Novels like The Living Must Keep Away: The Underworld Chef
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as The Living Must Keep Away: The Underworld Chef, best match first.
- 151 The Haunted Cabinet Opens by Itself Every Night, Long Hair Drags People Inside 凶柜夜夜自开，青丝缠人拖入柜 The sinister cabinet opens by itself every night, and strands of black hair coil around people and drag them inside. 33Reads—Score—14d adds
- 152 Thirty Years on Maoshan 茅山三十年 ♥ Don’t let the rating fool you, my book is top-notch! A feel-good story about a Taoist priest who descends the mountain to catch ghosts and drive out evil. No romance, no saintly do-gooder. Traveling far and wide to vanquish demons and uphold the Dao. No padding, no rambling, no romance. 9.3kReads8.8Score75714d adds
- 153 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 16.7kReads8.5Score1.7k14d adds
- 154 The Years I Spent as a Funeral Mourner 我当哭丧人的那些年 Some people must be mourned loudly when they are laid to rest. Otherwise, according to old folk customs, it is considered an act of filial impiety. After I was born, everyone in my family except my grandfather died because of me. My grandfather fell gravely ill, and to earn money for his treatment, I had no choice but to join Zhang the Elder, a man from my village, as a professional funeral mourner. From then on, I set out on a path of mourning with no return! 126Reads8.5Score—14d adds
- 155 Corpse-Walking Notes 2: The Myriad Forms Celestial Palace 《赶尸笔记2》万象天宫 Corpses driven along by corpse herders are known in the martial world as "corpses traveling ten thousand miles." It is said that in the Xiangxi region, some people make a living herding corpses. The Corpse Sect is one such group. Qin Shuang runs a funeral business; Brother Jiu has ties to both the underworld and the police; Haozi has just gotten out of prison; Baldy makes his living robbing and relocating tombs; and mute A-Wu is a skilled fighter shrouded in mystery. What kind of extraordinary s 122Reads8.7Score—14d adds
- 156 Tang Corpse, Song Rush 唐尸宋弛 The Corpse of Tang, the Slackers of Song 8Reads—Score—14d adds
- 157 The Immortal Path: Where the Other Shore Blooms 长生天之彼岸花开 Chief scientist Chai Daohuang is betrayed and embarks on endless cycles of reincarnation, retaining his memories as he pursues immortality. Joining forces with Meng Po, he defies the heavens and tramples the false gods of East and West! He uses faster-than-light travel to explore the endless cosmos, but immortality remains elusive. At last, guided by Wu Mian, who has already attained immortality through elixirs, he finally discovers the path to eternal life. 8Reads—Score—14d adds
- 158 Calculating Your Fate to the End 算死命 When I was born, I was nursed by a wolf for a few days. I thought of her as my mother, and believed I'd never see her again. Then one day, a woman came looking for me... 23.3kReads8.9Score2.6k14d adds
- 159 Painting Yin and Yang with a Single Stroke 一笔绘阴阳 As I gazed down the shadowy corridor and across the empty hall, the strange order of light and darkness stirred a fear of the unknown deep inside me. The elders always said, “The ancestral hall is home to spirits that have yet to depart.” “Don’t step on the threshold, don’t touch the ancestral tablets, and don’t whistle in the ancestral hall.” “The names on the tablets weren’t carved there. They moved in.” When the wind blew past the row of wooden windows, the latticework let out a mournful wail 209Reads—Score10114d adds
- 160 Transmigrated to Another World to Work as a Cleaner 穿越异界干保洁 There isn't just one system of power in the world! Flying cars, lightsabers, talismans, virtual reality, artificial intelligence... Is it science or fantasy? A top game developer transmigrates to another world just to lie flat and take a job as a cleaner?! Is it a distortion of human nature or a collapse of morality...? 1Reads—Score114d adds
- 161 The Last Daoist Lord 最后的道君 Ever since my mother got pregnant with me, strange things kept happening at home. First, a hedgehog came into the house, a long snake coiled around the beams, and a weasel dug a burrow in the vegetable patch out back. Then foxes from the mountains joined in, showing up at our doorstep every few days to peer inside. Now the five immortals were all gathered: Hu, Huang, Liu, Bai, and Hui. Anyone in the know would recognize this as the Five Immortals entering a home. Any one of the five entering 10.8kReads9.1Score97814d adds
- 162 Born to Fail at Corpse Stitching 生不缝尸 Born Without the Skills to Stitch Corpses 22Reads—Score114d adds
- 163 The Fragrance of the Coffin's Beauty 棺香美人 When I was born, the river swelled and washed a coffin right into my home. Fifteen years later, the coffin opened, and inside was a woman... Feng shui, fate and destiny... There are endless folk legends to tell, and more bizarre wonders than words can describe. 32.2kReads9.4Score76114d adds
- 164 The Underworld Is Real: I Became a Viral Ghostbuster Through Livestreaming 地府有人，我靠直播驱鬼火遍全网 [Live Streaming + Ghost Hunting + Horror + No Female Lead] After being killed by a ghost, Zhou Yu meets his father in the underworld, where the old man is a senior ghost officer. Since he has connections down there, it looks like he can do whatever he wants without worrying about dying again. There’s a condition for coming back to life: he has to help his father send evil ghosts and vengeful spirits to the underworld. To make ends meet, Zhou Yu starts livestreaming his ghost hunts, and unexpecte 6.5kReads9.3Score70714d adds
- 165 The Weird Path to Immortality: I Become a God in a Strange World 诡道长生：我在诡异世界封神 [Eerie] [Gu cultivation] [A completely revamped power system] The blind Lin Hun is a corpse collector, a white-clad servant in his ninth life at the Demon Suppression Bureau. Born ill-fated, he cultivates the eerie path with his crippled body. He spends his days collecting, stitching, and refining corpses, surrounded by the Eerie. Then he unexpectedly awakens the divine Eerie art, "The Lifespan-Boiling Gu Cultivation Method": Use lifespan as fuel, boil up supernatural abilities, and cultivate Gu 23.2kReads8.2Score2.6k14d adds
- 166 The Miaojiang Gu Chronicles 苗疆蛊事 The calamity of witchcraft and poison is spoken of only by people in the countryside. Many people who are unknowingly caught up in it have no idea it exists. Friends, do you really think there are no extraordinary people in this vast land of China? You do? No! No! No! Do you want me to tell you that I’m a poison-raising practitioner from the Miao borderlands? All right, come on in and let’s dish… 13.8kReads9.3Score2k14d adds
- 167 Supreme Ghost and Fiend Tamer 太上御鬼煞 When heaven and earth first emerged, chaos was divided; demons and monsters each claimed dominion. If anyone masters my Supreme Way, all ghosts and gods in the human realm will bow to them. [No female lead] [Semi-invincible protagonist] [A spectacular start from the very beginning] [Parallel-world supernatural fantasy] [Ensemble cast] The Supreme Taoist Li Changsheng series! Li Changsheng, the younger brother of the Dao Ancestor Laozi, also known as Li Er, makes a solemn vow: 22.9kReads9.2Score2k14d adds
- 168 Records of the Tang Dynasty Zombies 大唐丧尸录 The Tang Dynasty Zombie Chronicles 7Reads—Score—14d adds
- 169 I Just Became a Corpse King, and They Mistook Me for an Antique on Display! 刚成尸王，被当成古董展览了！ Ren Feng transmigrated into the body of a centuries-old corpse in a parallel world. He discovered that he was lying in a transparent coffin. A crowd stood around him, pointing and whispering. They thought the corpse was being played by a museum employee, and demanded refunds. Some visitors wanted to smash the crystal coffin and expose the museum’s true colors. Others pulled out their phones to record, saying they would defend their consumer rights. Just then, “Ding! System successfully bound!” “ 3.5kReads8.1Score38314d adds
- 170 A Notebook of Folk Taboos 民间禁忌笔记 I was born with a pair of snake eyes, and everyone at the forest farm said I was a demon child born of a snake. The night I was born, thunder crashed again and again. The next day, a huge, gold-scaled python was found dead from a lightning strike outside Laolingou. Something was squirming inside its belly. Master Sang sliced open the python with a single stroke and carried out a blood-soaked baby. He named me Lin Shisan. From that moment on, my fate was bound to Master Sang’s for life… 19.5kReads9.3Score1.5k14d adds
- 171 I'm a Funeral Officiant, So Summoning Immortals Is Only Natural 我个殡葬司仪，会请仙也很正常吧 [One heroine + the author conducted on-site research at funeral homes, crematoriums, and cemeteries, striving for realistic details + traditional supernatural tales + professional knowledge of funerals and spirit-medium practices] (The humorous setups and parody scenes in this book, as well as the original Qingfeng spirit-medium altar, where spirits other than ancestors are invited to take up residence, were published with the approval of the author's own guardian spirits. Readers, please believ 39.6kReads9.4Score3.9k14d adds
- 172 Day 49: The Whole Internet Watches Me Tear Through the Horse-Shaman World 第49天，全网看我杀穿出马仙 [The first novel online to tackle the “spirit-medium” genre from an opposing perspective] Before my dad died, he left me a blood curse: “If you meet a god, beat it. If you see an immortal, kill it.” Now the whole village is made up of spirit mediums, and I'm the only ordinary person left. They livestream “catching an old immortal,” so I report them and get their accounts banned. They stage “the Tragic King being killed,” so I expose their tricks on the spot. Then I rescue a snow-white fox, and i 15Reads—Score—14d adds
- 173 Tales of Folk Taboos 民间禁忌杂谈 A pig butcher never slaughters a pig with five toes. The village guardian never guards a village with a temple. A feng shui master never selects a lair of an evil dragon. A midwife must wash her hands in rooster’s blood. There are three hundred and sixty trades in the world, and every one has its rules. Are these ancient, mysterious rules really nothing more than empty formalities? If I told you that some rules must never be broken, because breaking them means death, would you believe me? 9kReads8.0Score1.2k14d adds
- 174 Tales of My Best Friend's Haunting 闺蜜诡事录 Tales of Strange Events Among Best Friends 13Reads—Score—14d adds
- 175 Tales of the Supernatural: Ghost-Hunting Venerable 怪谈之捉鬼天尊 Eight severed-head mountains form a Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation, imprisoning Song An’s first eight incarnations. To ensure that Song An can grow up safely in his ninth life, a mysterious eminent monk comes to the mortal world. Unfortunately, this time Song An is born on the night of the Ghost Festival, and is also a child of extreme yin, with all eight characters of his birth chart belonging to yin. Even stranger, nine days and nine nights of blood rain fall before Song An’s birth. For —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 176 The Little Prodigy of the Northern Ma Clan 北马小神童 A strange story set in a small town ninety years later. The heroine begins her shamanic calling at thirteen. On the day she was born, all the fox, yellow weasel, white weasel, willow, and rat spirits within a ten-kilometer radius knelt to welcome her. Then came a series of miraculous experiences. 10.6kReads9.5Score94714d adds
- 177 Taboo of the Living 活人禁忌 When I was nine, I found myself in mortal danger! To save me, my grandfather made a decision that would change my life forever... 16kReads9.2Score2.2k14d adds
- 178 Northeastern Ghost Doctor: I Cure Every Kind of Defiance! 东北鬼医：专治各种不服！ [Mystery and wild ideas] [Hilarious power fantasy] [Folk horror] [Invincible protagonist] [No female lead] (The short drama adaptation, Northeast Ghost Doctor: Five Ghosts Carry Me on My Journey from the Start, is now available on Tomato Short Drama.) Chen Shian, a ghost doctor from Northeast China born under the "Tenfold Peace" destiny, descends the mountain at his master's command to heal the world. With silver needles in his left hand, he cures ailments caused by ghosts; with his right fist, 27.1kReads9.2Score2.8k14d adds
- 179 The Sobbing Maitreya 哽咽的弥勒 A truly thrilling horror fantasy, with a master like Lin Zhenying guiding you through terrifying adventures, slaying demons and monsters, exploring forbidden arts, and cultivating as a demon immortal. Once you start reading, you won't be able to stop. It's pure exhilaration from beginning to end! 14Reads—Score—14d adds
- 180 Borrowed Corpse, Stolen Life 借尸命 When a plague swept through my mother’s village, she was the only one who escaped alive and made it to Chen Village. My mother was graceful and beautiful, but after arriving in the village, she went mad. There’s something wrong with this village. Every night, we hear strange noises. My father’s name is Chen Jiu, and mine is Chen Lintian. I suspect he isn’t my real father... 1.8kReads9.0Score13014d adds
- 181 Everyone Commands Spirits, but My Spirit Pet Is a Female Zombie 全民御灵，我的灵宠是女僵尸 Ye Ling was unexpectedly reborn in a wondrous world, an era in which everyone could command spirits. After successfully activating the Spirit Taming System, he could see hidden paths of evolution that ordinary people knew nothing about. Every time he advanced one rank, he could make a contract with a new spirit pet. Yet Ye Ling’s very first spirit pet was a zombie, a creature considered utterly useless by the world. But in Ye Ling’s eyes, now that he had awakened the System, his zombie was a sup 16.7kReads8.7Score1.6k14d adds
- 182 The Corpse Collection Files 收尸档案 Since ancient times, the dead have been left with their bodies. But few people know that corpses hold many secrets that remain hidden from the world. Cursed corpses, living corpses, bodies left where they fell, vengeful corpses, bisected corpses... Every corpse has a story of its own! My name is He Yongheng, and I collect bodies for a funeral home. 3.7kReads9.0Score38414d adds
- 183 Horror: From Puppet to Demon God of Fear! 恐怖：从木偶到恐惧魔神！ When Lin Qi opened his eyes, he had become a puppet of the “paranormal” type. All he had to do was earn fear points to grow stronger and stronger. “When you see me, it means fear has arrived!” “Struggle! Scream!” “I am the Demon God of Fear!” An era of resurgent terror, an era when ghosts roam the night. Lin Qi commands fear! 1.8kReads8.5Score18214d adds
- 184 Among the Otherworldly 我在异人间 I am descended from the Sage Yangming. When I was born, countless bolts of heavenly thunder circled our old family home and crashed down. Could it be because the last dragon and phoenix in the world died right outside my house, and now they want me to pay with my life? 17Reads6.9Score—14d adds
- 185 The Woman in the Closet 柜子里的女人 The Woman in the Cabinet 49Reads—Score—14d adds
- 186 The Horror Game Is Too Hard? Huohuo, I Only Want Joy! 惊悚游戏太难？花火我只要欢愉！ [Mind games + fireworks + madness + infinite flow] I am Sparkle, but I am not Sparkle. I am in a world of despair. When the heavens and earth are torn open by an indescribable, mysterious force and countless “abominations from beyond” descend, humanity’s fate is forced into a horror game. Slaughter, monsters, abyssal dungeons, illusions, eerie towers... Every time someone clears a game, a new Cthulhu entity may step into reality. Everyone is fighting to survive. But amid all this despair, I’m l 2.2kReads9.2Score26114d adds
- 187 The Peerless Mage 法师无双 A top sorcerer who once led the Heavenly Masters’ Court returns, only to be cast out by his powerful family. As he prepares to leave, he discovers that his younger female cousin has fallen victim to dark magic… 3.8kReads9.1Score45914d adds
- 188 The Last Female Mystic 最后一个女玄术师 When Ye Simei was five, a fortune-teller told her she was born with a bewitching beauty and destined to become a canary in some powerful man's cage. Ye Simei: Have the powerful gotten too cocky, or do you think I, Ye Simei, can't wield a blade anymore? 1.9kReads9.0Score27214d adds
- 189 I Rule the Archives of Life and Death on the Other Shore 我在彼岸执掌生死档案 "Chen Mo, would you be willing to work for the Underworld?" "That lousy place? Not even a dog would go!" "A monthly salary of fifty thousand." "If even dogs won't go, then I'll go!" "Triple overtime pay, and if anything goes wrong on a mission, we'll make sure you get a good next life." "Big Brothers Hei and Bai Wuchang, you can count me as clocked in today." "Lord Yama, you're paying me so much, it's got me worried." 50Reads—Score—14d adds
- 190 Financial Ruin 破財 Dead... They're dead. The day the secret sealed away for nine years was revealed, everyone in Yunshui Town died! In the past, Cen Ziyu always thought the mountain demon that ate children was just a bizarre tale the adults had made up to scare them. Until one day, he uneasily remembered something. When he was little... he had eaten a person! Cen Ziyu and his grandmother depend on each other. Their life is hard, but the uncles and aunties in Yunshui Town have always been kind to them, ofte 276Reads—Score4714d adds
- 191 Supreme Taoist: A Calamity of Bloodshed 道门太上：血光之灾 Offer blood to Heaven, and slay every evil thing. The Daoist arts are the strongest of all. All the great paths beneath Heaven come from Taishang. The Taishang lineage belongs to my Li family alone. The protagonist, Li Changsheng, makes a solemn vow to eradicate every evil demon beneath Heaven: he will never ascend, but remain in the mortal world for thousands of years. 11kReads9.4Score86414d adds
- 192 Baby Lantern 婴儿灯 When I was five, I fell into the water and my soul left my body. With my own eyes, I saw the legendary baby lantern said to lure away souls. I initially thought it had come to harm me, but that wasn’t the case. As I continued to investigate, a sinister layout targeting me slowly came to light... 208Reads—Score—14d adds
- 193 The Immortal Path of the Uncanny 诡道仙路 [Uncanny cultivation, no female lead, mortal protagonist] A black sun hangs in the sky, and the Uncanny Realm invades! Mortal Zhou Yi transmigrates into this world and makes a living by writing for others. One day, starving and freezing, he is hired by the sinister Shopkeeper Dong to copy ancient texts. By chance, he activates a beast-hide Bagua diagram and uses it to refine a perfect uncanny technique, killing the sinister shopkeeper. As he cultivates, he discovers that this world has long been 11.7kReads8.4Score1k14d adds
- 194 I'm in Malaysia, and I'm Going to Slay Ghosts and Demons 人在大马，我要斩鬼除魔 Moonlight flows like water, while daylight cuts like a blade. On the path to immortality, I slay the heavens' chosen ones. Clad in black, I grip the Tiger Soul blade, scale the heights of Cangwu, and stride across emerald waves. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the gates of the underworld open. When migrant workers venture abroad, they discover how dangerous the outside world can be. They encounter ghosts at ten thousand meters in the air, while the hot lands of Southeast Asia conceal 520Reads—Score—14d adds
- 195 The Celestial Master's Dragon-Seeking Secret 天师寻龙诀 Before she died, Grandma gave me three instructions. The most important one was that, on the night I turned eighteen, I must not open the door for anyone. But that night, my dead grandmother came back... 4.6kReads8.0Score1.8k14d adds
- 196 The Yellow Emperor’s Secret 黄帝秘藏 With a blood-written deed on my body, I fought hungry dogs for food. In the bitter cold of winter, I was about to be beaten to death on the frozen ground, until someone stood before me and told me I was a dragon in the art of feng shui... 14.8kReads8.9Score59214d adds
- 197 I Run a Paper Effigy Shop 我有一间扎纸店 I Have a Paper Effigy Shop tells the story of the protagonist, Liu Dabao, who runs a shop making paper effigies. One day, a guy named Li Xunhuan asked me to burn him a villa and gave me a jade pendant, saying someone would come to collect it later. That evening, a woman came to pick up the pendant and gave me a thousand yuan. But who could have guessed that the next day, the money vanished and turned into a pile of white paper! Was it ghost money for the dead? Were Li Xunhuan and that woman both 124Reads8.7Score1314d adds
- 198 The Living Must Keep Away 活人回避 Originally titled Living People, Keep Away. An antique set me on a desperate path. From then on, just to stay alive, I became a yin walker who dealt with the dead and the walking corpses. Three years searching for dragon veins, ten years locating acupoints, roaming between yin and yang, dealing in ghosts and spirits. I kept walking, struggling my way to where I am today. 2.7kReads8.9Score33114d adds
- 199 Rule Horror: This Dorm Is a Little Bit Terrifying 规则怪谈：这个寝室有亿点点恐怖 The supernatural rises, and rule-based horror descends. Each country will randomly select a Chosen One to enter the world of urban legends. If you clear the rule-based horror game, your country receives rewards that help it resist the urban legends. The first urban legend takes place in a dormitory. [You've finished another fulfilling day of studying. Welcome back to your dorm to rest. Please read the dormitory rules in advance.] [1: This apartment is designed for six people.] [2: The lower bunk 3.1kReads8.9Score24614d adds
- 200 Eerie Tattoos 诡纹 My grandfather was a tattoo artist, but the things he tattooed were seriously sinister… 7.3kReads9.1Score77414d adds
