Novels like Opening the Road to the Underworld
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Opening the Road to the Underworld, best match first.
- 51 Judgment in the Deep Dark 深暗审判 [Completed] [Slow-Burn Supernatural Mystery] [For Detail Lovers] [No Female Lead] [No Romance] [No System] [Not Mindless] [The Protagonist Is a Vengeful Ghost] When other people see a ghost: Kill it! When Gu Mo sees a ghost: Food! I'm a crazy, eccentric person, and there's something wrong with my mind. (I love putting on an act. I want to make sure no one, including everyone watching, can figure out what I'm really like.) Can someone from another world survive here? Will the personalitie 63Reads—Score—14d adds
- 52 The Soul-Suppressing Stele 镇魂碑 Telling the eeriest stories and exposing the most unfathomable human hearts! The final installment in the Evil-Quelling Trilogy! (The first two, Evil-Quelling Notes and Thousand Corpse Town, are both complete.) After the first thirty thousand words, there will be three updates every day! No delays, guaranteed! Thank you all for continuing to support Lao Zhang! 678Reads7.8Score10114d adds
- 53 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
- 54 God Suppressor 镇神 A deadly evil curse, a Taoist priest ascending to immortality, and a great calamity on the horizon. The Daoist sect's young patriarch has no choice but to descend the mountain and save the world, only to find a greater conspiracy unfolding one after another. 2.5kReads6.9Score16114d adds
- 55 Survived Eighteen Times: The Third Real Horror Movie 活过十八次：第三度真实恐怖电影 (Starring in Real Horror Movies) + (Infinite-Flow Supernatural Instances) If you happen to scroll through videos, Weibo, or Tieba and come across an invitation to the Third Degree Horror Movie, you will find yourself thrown into a horror movie, playing one of its characters. As the plot unfolds, bizarre, spine-chilling curses and eerie ghosts lurking everywhere will descend one by one. A village shrouded in a blood spring, a strange building, thirteen flights of stairs, a dark corridor, a silent 3.3kReads—Score40614d adds
- 56 The Yin Seal: The Haunted Pagoda of Western Zhejiang 阴玺之浙西鬼塔 Tomb raiding + mystery + two male leads (and more, an all-pairings story) + pure love + group favorite + ensemble cast (Some of the background settings in this story are a little similar to The Grave Robbers' Chronicles. If that bothers you, please don't open it. This isn't The Grave Robbers' Chronicles or fanfiction, so please make sure you understand that before reading.) Why are there so many pairings? Mainly because I can't control them. They all have their own souls, and I won't force the c 144Reads8.9Score10414d adds
- 57 What Do You Mean the Corpses I Sew Together Are All Cursed? 什么叫我缝的尸体都是大凶之物？ [Chinese folk customs] [Corpse seamster] [Traditional supernatural horror] [A clever protagonist who isn’t an idiot] My name is Chen Yang. I’m a mortician, or rather... a corpse seamster. I can sew up corpses no one else can. I can take jobs no one else dares to accept. I’ve handled all sorts of bizarre cases: people who jumped from buildings in red clothes, corpses missing arms and legs, and even one person who was holding their own head... Everyone says the corpses I sew up are all terribly un 221.9kReads9.1Score29.4k14d adds
- 58 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... 114Reads—Score—14d adds
- 59 The Secret Records of Evil Spirits 邪灵秘录 A healer saves lives, but medicine is divided into “living medicine” and “dead medicine.” A group of young people journey through remote mountain valleys, deserts, and snowy wilderness. They venture along the boundary between life and death, exploring lost techniques. This is a shocking mystery hidden among mountains, rivers, and vast wilderness... 715Reads8.6Score10214d adds
- 60 It's Only Natural for a High Schooler to Slay Ghosts 作为高中生会斩鬼很正常吧 [Slow-Burn] [No Female Lead] [Growing Protagonist] [No Brain-Dead Decisions] The rifts connecting to the Gray Abyss have existed since ancient times. The Gray Abyss breeds ghosts, and ghosts devour human souls. Souls connect to the supernatural and can awaken Sequences. The summer sun shines bright. Class 8 of the second year of high school is in its usual chaotic state when a note covered in eerie black writing somehow appears on a desk. Gray fog rolls in, and strange changes suddenly begin. A 3.2kReads8.4Score41714d adds
- 61 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
- 62 Being a Charlatan Is Hard, but Living Off Someone Else Is Sweet 神棍不好当，还是软饭香 [Mystery and the supernatural + fortune-telling and ghost-hunting + a formidable duo] As the last knife-on-credit salesman in the world, he imagined that life after leaving the mountain would mean countless underlings and beautiful women all around him. But reality was harsh. When he performed on the street, people took him for a charlatan and a fraud! Just then, he spotted a ridiculously handsome man stepping out of a luxury car and swaggering toward him... Oh, man, a walking god of wealth! He’ 3.7kReads9.2Score38114d adds
- 63 Please Let Me Keep All the Experience Points to Myself, Thanks 请让我独享经验，谢谢 [Unsatisfying Story] [Slow Burn] [Growth-Oriented Protagonist] Years later, gazing at the scenery of a new world, Su Zhen would remember that distant afternoon when he clicked on an obscure little link. 445Reads8.6Score10614d adds
- 64 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
- 65 The Vengeful Spirit Notebook 凶灵笔记 I've slept in a coffin since I was little. It wasn't until the woman in red appeared that I learned the truth. I was born on Ghost Festival. I don't want to die. 1.3kReads8.7Score23214d adds
- 66 My Body Grows Infinitely Stronger, and One Punch Can Shatter the Entire Universe 我身体无限强化，一拳打爆全宇宙 [Male-oriented, no romance, ensemble cast, no lone-wolf protagonist The male lead has wood powers and is the team's brains as well as its strongest fighter. The second male lead has fire powers, and the female lead has ice powers. Both are utterly loyal to the male lead.] In the age of superpowers, Xiang Kai awakens the weakest F-rank ability: [Vines]. It has virtually no attack power and is barely any different from being an ordinary person. Everyone looks down on him, mocks him, and insul —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 67 So What If I'm Out of a Job as a Male Model? I Can Exorcise Demons! 男模下岗咋了？老子会驱魔！ [Paranormal + Exorcism + Episodic Stories + No Female Lead + No Romance + No Harem + Brotherhood + Growing Up] Male model and drinking companion Sun Yu gets plied with drinks and groped by rich women in private rooms every night. He curses under his breath but still has to smile, thinking he’s doomed to spend his whole life trapped in drinking parties. Then he finds a busted piece of wood hidden by his adoptive father, and a big brother from an exorcist family suddenly shows up! Now the winegla 30Reads—Score—14d adds
- 68 The Nameless One in the Quiet Sea 静海无名者 [No romance] [Disaster] [Multiverse] In Graytower City, lighthouses do more than shine out over the sea. They also keep the city feeling like a city. When Lighthouse Three, out beyond the coast, goes dark, warm water, a coat, and an unfinished log are left in the watch room. Every piece of evidence proves someone was there. The problem is, no one remembers who he was. As the investigation deepens, Shen Yan begins to realize that what is closing in on the city isn't fire, fog, or the sea. It's a 28Reads8.2Score—14d adds
- 69 Strange Tales of China 中国异闻录 Lanterns in the Dark, also known as Strange Tales from China, follows the success of Strange Tales from Thailand, which sold 100,000 copies. In this all-new work, the “master of suspense,” Yang Xingchu, takes you deep into the heart of Chinese folk customs. What tragic and moving tales of love and hate lie behind the legends passed down to this day? The things you have always taken for granted may not be what you think: Is a ghost marriage really a marriage to a dead person? Is every stretch of 107Reads7.8Score—14d adds
- 70 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
- 71 Rule Horror: I’m Bai Wuchang, the White Impermanence! 规则怪谈：老子就是白无常！ (The rating has just been posted and will gradually rise) [National Fate] [Rule Horror] [No Female Lead] [Thriller Game] [Global Livestream] [Mildly Scary, Not for the Fainthearted] Bai Wuchang Xie Bi'an, one of the Ten Great Yin Marshals of the Underworld, transmigrated to a parallel world plagued by Rule Horror. Every country in this world must randomly select a “player” to enter a Rule Horror instance and clear its challenges. The winning country earns National Fate rewards, while the losing 6.1kReads7.9Score1.1k14d adds
- 72 The Strange Realm: From the Start, I Dismembered the Monstrous 怪域诡界，我开局分尸诡异 [A handsome male lead, just like the readers] [Horror-leaning; do not read if you scare easily] [Mystery and the supernatural] [A story where despair and hope intertwine and ebb and flow] [Similar to Taming the Supernatural] It was an ordinary night, but it led Lu Ying into a new world woven from madness and death. This world has lost its light, and people like Lu Ying need a constant supply of “candles” to stay alive. But “candles” can only be found in the realms of those unkillable, rule-bound 8Reads—Score—14d adds
- 73 Dimensional Rift: You Can't Strip Me of My Humanity 纬度间隙：不许开除我的人籍 [Full-Dive Game]+ [Infinite Flow]+ [No Female Lead]+ [Not a Power Fantasy]+ [Spiritual Qi Revival] At first, as a staunch materialist, Feng Yan thought that Dimensional Rift, a game officially promoted by the government, was simply an incredibly awesome Infinite Flow full-dive game. That was, until he received an admission letter from the game in the real world. Something was off about this game. Later, he discovered that something seemed... off about the real world, too. “How am I not human?” F 280Reads8.7Score—14d adds
- 74 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
- 75 The Soul of Flowing Waters: Five Hundred Years of Revenge 悠悠水魂——五百年的复仇 The Soul of Flowing Waters: Five Hundred Years of Revenge 16Reads—Score—14d adds
- 76 Me and My Haunting System After I Die 我死后和我的恐吓系统 “Congratulations, you’ve become a ghost. You are now bound to the Scare System. Your task is to frighten people and earn scare points, which you can use to strengthen yourself.” “What? Scare people?” I exclaimed in surprise. “That’s right. Only by earning enough scare points can you survive in this world and grow stronger.” The System’s voice was icy. 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 77 Hey, Buddy, Slow Down! 好兄弟，你慢些走！ [No Romance, No Female Lead + Beloved by All, Brotherly Bonds + Comeback Without a System + From Top Student to School Bully + Everyday Friendship and Redemption + Campus + Entertainment Industry] Xu Cheng is diagnosed with a terminal illness and thinks he doesn't have long to live. He plans to keep a low profile and wait to die, but his abilities won't let him! Seeing how sincere his brothers are and clearing up a misunderstanding with his childhood friend, he gradually reveals his comeback pot 231Reads8.8Score10414d adds
- 78 My Friends Cultivate, I Level Up 好友修炼我升级 (High martial arts + no female lead + leveling up. He focuses solely on building his career, with no brainless antagonists picking fights.) Mu Qingzhi acquires a friend-making System. Anyone added to his friends list gains a boost to their cultivation speed. And his own gains will be doubled on top of theirs! “Your friend Lu Xunwen is meditating and cultivating. Spiritual energy +3.” “The principal has taken an Expansion Pill. Congratulations, Host, you have advanced to Martial Artist.” As long 638Reads8.8Score11014d adds
- 79 I Asked You to Write a Horror Play, So Why Did You Have to Add a Deity? 让你写诡剧，您非要往里加神人？ He Mo has always believed that eerie plays, with their dark, disturbing themes and wall-to-wall negativity, are bound to drive actors to a mental breakdown if they perform in them for too long. So he insists on adding a few absurd characters and comic plotlines to lighten things up. The more the theater objects, the more it proves he's doing the right thing. It shows that he's exposed the theater's intention to torment its actors through eerie plays. The more the actors object, the more it prove 2.2kReads—Score40114d adds
- 80 Edict: After the Hour of the Dog 敕令：戌时之后 A folk-horror tale: one official dispatch has been held up for three years. The speaker is Shen Yan, a registrar in Bianzhou. The dispatch was held up three months ago, and nobody dared take it on. Of the two who did, one grew a black ring around the back of his neck, while the other lost an eyelid. Three lines were written on the dispatch: Wherever it passes, there will be no rain for three years. After the hour of the Dog, do not enter any place with a threshold. There are only three rules: fi 83Reads—Score44214d adds
- 81 The Corpse-Reading Detective 诡案读尸人 The Corpse-Reading Detective 5Reads—Score—14d adds
- 82 I Am a Life-Pawn Broker 我是赊命人 [Life on Credit + Past and Present Lives + Destiny + Growth] Past and present lives, the river of fate, and sealed memories on the verge of awakening. He was born under a fate marked by three misfortunes and seven defeats. But after inheriting the Heavenly Soul of King Wu, a twist of fate led him into the Azure Dragon Sect, where he became a Life-Borrower. Life-Borrowers use soul power to wield Daoist arts. Thanks to this unusual profession and the soul of King Wu, Shen Rufeng possesses extraord 12Reads8.9Score—14d adds
- 83 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
- 84 I Command the Ghost King and Become the Mastermind Pulling the Strings 我驾驭鬼王，化身幕后执棋者 [Slow-paced + ghost control + satisfying read + invincible protagonist + daily life] This story follows Mo Bai, who accidentally falls into a supernatural realm while out in the suburbs. After meeting a teammate, he successfully gains control of the Ghost King and returns to the real world. He gradually grows stronger through one supernatural incident after another, eventually becoming the mastermind pulling the strings. This is an invincible-protagonist type of novel, so please don't nitpick th 17Reads—Score—14d adds
- 85 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 844Reads6.7Score10114d adds
- 86 I Transmigrated into a Book as the Villain, and the System Told Me to Save Myself 穿书成反派，系统让我自救 [The rating just came in...] Chen Mo transmigrates into the book Heaven's Plea Record and becomes a minor villain who gets killed by the protagonist from the start. [Ding! The Self-Rescue System has been activated. Self-rescue points, cultivation, techniques, divine gear, and all kinds of items can be exchanged for.] He doesn't want to be the protagonist's lackey, and he certainly doesn't want to die. His only choice is to frantically establish a persona: I'm a good person. I only want what's be 263Reads8.3Score—14d adds
- 87 The Strange and Supernatural Things I’ve Heard and Seen 那些我所闻所见的灵异事 I’ll tell stories about the strange things that have happened to me over the years, along with the folk secrets and I Ching mysticism I’ve learned. At the start of each story, I’ll say whether I experienced it myself or heard it from someone else. I may not tell them in chronological order. I need to remember and organize everything, so I’ll just talk about whatever comes to mind. Things I experienced myself may be exaggerated, but they’re absolutely true. As for some of the stories I’ve heard, 2.2kReads—Score14614d adds
- 88 Secrets of the Hidden Labyrinth 藏迷探秘 An accident ten years ago led me down the path of tomb raiding. On my first tomb expedition, I gained the ability to live forever, but it came at a terrible cost. Is immortality truly a blessing, or a curse? To uncover the secret of immortality, I traveled far and wide, exploring countless famous mountains and ancient tombs, and experiencing more bizarre events than I could count: the sinister Daji hidden in a tree in the Stone-Born Haunted Tomb, a blue elf that had survived for a thousand years 16.8kReads8.8Score1.7k14d adds
- 89 I'm a Bar Owner, Forced to Catch Ghosts 我，酒吧老板，被迫营业捉鬼 [Horror + supernatural + semi-invincible + no System + not brainless + ruthless decisiveness] I’m Heibai, an utterly ordinary bar owner. I only wanted to live a quiet life, but one commission and one problem after another keep landing on my doorstep. Curse magic, a drug-induced dreamless sleep, a yin-yang wedding, a deadly text message... As the Underworld descends, little Jiangcheng becomes a den of danger, and one strange incident after another unfolds. Well, looks like I can’t hide my abiliti 1.2kReads8.8Score11014d adds
- 90 Tales of Strange Beasts 奇妖志 [No romance + no female lead + a touch of ensemble cast] Seven years ago, Xu Rangchen was the sole heir to a family of demon hunters; Seven years later, he became the owner of the Strange Flavors Inn. Seven years had passed, and everything had changed. Once, everyone revered him, and even demons gave him a wide berth. Now, no one remembers him. What could have caused such a drastic change? He had been living peacefully at the Strange Flavors Inn, but the arrival of a rat demon shattered that tra 332Reads8.2Score10614d adds
- 91 Horror: Death Comes at Midnight 恐怖：夜半索命 I lived a routine life until the death of Old Chen changed everything. Beside his body lay a pile of handmade paper figures. One had been painted blood red and clutched in his stiff, dead hand. Blood-red words began appearing in the mirror: “Get out.” “He’s still in the building.” Then I received an ultimatum: his daughter needed a living substitute. Paper figures weren’t enough. Neither were his belongings. She wanted a living person in the building, someone warm and breathing. Tomorrow, at mid 16Reads—Score414d adds
- 92 The Hanging Charm 魅巾悬 No romance + fantasy and the supernatural + mild horror + modern-day imaginative premise + episodic plot + feel-good power fantasy Liu Yixian, with a high forehead and a broad, square face, was taken in as an apprentice by Daoist Wu in the twelfth year of his life, setting him on an extraordinary path. A thousand-year-old fox or a century-old ginkgo: which one will win Yixian’s heart? A blood-red sickle stabbed the ghost seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, maybe twenty times. The ghost couldn’t take 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 93 Thriller Game: I Can Eavesdrop on Ghosts 惊悚游戏：我能偷听鬼话 [Infinite Flow] [No Female Lead] [Light Horror] [Multiple Twists] Six months ago, a blood mist sealed off Nandu City, trapping its ten million residents inside. Strange beings invaded the fog, and one abnormal incident after another unfolded. Lin Xu has no idea why he appeared in this city. A strange game appeared at the same time, forcing him to enter a horror instance every seven days, where death was all but certain. But the items he obtained in the game could be used against the strange enti 21.6kReads7.0Score2.3k14d adds
- 94 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
- 95 The Paper Effigy Shop Catches Ghosts Now and Then 纸扎店偶尔也捉鬼 In a quiet village stood an ancestral shop that made paper offerings. Its owner was a young man named Lin Yu. He was 23, and had been idling away his days in the shop since he was 18. He was a terrible student, had no lofty ambitions for the future, and lived like a contented couch potato. Lin Yu spent his days tinkering with the paper figures and horses in the shop, occasionally chatting with the village elders. Life was as calm as still water. Then one evening, that peace was broken. A mysteri 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 96 The Soul-Returning Soup 还魂汤 I was born in a remote village. The day my mother gave birth to me, she died a horrible death! I was born disabled, missing an arm, and with a red birthmark shaped like a coiled snake on my foot. My master said I had been cursed by an evil spirit, and that the curse could only be lifted if I found the one who cast it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t live to see twenty... 98Reads—Score—14d adds
- 97 The Twilight Line of the Haunted Realm: Conquering It with My Wits 诡界晨昏线：靠脑子制霸诡界 [Mild horror] [No System] [Character growth] [One heroine] Countless “Haunted Realms” suddenly appeared around the world. Like black holes, they devoured ordinary people's mental energy and the real world, pushing reality to the brink of madness. In response to the crisis, all kinds of organizations sprang up. They ventured into the Haunted Realms to explore, seized haunted objects to protect themselves, and sought the truth on the edge of life and death. As their investigations deepened, they d 5Reads—Score114d adds
- 98 Rule Horror: After Lights Out, Follow the Dormitory Rules 规则怪谈：熄灯后，请遵守宿舍守则 Rule Horror: After Lights Out, Please Follow the Dormitory Rules 52Reads—Score—14d adds
- 99 The Ghost Emerges from the Coffin 鬼出棺 Xie Bangui is secretly recruited into the Ghost Yamen and, on his master's orders, serves there, making a living by hunting demons and ghosts. Yet he has no idea that he carries a world-shaking secret. Leading the Ghost Yamen's warriors, Xie Bangui launches a night raid on a prison for evil spirits, fights a bloody battle on the execution platform against a demon, encounters a soul-snatching carriage, and cleverly breaks a skeleton lock. He survives evil spirits' attempts to claim his life, outw 1.6kReads9.1Score15214d adds
- 100 Infinite Instances: I've Survived by Hitching My Wagon to the Strong 无限副本：我靠抱大腿苟活至今 (The rating has just come in, so it’ll rise later) [A male lead who grows over time but has plenty of ideas from the start] + [A little live-stream chat here and there] + [The male lead has no love interest; he belongs to the readers] + [The author takes suggestions to heart] + [A survival guide for each instance] Lu Li, a fragile college student, is chosen to enter a world of horror games, where he must struggle to survive an endless succession of instances. Quick-witted Lu Li grabs onto the le 1.1kReads8.2Score16814d adds
