Novels like The Urban Spirit Guide
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as The Urban Spirit Guide, best match first.
- 51 Yellow Springs General Store 黄泉杂货铺 At the end of a street on a quiet, late-night evening stands a grocery shop with old-fashioned decor. Getting something for nothing is simple: just agree to do a ghost a favor, and it'll make it happen. 14.5kReads8.8Score1.5kShelves
- 52 The Village Guardian, the Wife in the Coffin 守村人，棺中妻 [Fox Wife] + [Traditional Supernatural Horror] + [Mystery and Twists] + [Funny Ensemble Cast] + [Interlocking Plotlines] + [First-Ever Nine-Tailed Fox with Nine Clones] I’m the village’s famous idiot. Of course, that’s what people who don’t know any better call me. Those in the know call me… the village guardian! But my half-baked fortune-teller of a grandfather has a very different opinion from everyone else. He says I’m a kept man who lives off women! Still, I never imagined the woman I’d have 19.4kReads8.8Score1.9kShelves
- 53 My Sect Has Eleven Graves 我的门派有十一座坟 Fantasy and the supernatural, with a lighthearted, humorous tone and a touch of horror. My name is Zhang Shiyi. I have ten senior brothers, so my name is Zhang Shiyi. But all ten of my senior brothers are dead. They’re lying in the graves outside. What? My master? He’s dead too. The biggest, roundest grave is his. Haha~ Well, congratulations, then~ Get ready to sing: Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations to you, hey! Congratulations, congratulations to you~ 24.6kReads9.1Score2kShelves
- 54 The Last Descendant of Zhong Kui 最后一个钟馗传人 I was cursed by a thousand-year-old fox demon the moment I was born. As a child, I couldn’t see or hear, and everyone said I was born disabled. But when I was five, a master took me in as his disciple. He said I was a reincarnated ghost god, a tempting morsel in the eyes of ghosts and monsters. The fox demon’s revenge, a frozen corpse in a dry well, a water ghost claiming lives, a hundred ghosts roaming by night... Strange events followed one after another. To protect myself, I had no choice but 5.5kReads9.0Score481Shelves
- 55 The Midnight Ghost Market: Living People Keep Out 午夜鬼市，活人回避 [Mystery + supernatural + ghost market + narrow escape from death] My name is Tang Chao. I’m a broke young man scraping by in the antiques business, with hundreds of thousands in debt hanging over me. An ordinary porcelain-buying deal led me to pick up a strange Jun ware bowl at an unexpectedly low price. I thought I’d found a bargain. Little did I know, it was the beginning of my nightmare... On a bus, I met a burly man calling himself Jue Mingzi, who warned me that “a calamity is sure to befal 3.5kReads9.1Score217Shelves
- 56 The One Who Borrows Lives from the Underworld 阴间借命人 [Standalone Stories + Supernatural Horror + Suspense + Folk Customs + Playful Tone + Ensemble Cast + Nonstop Ghost-Hunting Thrills!] Ever since I borrowed a life from the underworld, I’ve known no peace. My name is Quan Ning. I’m a lawyer, and one day I was in a car accident on a mountain road. As I lay dying, I saw a ghostly judge from the underworld come to claim my soul. I struck a deal with him and borrowed a sliver of hope for survival. The price of this life I borrowed was becoming 2.5kReads9.1Score236Shelves
- 57 Ghost Sightings at the Nightclub 夜场见鬼录 A Long is a DJ at a bar with a legendary “Stage of Death.” Many people have died there under mysterious circumstances. The cause of death could never be determined, and some bodies were never even found! The strange incidents stopped only after the bar was shut down. As the legend of the deaths gradually faded from memory, someone opened the stage once more! After that, disaster struck again and again! A terrifying ghostly figure appears in the girls’ dormitory, a faceless baby clings to a chand 201Reads8.8Score—Shelves
- 58 Tales of the Strange in Western Hunan 湘西异闻录 [A friendly warning: This book has no System. It's funny and terrifying, with suspense and clever twists throughout, plus plenty of passion and brains. The more you read, the better it gets.] When I was four, I was kidnapped and taken to a cursed village to be sacrificed alive. A fox spirit risked her life to save me, and secretly pledged herself to me for life. To marry my fox bride, I venture deep into the Miao Valley, tread the Nether River Gorge, and walk the boundary between Yin and Yang. I 6.1kReads9.1Score593Shelves
- 59 The Yin-Yang Master of the City 都市阴阳天师 Traditional supernatural horror. The protagonist starts out as a Celestial Master, turns into a purple-eyed zombie midway through, and transforms whenever he can’t win. If that bothers you, please give this a pass. Zhou Yuanqing studied under a purple-robed Celestial Master and chose to join Bureau 749, handling supernatural cases across the country: evil spirits, zombies, mountain demons, Japan’s Kiku School, Nanyang curse practitioners… In places ordinary people cannot see, battles of magic ha 30.9kReads8.1Score2.4kShelves
- 60 The Clue System: No Criminal Can Escape 提示线索系统之犯罪分子无处可逃 (Urban crime investigation + System + mystery and deduction + team investigations.) The protagonist, Song Mozhou, unexpectedly awakens a System that provides clues to criminal cases. Follow along as he solves one baffling case after another with the System’s help. This is a pure crime-solving novel, with no romance, featuring a series of standalone cases. All cases and characters in this book are fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Here’s hoping you’ll enj 264Reads—Score—Shelves
- 61 Tales of Strange Happenings in the Countryside 乡村诡事录 The strange happenings in a mountain village. I was born and raised in the countryside. Deep in the mountains, there are always ghosts and spirits, and my village was no exception. Heaven, earth, black, yellow, the cosmos vast: demons and ghosts send shivers down your spine. One year, the start of spring fell on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. That year, so many strange things happened. Just bringing them up is enough to scare people. Meeting the Black and White Impermanence on a night wa 1.9kReads9.0Score137Shelves
- 62 Tales of a Haunted Village 荒村怪谈录 [Rural Mysteries + Folk Customs + Chinese-Style Horror + Feng Shui and the Supernatural + Anthology + Shocking Twists] There is an old well in Jiulitun that has been sealed for thirty years, and one eerie incident after another keeps occurring. Why has a little girl become unbelievably strong and deranged? Why do villagers keep drowning, and why is the village taboo so difficult to speak of? It all goes back thirty years... 243Reads8.7Score—Shelves
- 63 Midnight Wonders 午夜惊奇 At the stroke of midnight, amid a terrifying atmosphere, strange ghost stories begin to unfold! A bluish-white hand suddenly appears on the window in the middle of the night. Is it looking for someone to take revenge on? A bus still running in the dead of night: does it lead to the world of the living or to hell? The shapewear hanging in the wardrobe at home is made of human skin! During the Qingming Festival, a figure appears in the glass of the bathhouse. After returning to her room, a beautif 416Reads8.7Score—Shelves
- 64 My Twenty Years as a Spirit Medium 我出马的二十年 He cultivated his character deep in the mountains, then left his secluded cave to make a name for himself across the land. Over twenty years, he broke through countless barriers and witnessed countless things. This is the true story of those twenty years, meant both to introduce this industry to those unfamiliar with it and to share experience with fellow professionals. 9kReads9.4Score519Shelves
- 65 Horror's Edge: 100 Absolutely Terrifying Ghost Stories 恐怖边界：100个绝对惊悚的鬼谈 [Standalone Stories + Supernatural Horror + Folk Customs + Feng Shui and Mysticism + Mild Frights + Shocking Twists] Horror tales beyond anything you could imagine. Each story is like a dark door swinging open, drawing you into moments that will make your skin crawl. Listen. A faint whisper, an indescribable shadow creeping closer. Danger by the river, terror in the cemetery, ghost babies in the maternity ward, evil headhunting magic, apparitions at the hot springs, a bloodstained umbrella... On 2.5kReads8.9Score192Shelves
- 66 Midnight Terror: Human Nature Stories That Will Haunt You 午夜惊魂：让人细思极恐的人性故事 At midnight, let's listen together to the little stories that circulate all around us. Maybe they're true. Maybe you've heard them too, or even experienced them yourself. Those moments that grow more terrifying the more you think about them go perfectly with the pitch-black night beyond the window. Red brick walls are common in many places. But we've never stopped to wonder: why are those bricks so red, so vivid? Rideshares at night aren't necessarily safe. Passengers have their concerns, and dr 537Reads8.8Score—Shelves
- 67 Nurture an Yin Bone, Marry a Snake Immortal 养阴骨，嫁蛇仙 [Feng shui, fortune-telling, ghost marriage, adventure, tomb raiding, devoted to each other] I slept inside a clay statue of the Bodhisattva from childhood, growing up on the incense offerings. But the Bodhisattva at home began to look more and more like me. Grandfather said I had to cultivate into a living Bodhisattva, transform into a prostitute, and save all living beings before I could wash away my sins. Then one night, a strange man arrived with a pair of spirits, one dressed in red and one 4.3kReads9.3Score689Shelves
- 68 The Last Paper Effigy Maker 最后一个扎纸人 The art of paper effigies can bridge the worlds of yin and yang, perform rites for the dead, and summon the King of Hell. Cut yellow paper, weave bamboo strips: paper horses travel a thousand miles, and paper figures summon spirits. With one stroke to paint their eyes, the King of Hell appears, striking terror into all directions and sending ten thousand ghosts into hiding! By the time the art of paper effigies reaches Chen Mo, he is its last practitioner. He assumes this ancient, mysterious cra 16.7kReads8.5Score1.7kShelves
- 69 Ferryman: From the Start, Keeping Watch Over the Campus Beauty at the Crematorium 摆渡人：开局在火葬场给校花守灵 [Urban + campus beauty + college life + supernatural + ferryman + underworld + firearms] Heavenly Funeral Home Hiring Notice: Location: Cremation Room Job: Corpse Handler Pay: Day shift, 800 per day; night shift, 1,200 per day (must work at least seven days!) Requirements: Brave, no high blood pressure, heart disease, mental illness... Netizen 1: "Is anything scarier than being broke? 1,200 for one night? I'd not only carry corpses, I'd chase them down if they ran away." Netizen 2: "1,200 fo 5.1kReads9.0Score343Shelves
- 70 Strange Tales Livestream 怪谈直播间 The sound of meat being chopped eerily echoes through a bun shop in the dead of night. The passengers on the last bus all have the same face. On a freezing, rainy night, someone wearing funeral clothes wanders the streets... The Strange Tales livestream takes you deep into the hidden side of this world! 13.8kReads8.9Score1.2kShelves
- 71 Spiritual Qi Revival: I Open a General Store to Get By 灵气复苏：开个杂货铺混日子 [Spiritual qi revival + System + urban + comedy + no female lead] Tang Bai's three great loves: eating, getting himself into trouble, and making a little pocket money. An unexpected transmigration brings him a general store and sets him on a very different path in life. 16.4kReads9.0Score2.8kShelves
- 72 The Sound of Nightmares: 60 Horror Stories That Wake You from Your Dreams 噩梦之声：60个做梦吓醒的恐怖故事 [Standalone Ghost Stories + Supernatural Horror + Not for the Faint of Heart + Rural Tales] When night falls, terrifying ghostly figures emerge. Step into all kinds of bizarre and unbelievable tales, and spend your nights screaming! Haunted houses, ghostly shadows outside the window, a deadly lipstick, someone beneath the mattress, an umbrella that hunts people... Every corner conceals inexplicable phenomena and secrets that will fill you with dread! Every page will make your hair stand on end, 2.1kReads8.9Score176Shelves
- 73 Ten Thousand Lifetimes of Reincarnation: Immortals Like Abysses, the Dao Dust 万世轮回：仙如渊，道为尘 Chen Yan has died countless times. Every time he breathes his last, he is reborn on some day in his long life, bringing his cultivation with him. His cultivation stacks, and so do his memories. But reincarnation is no salvation. Instead, it drives him into an even deeper despair. “Senior Brother, what lies at the end of the Immortal Dao?” Chen Yan has lost count of how many times he has answered this question, and he has never given the same answer twice: “It is a prison, an abyss of reincarnati 66.7kReads8.7Score3.6kShelves
- 74 Ghostly Whispers at Midnight 夜半鬼语 [Rural + Supernatural + Ghost Stories] Back when my grandfather was young, he learned carpentry. As Old Zhao put it, a sixth-grade carpenter these days was worth half a scholar. But things were different back then. Carpenters belonged to one of the lowest trades. They had to carry their tools around every day, get up before dawn and stay out until the middle of the night, traveling from village to village to find work. And because they went so many places, and made coffins and dealt with the dea 5kReads9.0Score204Shelves
- 75 One Quick Calculation, and I Know You’re a Fugitive! 掐指一算，你是逃犯！ Su Chen, a top-tier celestial master, transmigrates to the 1990s and becomes a widower with the same name. His wife has just died, and his five children are crying for food. After searching the entire house, he finds only ten yuan. Without hesitation, Su Chen takes the money to Chunming Street, the busiest street in the city, and puts an ad in the newspaper: “Fortune-telling. If I'm wrong, you don't pay.” “Granny, your daughter didn't go missing. She's in the stove at your son-in-law's house.” A 46.6kReads9.0Score4.6kShelves
- 76 A World Out of Balance 人间失衡 [Mind-bending suspense + short stories + no overarching plot + crime + criminal investigation + shocking twists + stories of ordinary people] The deepest wounds are often inflicted by those closest to us. A bloody case at an old family home, shrouded in mystery. Who is the real killer? After her father dies of illness, her sister-in-law sells her to northern Myanmar! The body of a baby girl is found in the woods. A kidnapping case turns into a murder investigation. Who would target an innocent i 203Reads8.3Score—Shelves
- 77 No. 81 on the Yellow Springs Road 黄泉路81号 Night blankets the city, and the things lurking in the shadows begin to stir. The raccoon dog granny who eats raw meat, the fitness girl with fish scales growing on her back. The wild foxes who approach people by the roadside, and the little convenience store in the cemetery. I've experienced all of these. And it all began after I witnessed a car accident... 42.1kReads9.2Score3.4kShelves
- 78 Major Crime Investigation Files 刑侦大案录 6.6kReads6.9Score413Shelves
- 79 Dark Tales 5: The Power Game 恶谭5：权势局 [Mystery + Criminal investigation + Deduction + Case-by-case mysteries + The depths of human nature + No romance + Focused on solving cases] [Beneath the power, there is nothing but desire] A dismembered body is found in an alley, its bones and flesh mixed with pork. The brutal method of killing is appalling, and the victim’s wife has vanished without a trace! A popular young star dies mysteriously in a luxury hotel. The crime scene is covered in blood, but a malfunctioning surveillance system l 131Reads9.2Score100Shelves
- 80 Dark Tales 4: Tides of the Sea of Hate 恶谭4：恨海潮 [Mystery + Criminal investigation + Deduction + Case-by-case mysteries + The depths of human nature + No romance + Focused on solving cases] [Love and hate are poison. In excess, they consume flesh and blood and devour the soul.] A student at a foreign studies university carries explosives into a classroom, causing a tragedy that shocks the entire city! A wealthy boy vanishes on a rainy night, and his body surfaces in the river the next day. But the circumstances of his drowning are riddled with 246Reads9.3Score103Shelves
- 81 Dark Tales 3: The Abyss of Desire 恶谭3：欲望渊 [Mystery + criminal investigation + deduction + episodic cases + the depths of human nature + no romance + solving cases] [Desire is a wildfire, hard to contain once it spreads. It burns away reason, leaving only ashes behind.] Young Jiang Tingxu was presumed to have died by suicide, but years later he suddenly reappears and mercilessly kills the family members he once knew. A bizarre family history begins to come to light... The shocking discovery of several skeletons brings Longxue Village, a 184Reads9.2Score109Shelves
- 82 The Paper Effigy Shop: Everyone Around Me Is a Big Shot 扎纸铺，我身边都是大佬 In our ancient land of China, many professions have their own rules and taboos. The older and more mysterious the craft, the more this is true. For example, when “asking the rice,” you must never ask how someone died; a coffin maker must never make their own coffin; a paper effigy maker must never draw eyes on a paper figure; and a spirit medium must never conduct a ceremony without all the members of their altar present... If any of these rules and taboos are broken, something terrifying will h 22.1kReads9.3Score2kShelves
- 83 The Woman in the Closet 柜子里的女人 The Woman in the Cabinet 55Reads—Score—Shelves
- 84 Dark Tales 2: The Fame and Fortune Circuit 恶谭2：名利场 [Mind-bending mystery + criminal investigation + deduction + episodic stories + the depths of human nature + stunning twists + hard-core sleuthing] “Where fame and fortune reign, disputes are sure to arise.” A woman's corpse hidden inside a Buddha statue in an ancient temple, a mysterious online celebrity, and a group of suspects with tangled connections: Tan Zheng takes on a baffling murder case. As the investigation deepens, he discovers that the case is far more complicated than it first appe 257Reads9.3Score104Shelves
- 85 Northeastern China's Forbidden Secrets 东北禁忌手札 [Extreme horror + a folk-horror story set in the countryside] In a remote mountain village, deep within the forest, countless taboos remain unknown to outsiders. The people here follow ancient rules of life and death: pregnant women must never encounter a coffin, and anyone who dies of old age at a hundred years old is destined to become an evil spirit. But in a single day, the old Yu family breaks both taboos, drawing every kind of demon and ghost to their door! At midnight, someone hears the s 912Reads8.8Score108Shelves
- 86 The Haunted Teahouse: I Only Sell Objects of Ill Omen 恐怖茶馆：我只卖大凶之物 The world is divided between yin and yang. Some people do business with the living, while others trade with the dead. I deal in the business of the dead, but I don’t sell coffins, paper money, funeral clothes, or paper effigies. What I sell are things you’ve never seen before, things far stranger still… 31kReads9.2Score2.9kShelves
- 87 Thriller Game: I Kissed the Ghost Princess from the Start 惊悚游戏：开局强吻鬼公主 [Horror game + ridiculous comedy + mystery + supernatural, not scary.] Even capitalists would weep, and financial tycoons would look at this and cry out that it's a crime. In the horror world, Ye Chen does only two things: make money and flirt with female ghosts. A female ghost tries to pull a honey trap? He takes all her ghost coins. He operates on a male ghost, who refuses to pay extra halfway through? Congratulations, sir. Your wife has one fewer husband from now on, but one more sister. He e 357Reads9.1Score105Shelves
- 88 Horror Game: I Max Out Affection and Do Whatever I Want 恐怖游戏：加爆好感，我为所欲为 A horror game descends upon the world! Lin Bei, who has just transmigrated, is unfortunately selected. After entering the horror game, he obtains a System that can raise the affection of every species except humans. And Lin Bei can earn all kinds of rewards from it! Snowfield Phantom instance? [Ding!] [Snow Maiden's affection is maxed out!!] [Golden Treasure Chest's affection is maxed out!!] Blood Sea Evil Spirit Ship instance? [Ding!] [Blood Maiden's affection is maxed out!!] [Blood Sea (one-ki 5.3kReads8.9Score578Shelves
- 89 Secret Art: I Transmigrate and Fight to Survive in a Bizarre World 秘法穿越:我在诡异世界极限逃生 Secret Art Transmigration: My Extreme Escape in a World of the Uncanny 95Reads—Score—Shelves
- 90 The Ghost's Knocking Was So Loud, the Neighbors Came Over to Beat Me Up 鬼敲门声音太大竟引来邻居毒打 Hear a ghost knocking on your door at night? Don't panic. Call the neighbors and ask them to come claim the “takeout.” Run into a vengeful ghost demanding blood money at a crossroads? Just drop the cash into the Buddha's merit box. A Ghost King disguises himself as a delivery guy and kills people at random. Who knew the delivery would be to the place where the patriarch of Longhu Mountain was in seclusion? After transmigrating to a supernatural world, Li Yi awakened the Unconventional Celestial 10kReads9.2Score726Shelves
- 91 The Ninth Secret Bureau 第九守秘局 “If we want the people of this world to live in the sunlight and keep their sanity, then we must keep secret the things they were never meant to know.” “Because the moment they see those terrifying beings that defy all known science and truly discover how horrifying this world is... believe me, Earth will become the biggest asylum in the universe.” Chen Xian, Ninth Secret Bureau 3.2kReads9.2Score470Shelves
- 92 My Years of Ghost Hunting Among the People 我在民间捉鬼的那些年 Chinese-Style Horror, No Female Lead My name is Xu Jian. I’m 26, and I studied Taoist arts under a Maoshan priest for several years. Over the years, I’ve seen all kinds of things. After doing this long enough, I realized that ghosts aren’t scary. What’s truly frightening are the things people can’t get past in their hearts. All I do is help them say what needs to be said and settle their debts once and for all. People call me a Celestial Master of the Taoist sect, but I’m really just an ordin 4.5kReads—Score304Shelves
- 93 The Divine Fortune-Teller in the Linen Robe 麻衣神算子 My grandfather taught me everything he knew about fortune-telling, but after I read three people’s fortunes, he left me. From then on, I didn’t just tell the fortunes of the living... 43.7kReads9.2Score3.8kShelves
- 94 The Heaven-Ordained Fortune Teller 天命神算 When I was thirteen, I fell gravely ill. My fever wouldn't break, and no matter how many famous doctors I saw, none could cure me. My grandfather healed me, but he died mysteriously five years later. Only then did I learn that he had incurred a karmic debt on my behalf. So I inherited his legacy and embarked on the path of a feng shui master. 149.1kReads9.2Score17.5kShelves
- 95 Chen Buqi, the Little Taoist 小道士陈不欺 Hello, everyone. My name is Chen Buqi. My professions include Taoist priest, locksmith, cook, phone repairman, driver, and tomb-raiding consultant…. I have too many to list them all. I was raised by my master and martial uncle! They were both incredible! I only learned that after coming back from my first year out in the world. Because I liked to play around, I also squandered a lot of techniques that people would have envied! Fortunately, I devoted myself to physiognomy and mastered two special 151kReads9.1Score13.3kShelves
- 96 Selling Clothes by Day, Sewing Corpses by Night 白天卖衣服，晚上缝尸体 [Traditional supernatural horror, folk terror, decisive and ruthless] I rented an apartment where someone had died, hoping to save money, only to be plunged into endless darkness... My terrifying girlfriend has a mouth full of sharp teeth and haunts me day and night; A headless vengeful infant on the highway frantically tries to steal people’s heads; A horrifying internet celebrity livestreams herself peeling off people’s faces, while the comments turn eerie; At a Cat Immortal shrine in a strang 51.9kReads9.2Score6.2kShelves
- 97 Eleven Madmen 十一个疯子 (Not mindless, no harem, no System, and not a conventional power fantasy. Please read with that in mind.) From the day you were born until now, have you ever had doubts like these? “Do I really exist?” “Does the world really exist?” “Why do I exist?” “And why does the world exist?” “Is my existence inevitable? If I die, will the world keep existing?” “At the moment m 38.7kReads9.4Score5.6kShelves
- 98 Tianxuan Paranormal Affairs Office 天玄灵异事务所 - [Infinite Flow + Urban Supernatural + Chinese-Style Horror + Folk Legends and Hauntings + Celestial Master Exorcists + Heirs to the Daoist Tradition + Heterochromatic-Eyed Heroine + Haunted House Tales + Episodic Stories + Folk Taboos] - Hidden deep in the bustling streets is an inconspicuous supernatural affairs office called Tianxuan. - No one dares touch the folk taboos of this world. Haunted houses are plagued by unsolved horrors, abandoned villages and ancient mansions seethe with resentm 1.2kReads—Score101Shelves
- 99 Nine Dragons Carry the Coffin 九龙抬棺 The night of my grandfather's funeral, I carried a stone tablet at the front of the procession to lead the way. I didn't dare look back, because the eight evil spirits carrying the coffin were behind me... 9.8kReads9.2Score2.7kShelves
- 100 Lu Ling Feng Shui Shop 鹿灵风水铺 [Lighthearted paranormal suspense + mild horror + one-on-one romance + episodic stories] Lu Ling is forced to take over the feng shui shop her father left her and shoulder the Lu family’s duty as spirit-contractors. Only after she starts taking on cases does she realize that people can be far more terrifying than ghosts. 7kReads9.0Score1kShelves
