer. Rule Three: One of you is an impostor who will eat people in the middle 4.5kReads6.0Score36514d adds
- 171 Horror Revival: I Become a Paper Doll and Terrify All of Humanity 恐怖复苏：化身纸人，恐吓全人类 Zhang Yu wakes up to find he has transmigrated into an age of resurgent horror, where uncanny beings emerge one after another. But he discovers that he has been reborn as a paper effigy, an outsider among the uncanny. After binding himself to a System, he grows by absorbing the fear of all living beings, eventually becoming a great demon king who makes all humanity live in fear. 185Reads7.2Score—14d adds
- 172 Horror Mountain Village: I Get a Golden Finger by Completing Quests 恐怖山村：我靠做任务得金手指 [System] [Horror] [A touch of romance] [White-lotus heroine] [Two male leads] Gu Xi enters a real-life scenario called “Horror Mountain Village,” but she doesn't even survive the first volume before the ghost bride kills her. She has barely been buried when someone comes to dig up her grave. After finally making it back to the village alive, she must face an enormous natural disaster. The fog from the mountain behind the village is spreading. What will become of the entire Dizang Village? With t 677Reads8.6Score—14d adds
- 173 Xue Family Paper Effigy Shop 薛记纸扎铺 On the surface, this world is an ordinary modern city. But hidden from sight is something called “Filth.” A person’s obsessions, resentment, fear, regrets, and other powerful negative emotions can coalesce under certain conditions, attaching themselves to objects, places, or even people, where they can influence or even devour the living. Most people don’t know Filth exists, but certain specialized trades can deal with it. Paper effigy crafting is one of them. As the name suggests, paper effigy 19Reads—Score—14d adds
- 174 Living for the Dead: I Devour the Bizarre in the Human World 替死者而活：我在人间吞噬诡异 [This novel is a serious supernatural mystery] Qi Guang died, and I took his place. An inhuman being, surviving in a borrowed body, without warmth or an understanding of humanity. I can devour every supernatural entity. I carry all of his memories, imitate his life, and learn to understand warmth, the bustle of everyday life, and the bonds between people. The human world meant nothing to me, until I met Mu Chen and gained a family I wanted to protect, along with an ordinary daily life. But the 360Reads—Score6414d adds
- 175 Netherworld Emperor: It All Begins with a Blood Coffin! 幽冥大帝：从血棺开始！ Mystery and the supernatural + horror + mind-bending deduction + wild imagination + Sichuan-Chongqing flavor After a flood, a blood-red coffin drifts down the river into our village... A strange song, eerie bloody handprints, a headless corpse, and somehow, I become the Great Emperor of the Netherworld... An accident reveals the secret of the Nine Fiends Blood Coffin and a grand scheme laid by the Great Emperor of the Netherworld. It all begins with the blood coffin, and everything will ultimate 765Reads—Score—14d adds
- 176 The Haunted Shroud 诡寿衣 My family sells burial clothes. Every seven days, a woman comes to order a set. Only at the end did I discover she had been ordering burial clothes for all four members of my family. 1kReads8.8Score10114d adds
- 177 Rules of the Rest Stop on a Stormy Night 暴雨夜服务区规则怪谈 Rules of the Rest Stop on a Stormy Night 5Reads—Score—14d adds
- 178 The Eight Immortals Bear a Coffin, While the Weasel Bows 八仙抬棺，黄皮子磕头 A filial son's head rolls through the streets. The living die, and their descendants bury them. Sons kneel; daughters become nuns. My dad is the only one in the village who can see and interpret omens. This is the story of the strange and wondrous things I witnessed after taking up his mantle! 242Reads6.4Score10814d adds
- 179 The Corpse Carrier 背尸匠 My name is Fang Youde, and I was born in 1990. I enlisted in 2009. After two years of mandatory service, I volunteered to stay in the army for another three years. During that time, I received two third-class merits and one second-class merit, so I had quite a record of service. In 2014, for some reason, I left the military. Under the regulations on resettling discharged soldiers, the local government assigned me a job at a funeral home. That was where my career as a corpse carrier began. Corpse 8.5kReads8.3Score46614d adds
- 180 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 427Reads8.1Score—14d adds
- 181 After Gaining the Power of Witchcraft 拥有巫蛊之力后 The book just got its rating, so it’s very low for now TT. It’ll go up later. [Occasional unhinged writing + power fantasy + strong female lead + a bit of infinite-flow + no romance] One day, Jiang Mo unexpectedly discovered that she had awakened a special ability. Witchcraft? One of the nine strongest known abilities? Was she really that powerful?! With the conviction that anyone who doesn’t want to be the world’s strongest awakened one isn’t a proper awakened one, Jiang Mo joined the Seventh S 3.5kReads8.4Score50414d adds
- 182 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... 63Reads9.0Score—14d adds
- 183 The Paranormal Investigation Bureau Needs Talents Like Me 怪谈调查科需要我这样的人才 [Handcrafted from scratch!]+ [Vengeful Ghosts Return]+ [Supernatural Escape]+ [Killing Patterns]+ [Rule Horror]+ [Mystery and Twists]+ [There’s a Romance, but It’s Not the Focus] [Please Give Me a Chance to Tell a Ghost Story] Doppelgängers, dismemberment cases, vengeful ghosts, whatever you do, don’t look back, a deadly exam, zoo horror stories… The world is being invaded by the supernatural, and ordinary humans can no longer survive. Lu Ming, a rookie at the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, di 100Reads—Score—14d adds
- 184 The Weird Realm II: Room 414 Hospital 诡界II：414医院 [Infinite Flow + Supernatural Horror + Mystery + Paranormal + Survival + Dungeons] A hospital said to be impossible to escape, and a group of survivors who've narrowly escaped death time and again. What bizarre and uncanny tales await them as they open the doors to one patient room after another? Dear readers, follow the protagonist Lu Bai as he uncovers one hidden truth after another. Welcome to Hospital 414... 58Reads8.0Score—14d adds
- 185 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. 125Reads—Score—14d adds
- 186 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. 7Reads6.6Score—14d adds
- 187 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! 1.1kReads8.2Score10214d adds
- 188 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—14d adds
- 189 The Haunted Houses I’ve Experienced 我经历的凶宅 The older generation often says that people who die violent deaths cannot enter the cycle of reincarnation. Their souls endlessly haunt the places where they died, seeking substitutes. Only then can they be reborn. That’s why we often hear in the news about car crashes that keep happening at certain locations. Sometimes the place isn’t even a proper intersection, yet terrible accidents leave cars wrecked and people dead. Some streams aren’t even as deep as a person is tall, yet every year there 2.1kReads8.9Score19514d adds
- 190 The Vein Agreement 矿脉协议 What lies buried deep underground is not ore, but a forbidden secret no living person should ever touch. In the mountains of the middle and lower Yangtze River region, Qingyan Phosphate Mine in Y City, H Province, is a flagship provincial mine owned by one of the area’s pillar industries. It has comprehensive procedures and advanced equipment, and in more than twenty years of operation, it has never had an accident. During the War of Resistance, a Japanese geological survey team entered an old 35Reads—Score—14d adds
- 191 The Sealed Cave Behind the Mountain: I Became the Village's Soul Guardian 后山囚洞：我成了全村守魂人 After accidentally entering a century-old forbidden site in the back mountains, Jiang Ningyue unexpectedly inherits a fated duty and becomes the village’s only soul guardian. A deep, secluded prison cave suppresses countless wrongfully dead spirits. Ancient village rules conceal secrets unknown to outsiders, while turmoil erupts along the boundary between Yin and Yang, and one eerie calamity follows another. Generations of cave guardians have borne endless suffering, and a century of tangled gru 7Reads—Score—14d adds
- 192 True Tales of Ghost Encounters: Paranormal Files 撞鬼实录之灵异档案 Li Yuanfeng was born with unusual eyes and ears. It was those eyes that helped him solve one bizarre case after another... One shocking tragedy after another, desperate screams for help, a terrifying game at a university in the dead of night... A man embedded in a wall... A child used as a sacrifice... The secrets of an ancient, haunted house... What are the voices from the well trying to tell us?... How can severed limbs be pieced back together?... A pair of eyes that can see through every cycl 316Reads8.8Score10314d adds
- 193 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. 354Reads—Score—14d adds
- 194 The Chewing Sounds in the Abyss 深渊里的咀嚼声 The Sound of Chewing in the Abyss 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 195 Snatching Immortality 抢仙 [Mystery and adventure + occult battles + a nontraditional path to immortality + ruins around the world] I've practiced Daoism for twenty years and watched my master ascend with my own eyes. Becoming an immortal has become an obsession. But the Heavenly Dao has run out of opportunities for me. I'm just one step away, yet the gap is as vast as heaven and earth. The chance to become an immortal should be somewhere between the highest heavens and the deepest underworld, but I can find it nowhere. I 55Reads8.5Score—14d adds
- 196 Forbidden Feng Shui Arts 风水禁术 My name is Yu Nianbai. I was supposed to die shortly after birth, but my father gave his life to extend mine, allowing me to survive. I thought I could live a peaceful life, but then someone dug up my father’s grave... 1.5kReads8.3Score10014d adds
- 197 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... 441Reads7.3Score10214d adds
- 198 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 1.6kReads8.4Score18114d adds
- 199 Weeping Evil 哭邪 People watch over a temple for ten years; the temple watches over them for a lifetime. 109Reads6.9Score—14d adds
- 200 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 70Reads—Score—14d adds
