Novels like Forbidden in the Mortal World
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Forbidden in the Mortal World, best match first.
- 1 Rift in the Abyss: We Awakened the Old Ones 深渊裂隙：我们唤醒旧日支配者 In 1992, U.S. Army Major Austin takes charge of the top-secret project "Abyss Watch." One hundred and thirty meters beneath the desert, a strange fissure spreads madness into the world above. Five elite soldiers are ordered into the abyss, with Austin directing their investigation remotely. A videotape that appears out of nowhere exposes a horrific secret from the past: To spy on the secrets underground, the military sacrificed living people. A thousand meters below ground, an ancient stone gate —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 2 A Hundred-Year-Old Villager’s Tales of Ghosts and the Supernatural 农村百岁老人口述鬼怪奇谈 I grew up in the countryside, and whenever I had free time, I liked listening to centenarians in the village tell strange tales of ghosts and other uncanny events from days gone by. I have collected, recorded, and adapted these folk stories. There is no overarching plot. Each chapter is a standalone horror story. Not for the faint of heart!!! 32Reads—Score—14d adds
- 3 Grandpa Started the Trouble, Three Generations Must Pay 爷爷闯下的祸，三代来还 The trouble Grandpa caused will take three generations to repay. 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 4 Old Tales of Strange Happenings 民间旧诡事 The woman in red who knocks on doors late at night, the soul-binding bones beneath the locust tree, the copper-bell curse in an old house in an abandoned village... These old tales of the uncanny, scattered across the countryside, are the idle chatter of old folks and stories sealed away by time... 42Reads—Score—14d adds
- 5 Come Listen to a Ghost Story! 来听诡故事！ The chime of midnight is the switch that starts each story. Hidden here are 365 eerie legends from every corner of the world. Maybe it's the strange sobbing in the night-shift office during overtime, a stranger's long hair beside your pillow in an old residential complex, or a passenger in a white dress who vanishes in front of a cemetery. One short ghost story every night, tearing through the everyday facade to reveal the chilling truth beneath. Do you dare open this collection of midnight tale 42Reads—Score514d adds
- 6 I Heard of Strange Things That Year: Never Read This Late at Night 那年听闻怪事，千万别深夜翻看 These stories are adapted and fictionalized from various experiences shared by friends. They are written in an accessible style and make for a good way to unwind. A reminder: reject superstition. This is all imaginative fiction. Any similarities to real events are purely coincidental, so don't take it seriously! 11Reads—Score—14d adds
- 7 I Livestream Through My Eyes 我用眼睛来直播 Through my own eyes, I'll show you viewers the most authentic scenes of horror. No complicated streaming equipment, no carefully arranged sets. Everything I see is exactly what the viewers in the livestream can see. Have you ever seen a livestream quite like this? As long as my eyes remain open, this terrifying livestream, which will only end with my death, will never go off the air. 168Reads—Score—14d adds
- 8 Patroller of the Living World 阳间巡逻人 Stories of spirit babies have circulated in the countryside of Sichuan and Chongqing for generations. When a baby dies, its lingering resentment can turn it into a ghost. Spirit babies were most common during the height of the one-child policy. As a child, I fed crows, which left me with an unusually strong aura of yin. Spirit babies often mistook me for one of their own, so someone later raised a ghost to protect me. On top of that, I have to work for the Underworld Bureau just to stay alive. 506Reads7.3Score—14d adds
- 9 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... 458Reads8.5Score—14d adds
- 10 One Hundred Thousand and One Folk Horror Stories 十万零一个民间恐怖故事 A collection of short horror stories in an episodic format, with a new story every chapter. No dragging things out! Haunted houses in the countryside, mountain spirits, urban legends, old customs and taboos... Every kind of Chinese-style horror is covered, with nonstop thrills and no filler. Anti-superstition disclaimer: This story is entirely fictional. Believe in science and read rationally. Please don’t apply it to real life~ 304Reads—Score10114d adds
- 11 Old Village Stories 山村旧事 A strange mountain village. Bizarre events sparked by natural and man-made disasters. And, it turns out, a secret lies hidden behind it all... 33.6kReads9.1Score2.3k14d adds
- 12 One Stick of Incense to Worship the Gods, an Outlaw Exorcist: Zhang Wulang! 一香祀神法外狂徒，端公张五郎！ This book is a work of fiction. The rituals, incantations, and water-based magic performed by Duangongs are invented for the story. Do not imitate them. What you read here is a story, not a craft. Cherish life and trust in science. Read the final chapter, and you will see with your own eyes what lies at the end of tearing down altars and temples. I transmigrated to the late Qing dynasty and became an outlaw. In other words, a man beyond the reach of the law. My skills came from ancient times, b —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 13 The Mystic Arts Curse Master 玄门咒神 On the day Yang Xuan was supposed to get engaged, a blood-red coffin inexplicably appeared in his home. Inside lay a beautiful woman with skin like jade. On the first day, his father died. On the second day, a yin-yang master told Yang Xuan: If he wanted to survive this calamity, he had to consummate his marriage with her... 115Reads—Score—14d adds
- 14 Surviving in a Strange World, I Became a Pawnshop Owner 诡异世界求生，我成了典当铺老板 [Rules-Based Horror + Lovecraftian Horror + Business-Building + Progression System] When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you. You there, get in here! I’m an internet-addicted teenager. I was planning to stay up all night and finish a horror novel when I was unexpectedly dragged into a bizarre survival world. There was a mysterious pawnshop, an abacus that could talk, and on my very first deal, I got swindled by a Level One supernatural item: the Ghost Bride... 53Reads—Score—14d adds
- 15 The Sixth Man's Strange Tales 老六诡事 A collection of true stories about all kinds of inexplicable, supernatural events personally experienced by people around me. Just think of it as my attempt to pass off some tales as Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio! Not for the faint of heart! Not for the faint of heart! Not for the faint of heart! I’m repeating it three times because it’s important! I don’t make up stories. I’m simply passing them along! 62Reads—Score—14d adds
- 16 The Last Paper-Cutting Artist 最后一位剪纸人 My name is Song Xiaohan. I’m a living corpse with no heartbeat, and a paper-cutting artist of the underworld. On the surface, I cut paper decorations for a funeral shop, but behind closed doors, I trade with humans and ghosts. My master passed away two months ago and left me the family craft, along with this modest little shop and my tools of the trade: a pair of scissors and a carving knife. “You want to make a deal with me? But all I want is your shadow!” Song Xiaohan grinned. 186Reads8.5Score3114d adds
- 17 Weeping Evil 哭邪 People watch over a temple for ten years; the temple watches over them for a lifetime. 107Reads6.9Score—14d adds
- 18 Someone New Appeared in the Footage 录像里多出一个人 The test shoot’s discarded footage was four seconds longer. Everyone in the frame held the same poses they had at the end of filming. No one moved. I counted three times. There were six people every time. But only five people had been there that day. On the hard drive my mother left behind, there was an empty folder with a four-character name: Do Not Fast-Forward. In the recycle bin was a deleted video, four minutes and twenty-five seconds long, which couldn’t be recovered. Our production crew w 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 19 Fifth Watch 五更 The stories my grandpa used to tell me were probably meant to scare me into staying put, or maybe to lull me to sleep. He always told them with such conviction and vivid detail that I often found myself dreaming of the very scenes he had lived through. I met the old flower-growing woman on Yinshan Mountain, and one villager after another from Sangen Village. Their faces were gloomy and strange, and their deeds served as a warning, reminding us that “the gods are watching from three feet above yo 705Reads7.2Score10014d adds
- 20 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 277Reads—Score—14d adds
- 21 The Calamity of Gui Water 癸水之祸 If even your memories are fake, who are you? Lin Zhou receives a death invitation from his younger sister, Lin Yao, who died twenty years ago. To uncover the truth, he enters the "Constellation Instances": twenty-eight prisons holding beings more ancient than the corruption itself. Each instance demands that he trade memories for power, and every dead person bears the cost on his behalf. When he finds his own file in the archives, stating that he cleared the Ghost Golden Sheep instance at age —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 22 Supernatural: I Bring Home an Old Immortal in Inner Mongolia 灵异：我在内蒙领老仙儿 My name is Li Tianshu. I was originally called Li Chengcai. I was sickly from childhood and plagued by hardship. I was so familiar with the gates of death that even the King of Hell knew my face. My grandparents said I had been cursed just like my great-grandfather, and planned to abandon me in the mountains to be raised by wolves. It was my maternal grandfather who gave me back my humanity and renamed me Li Tianshu, hoping Heaven would forgive me and free me from the curse. From then on, my fat 322Reads8.6Score—14d adds
- 23 Selling Ghosts 卖鬼 A new book is coming in July, titled: From the Start, I Cut Out the Rake of the Slit-Mouthed Woman Born in a yin year, yin month, yin hour, and yin place, with a yin ghost as the midwife. Yinjian had been sickly since childhood. Driven by hardship, he accidentally walked into a shop. From then on, he started a business selling ghosts. A weeping ghost knocks at the door. The Five Immortals demand a title and turn into beautiful older sisters. A skeleton friend who loves grave robbing. A five-star 259Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 24 The Coffin of Life and Death 生死棺材 In our line of work, there’s a type known as the miscellaneous school. They follow unorthodox paths, dabbling in everything but mastering nothing. They have no sect above them and no helpers below them, and nobody takes them seriously. I’m an heir to the miscellaneous school, yet I turned their world upside down and left them in chaos. Only when I decided to retire did I discover a shocking mystery hidden within me... 491Reads8.7Score10014d adds
- 25 The Upright Coffin 竖棺 They dug up a coffin buried upright while relocating graves in our village. It brought disaster upon the whole village and claimed the life of the person dearest to me… 1.2kReads7.4Score10414d adds
- 26 Sewing Yin Corpses, Suppressing Ghostly Calamities 缝阴尸，镇鬼祸 [Six Lines and Eight Trigrams, Soul Banners and Sacrificial Rites] Humans have three souls and seven spirits; ghosts have obsessions from the Nine Hells and the karmic flames of the Five Aggregates. But ever since I was born, I have been missing my [Earth Soul]. I’ve dealt with corpses since I was little. Other children played with colorful building blocks, fluffy stuffed animals, and little tin cars that could run. My toys were one battered corpse after another. Qimen Dunjia, puppetry that mani 833Reads6.7Score10114d adds
- 27 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. 133Reads—Score—14d adds
- 28 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
- 29 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
- 30 I’m a Dentist in a Small Town, and I Exorcise Demons on the Side 我在小城当牙医，兼职驱邪 [Mystery + the supernatural + urban legends + team growth] Pull teeth by day, exorcise evil by night: my side gig is way more thrilling than my day job! Chen Mo is an ordinary dentist in Qinglin City. One day, after pulling a mysterious old man's tooth, the man drew a blood talisman on his palm. That night, Chen Mo dreamed of a giant snake that could speak. When he woke up, he discovered he had become a disciple of the Willow Immortal, able to communicate with the realms of the living and the d 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 31 The Yin-Yang Artisan 阴阳诡匠 [Author's note: This book has no System and isn't mindless. Most of the events… really happened. Do not try any of the customs or taboos described here! Any consequences are your own responsibility!] It's better to offend the King of Hell than a poor carpenter. When you've worked as a carpenter long enough, you'll inevitably encounter all sorts of terrifying, bizarre accidents and stories. Sometimes, we're part of them ourselves. I used to think my grandfather was just an eccentric old carpenter 1.1kReads6.3Score10214d adds
- 32 The Corpse-Reading Detective 诡案读尸人 The Corpse-Reading Detective 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 33 Rule Horror: The Last One to Leave the Classroom After Evening Study 规则怪谈：晚自习最后离开教室的人 Rule Horror: The Last Person to Leave the Classroom After Evening Study 21Reads—Score—14d adds
- 34 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 685Reads8.4Score10114d adds
- 35 Heaven's Secrets Forbidden: A Metaphysics Master's Art of Feng Shui and Yin-Yang 天机禁忌：玄门风水相师镇阴阳 Xu Daoyi was born with a pure Yang constitution, a once-in-a-century rarity. The Yang energy within him was so strong it could burn vengeful ghosts to ash. But this gift was also a death sentence. His master told him that unless he found a woman with a pure Yin birth chart before the Summer Solstice and united their Yin and Yang, he would explode and die seven days later. The seven-day deadline drew closer, and the Yang energy in his body surged higher every day. Xu Daoyi had saved countless liv 115Reads—Score15514d adds
- 36 The Liang Dynasty's Petitioners 大梁请命人 The court is rotten to the core, wicked men use force to defy the law, and demons and monsters haunt the wilderness. Corpse escorts have an extremely dangerous trade. They must return mutated corpses to their hometowns and lay them to rest. There’s a saying among the people: “Coffin lifters get rich, corpse burners prosper; corpse escorts face a hundred deaths with no hope of survival!” Su Jing lives at a charitable burial home south of the city. Whenever midnight falls, he must carry a corpse o 833Reads7.5Score10214d adds
- 37 The Coffin Bearer 抬棺匠 My family has dealt with the dead for generations. Following in my father’s footsteps, I became a coffin bearer. Before carrying a coffin, I always offer the deceased five incense sticks. When offering incense to the living, three long sticks and two short ones are taboo. When offering incense to the dead, three short sticks and two long ones are taboo. That day, I carried a coffin, and the dead pregnant woman inside gave birth to a pair of twins, a boy and a girl! [Shh, keep quiet! We’re settin 2.8kReads8.3Score18414d adds
- 38 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 20Reads—Score—14d adds
- 39 I’m a Reaper: What’s Wrong with Having a Little Money? 身为鬼差：我有亿点点钱怎么了 Extra! Extra! Blue Star’s richest man, Xu Huaizhi, is on his deathbed! He has made a shocking move! He donated half his entire fortune to the nation and spent the other half on funeral goods for himself. Is this a distortion of human nature, or a collapse of morality? As Xu Huaizhi lay dying, a cold smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. I was the richest man in the human world. The underworld will be no exception! (The synopsis doesn’t do it justice. Head to the main story.) 7kReads8.4Score53814d adds
- 40 The Nine Dragons Send Off the Dead 九龙送葬 On the day of my grandfather’s funeral, nine dragons led the procession, and ten thousand ghosts wept in unison... 1kReads8.8Score14614d adds
- 41 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
- 42 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? 39Reads—Score—14d adds
- 43 The Corpse of a Mountain Village Woman 山村女尸 [Feel-Good Read + Urban + Suspense + Supernatural] He Xi is an ordinary security guard. One day, the west gate of Chaoxi Psychiatric Hospital desperately needs a guard. The pay is 30,000 yuan a month, but nobody dares take the job! Nobody else dares, but He Xi does! Only after arriving does he realize something is wrong. The west gate isn’t meant for people to pass through at all. It’s a gate for ghosts! 7.7kReads7.7Score35314d adds
- 44 The Unlucky Heavenly Master Walks the Mortal World 冤种天师走人间 The Maoshan Celestial Master holds yin and yang in check, slays ghosts, banishes demons, and dispels ill omens. A three-foot peachwood sword, a stick of incense for virtue! My fate is unusual: I court death but never die, so my master took me in as a disciple and taught me the secret arts of Maoshan. After descending the mountain, I met a beautiful older girl I knew as a child, and she led me down a road of no return. A beauty in an ice coffin, a snow-mountain witch, a fox spirit beneath the moo 714Reads7.4Score10114d adds
- 45 Folk Horror Taboos 民间恐怖禁忌 Do you know the stories old people tell? Do you know there are many things in folk tradition that people say must not be spoken of? Do you know what the elders say about dreams? The elders say there are things you mustn't talk about at night. Did you know that? 121Reads6.3Score—14d adds
- 46 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… 214Reads8.8Score10014d adds
- 47 Blood Wedding 血嫁 Ever since I received a strange hundred-yuan bill, every wedding I attend ends in bloodshed. The grooms have their throats slit, their blood splattering across the brides’ white gowns. Ten couples have died for no apparent reason, and I’m the only one who has seen the killer: the Grim Reaper, holding a scythe... A cold and aloof fiancé appears out of nowhere. A mysterious exorcist hides in a coffee shop. Strange supernatural incidents pull me into a terrifying, thrilling spiral. At last, the da 951Reads8.6Score11814d adds
- 48 The Uncanny One 邪门儿 In the old days, bandit gangs had four pillars and eight posts. The foremost pillar was called the Heaven-Supporting Pillar, and its holder served as the gang's strategist. Since strategists tattooed goshawks on their chests, they were also known as Mountain-Circling Eagles. A Mountain-Circling Eagle is neither monk nor Daoist, yet can discern yin and yang, communicate with spirits, and foretell fortune and misfortune. Neither immortal nor shaman, yet can cast talismans, drive out evil spirits, 1.5kReads8.6Score15614d adds
- 49 A Genius of Yin and Yang 阴阳鬼才 A calamity when I was fourteen changed my whole life. Then, at eighteen, I was set firmly on the path of yin and yang, where I mastered top-tier secret arts and went ever farther along the road of slaying demons and vanquishing evil. 1.6kReads8.8Score11314d adds
- 50 Spirit Village 灵村 Thrills and the supernatural! There's an ancient village called Lingzhuang, also known as Bagua Village. I was born there. Lingzhuang is always shrouded in an atmosphere of terror: Enormous pythons, centipedes, black spiders, strange birds, and ferocious beasts roam about, attacking people... Lingzhuang is also rife with strange tales and bizarre happenings: A female ghost haunts the village; a cave in Longmian Mountain holds an arsenal from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom; a mysterious master live 69Reads—Score—14d adds
