Novels like Tales from the Paper Effigy Shop
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as Tales from the Paper Effigy Shop, best match first.
- 51 The Grand Feng Shui Master 大风水师 The living are coffined, the dead are entombed; yin and yang are reversed to establish the four pillars. A mirror that repels yang, cloth that draws in yin, and money trees lined up outside the door. A beautiful woman, plenty of money, yet worldly pleasures are not to be enjoyed. Walk between yin and yang, uncover Heaven’s secrets; every feng shui master is doomed to a short life! 13.9kReads8.6Score1.4k14d adds
- 52 By the Power of the Law 急急如律令 It all began when I took fifty yuan from a blind fortune-teller. Then, in the middle of the night, a woman's voice suddenly sounded behind me. 1.5kReads8.6Score16014d adds
- 53 The Yin Son of Heaven: From the Start, I Summon Black and White Impermanence 阴天子：开局召唤黑白无常 [System + passionate action + feel-good power fantasy + invincible protagonist + Underworld + Yin Heavenly Son + adventure + wild imagination] Shen Lian transmigrates to a fantasy continent and awakens the Yin Heavenly Son System. He slays vengeful ghosts, eradicates demons and evils, revives myths, and descends upon the mortal world. He obtains the Black and White Impermanence: vengeful ghosts are seized by the soul, and the Impermanence spirits claim their lives. He obtains the City God’s divi 2.8kReads7.6Score21114d adds
- 54 Mr. Xiao Wang 小王先生 My mother held on for several extra hours while giving birth to me, just so I wouldn’t be born on the date the fortune-teller had predicted. Haunted by evil spirits! Delivering winter clothes to the dead! Wandering ghosts! Why does everyone come to me for everything? Incense roots? Fate? Five-colored cloth? These mysterious trades all depend on intuition! Granny Bai says I have a spiritual gift and a knack for opening the senses. Aunt Yang says I have all three kinds of affinity. But I never tho 13.7kReads9.4Score1.4k14d adds
- 55 Folktales of the Mountains and Wilds 民间山野怪谈 The hidden truths behind ten major unsolved mysteries, revealing a host of terrifying taboos that will send chills down your spine! 14.2kReads9.1Score94114d adds
- 56 Xuanhuan: From the Start, I Become the Underworld’s Yin Son of Heaven 玄幻：开局成为地府阴天子 The King of Hell says you die at the third watch. Who would dare keep you alive until the fifth? Qi Yun transmigrates to another world and becomes the Underworld’s Yin Emperor. He summons the Ten Kings of Hell and the Four Ghost Emperors, establishing a supreme underworld and restoring order to the world. “What? An old man named Yao Chen is hiding inside a ring? What are we waiting for? He’s a ghost lingering among the living right under my underworld’s nose. Go arrest him and drag him down here 1.8kReads7.9Score11014d adds
- 57 Legend of the Demon-Slaying War 平魔传 This is a work I wrote many years ago, now revised and presented to you! Its original title was The Demon-Slaying War. If you've read it before, feel free to keep reading! No System, no evolution, no being reborn. It's been restored to the fantasy world of old! 300Reads—Score—14d adds
- 58 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
- 59 The Eerie Midnight Mirror 子夜诡镜 The scholar Chou Wuya happened upon a copy of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. The stall owner casually included an ancient bronze mirror, named Seeing the Heart. At midnight, Chou Wuya discovered that the mirror could tear apart dreams and reality, drawing him into one eerie, terrifying mirror realm after another. Every mirror realm was a supernatural ordeal with no way out. A woman named Ruoxi was sealed inside the mirror. She told Chou Wuya that every time he entered a dream, he would gai 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 60 The Underworld Big Shot Became Famous in Showbiz Through Mysticism 地府大佬靠玄学爆红娱乐圈 [Metaphysics + wish fulfillment + two top-tier stars] Meng Po Bai Jingzhi was banished to the mortal realm for training because of her domineering, overbearing ways and her habit of bullying the weak. She ended up as a third-tier actress who was terrible at everything except being a pretty face... Hater: “You can’t act.” Bai Jingzhi: “I can catch ghosts.” Hater: “You can’t sing in tune.” Bai Jingzhi: “I can catch ghosts.” Hater: “You’re lazy and don’t know a thing about crops!” Bai Jingzhi: “I c 388Reads8.4Score—14d adds
- 61 Strange Tales: Notes from a Supernatural Investigation 异闻：诡事调查笔记 Enough talk. The show is about to begin. If you want to know what 1999 and the confidentiality agreement are about, turn to Volume Six, Revelation. If you’re interested in a genius’s downfall, Volume Five, The Twelve Movements of the Abyss, is a requiem. If you want to know what lies behind Midnight FM, read Volume Four, Leviathan of the Upside-Down City, and uncover its secrets. If you’ve been having trouble sleeping, or can’t fall asleep, take a look at Volume Three, The Sleepless Prison. It m 110Reads9.4Score13014d adds
- 62 The Red Moon Returns: Sewing Up Corpses Makes Me Stronger 红月复苏：缝尸就变强 (The hottest feel-good power fantasy of 2022) (A brand-new profession: Corpse Stitcher) Ghosts roam the night beneath a blood-red moon; Each shattered corpse Is a resource that makes the Corpse Stitcher stronger. Three incense sticks burn, and the Rebirth Mantra ends; The human-bone abacus rings, and corpse stitching brings rewards. One day, a corpse speaks: “I’m calling your name. Do you dare answer?” Two streams of bloody tears run from Ying Ji’s eyes... Stitch human corpses, stitch ghost corp 2.8kReads8.8Score29714d adds
- 63 The Ghost Way, Midway Through Life 半路鬼道 Smart male lead + one heroine On the night of the Ghost Festival, the living send off the dead, burn incense, make offerings, and burn joss paper. But that night, I heard a ghost calling for a soul… The gong sounds, the night grows dark, and the road to the Yellow Springs is hard to travel… With talismans to guide the way and the departed to show the path, summon the gods and command the ghosts: only then can one master the Ghost Path between Yin and Yang! 6.8kReads8.9Score49114d adds
- 64 Coffin Shop No. 44 44号棺材铺 Everyone knows what a coffin shop is, but would you dare enter one where someone has died? Ever since I took over a coffin shop, strange things have been happening all around me. Only then did I realize that the people who come to buy coffins aren't necessarily alive… 2.2kReads8.0Score25314d adds
- 65 Dragon-Suppressing Coffin 镇龙棺 The day Grandpa died, all the beasts paid their respects, and nine dragons carried his coffin... 2.5kReads8.9Score46314d adds
- 66 The Underworld Bureau of the Yellow Springs 黄泉阴司 When I was a kid, I went to the back hill of the village to play and pick up human bones. There I stumbled upon a ghost opera and nearly lost my life. Luckily, a green snake saved me, but the snake also began a strange, shadowy romance. Ghost operas, spirit summoning, yellow-skin spirits' yin graves, peachwood seals against evil: the bizarre folk customs of southern Guizhou and chilling, uncanny tales of the worlds of yin and yang are coming your way. Warning: Not for the faint of heart!!! 5.8kReads8.4Score58214d adds
- 67 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
- 68 A Female Ghost Is Clinging to Me? Better Cling to Her! 女鬼缠身？反抱她大腿！ [No System, one heroine, ghost wife, yin-yang master, urban, supernatural, lighthearted comedy] A night spent beside a lonely grave, and the tomb’s occupant latches on. After paying respects to my grandfather tonight, I encountered something utterly absurd: I actually saw a ghost! These days, I’m afraid of being poor, and I’m afraid of dying! On a whim, after we couldn’t agree on anything, I got into a fight with the ghost and even slept on a lonely grave for the whole night. After that, one st 3.4kReads8.2Score32314d adds
- 69 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
- 70 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
- 71 I Came From the Underworld to Subdue Demons and Ghosts in the Mortal World 我自冥界来，于世间镇妖鬼 A live-action, high-definition animated series of the same name is now available on Hongguo and Tomato Novel. Search to watch. Witchcraft ☞ Taoist arts ☞ Feng Shui secrets ☞ Mountain spirits and ghosts ☞ Scary enough to make you scream ☞ Funny enough to make you laugh ☞ No harem Mei Wuji was possessed by the Netherworld Emperor. He died and came back to life, defying Heaven’s will. Mei Tianlang mastered Meishan witchcraft and Feng Shui geomancy, understood fate, and divined that his grandson Mei 27.1kReads9.0Score1.8k14d adds
- 72 The Corpse-Driving Inn: Taking the Iron Triangle on a Corpse-Driving Run 赶尸客栈，带着铁三角去赶尸 Qin Feng transmigrates into a tomb-raiding world, intending to explore tombs, but accidentally activates the Corpse-Driving Inn System. Just as the ten-year agreement comes to an end, the Iron Triangle reunites. Qin Feng decides to take the Iron Triangle corpse-driving! Fatty: "Hey, Third Master? Got a tomb job? Forget that, why raid tombs when driving corpses is so much better?" Wu Xie: "Making paper effigies is an art, especially when you're making women!" Xiao Ge: "I don't know those guys. I 1.8kReads8.5Score23214d adds
- 73 Underworld Agent 地府经纪人 I was hit by a basketball at school and fell into a lake, but I survived and became an official employee of the Underworld. I also gained a Ghost Hunter System that helps the Underworld recruit talented ghosts, setting me on the path to turning my life around. 56Reads6.8Score414d adds
- 74 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
- 75 Tales of the Taoist Sect 道门往事 Cha Wenbin holds the ancestral seal of the Maoshan sect and is the last heir to the position of sect leader in the Orthodox Way. He saves people caught between yin and yang, but brings disaster upon himself and suffers Heaven’s punishment. With a chivalrous heart and a mastery of Taoist arts, he rescues the living from the cracks between worlds and guides the dead through the endless hellish roads! Who are the ancient Di people clad in fish scales, the mysterious king brought back to life, and t 24.1kReads9.1Score4.3k14d adds
- 76 Taboo of the Living 2 活人禁忌2 Heaven Official's Blessing, no taboos under heaven. The second installment of Living People’s Taboos! 7.9kReads9.1Score1.2k14d adds
- 77 I Went on a Blind Date, and My Identity as a Yellow River Corpse Retriever Was Exposed 去相亲，黄河捞尸人身份曝光了 Lin Yan was a corpse retriever. In his previous life, he violated the three taboos of the trade and was consumed by baleful energy, only to be reborn by accident. After binding to the Corpse Retriever System, he returns to his old profession and becomes the last corpse retriever in a parallel world! This time, he swears he won't repeat the mistakes of his past life! But unexpectedly, he ends up trending online. UC: “Shocking! Celebrity W 2.1kReads7.8Score26914d adds
- 78 Paranormal Livestream: Please, Stop Telling Stories 灵异直播：求求你别讲了 Lin Xiao, a horror-story streamer, accidentally transmigrates to a world with no supernatural stories. His story about a haunted taxi is met with protests from countless taxi drivers. His story about a human-meat barbecue shop leaves countless barbecue lovers too terrified to go near one. His school ghost story unexpectedly helps the police solve a cold case that has remained unsolved for years. What's more, he discovers that he can inherit a vast collection of Daoist magical artifacts and skill 483Reads7.3Score8514d adds
- 79 The Underworld Calls Me Little Sir 地府叫我小先生 [Supernatural + mystery + power progression] Getting hit by a basketball and falling into a lake was bad enough. Even worse, I got killed by a basketball!! The Black and White Impermanence told me I still had seventy years left to live. To make it up to me, they offered me a job in the underworld. So I became an HR officer on the underworld’s permanent staff and even got a ghost recruitment System! As long as I help the underworld recruit talented ghosts, I can earn all kinds of abilities: talis 399Reads—Score—14d adds
- 80 Disciple of the Maoshan Sect 茅山门徒 A strange antique shop where the owner uses his ghostly eyes to appraise treasures and spends a fortune buying ghost bones! Think the owner only knows how to appraise antiques? Think again. He can read beautiful women, too! The domineering female CEO, the hottest star, an unconventional beauty, the pure-hearted campus belle, the girl next door… He can see right through you with a single glance! 7kReads9.0Score64814d adds
- 81 I'm a Haunted House Sleep Tester 我在凶宅当试睡员 I worked for a real estate company, but later I was transferred to another department. I never expected to encounter something terrifying on my very first day... 5.5kReads8.8Score58314d adds
- 82 The Celestial Master Descends the Mountain 天师下山 Back in my day, I had mastered my own school of celestial arts. One punch made the high-ranking martial artists at the nursing home north of the village tremble. One kick sent the young prodigies at the kindergarten south of the village bawling. And when I stood at the mass grave east of the village, not one of those hundreds of Ghost Kings or Ghost Emperors dared even breathe. 13.7kReads9.0Score1.6k14d adds
- 83 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
- 84 Uncle Nine: Is This Kid a Yin Messenger? 九叔：这小子是阴差？ (Uncle Jiu’s world + underworld bailiff + no female lead + System!) When King Yama says you’ll die at the third watch, who dares keep you until the fifth? Lin Yi transmigrates into Uncle Jiu’s world and unexpectedly becomes Uncle Jiu’s senior disciple. He binds himself to the strongest Underworld System from the start. All he has to do is earn yin virtue to get promoted and receive a raise! [Ding!] [Congratulations, Host, on successfully capturing a soul. Reward: 300 yin virtue!] [Ding! Congratu 2kReads7.1Score10314d adds
- 85 Suppressing the Dragon 镇龙 For one person, he dug up an ancient grave, broke into a dragon's tomb, and wielded the Yang Sword to slay yin spirits! An heir to a family of secret arts, he joins a group of men and women bound together by fate. Together, they travel far and wide, fighting monsters in the mountains, slaying evil in the cities, breaking into the underworld, and robbing ghost messengers... To change our fate, we defy the heavens! 2.4kReads8.8Score50714d adds
- 86 Special Operations Bureau 特事行动科 One thousand three hundred and ninety years ago, under the emperor’s direction, human adepts gained control of the “Void” and used it to create the “Wall,” which separated the real world from the anomalous one. After more than six centuries of effort by adepts from various schools, the anomalous remnants in the real world were finally purged, leaving humanity with a world of its own. Anomalous creatures became demons, ghosts, gods, and monsters in tales of the strange. As time passed, the adepts 1.7kReads7.0Score20414d adds
- 87 A Tujia Daoist by the Wu River 乌江边的土家道士 A graduate of a top university, unable to pass the civil service exam after years of trying and considering his family circumstances, accepts his family’s legacy and becomes a home-based Taoist priest. This Tao is not that Tao: it’s nothing like the Taoist priests we normally imagine. There are no strict rules and taboos, nor any grand mission to save all humanity. Yet this Tao is also that Tao: he wears the same robes, communicates with the realms of yin and yang, and does what he can to help. 844Reads6.5Score10414d adds
- 88 Monks Don't Give Their Names, Daoists Don't Speak of Their Lifespans, but I Can Exorcise Ghosts 僧不言名道不言寿但我会驱鬼 He was nearly buried alive at birth. The venerable Taoist Zhang Jiuye defied fate and changed his destiny, but in doing so planted a curse: he was fated to face three tribulations. At sixteen, he was summoned to call back a soul, then fought the Five Plague Gods by night, only to have his spirit dragged into a temple in the underworld! At nineteen, his life-and-death trial arrived, and beneath the Laojun Temple, a mysterious stone slab sealed away for a thousand years was unearthed... Other peop 1.5kReads8.6Score13514d adds
- 89 Followed by Ghosts 与鬼随行 Immersive, terrifying, and packed with suspenseful mystery and deduction. I have a strange world, and I want to take you there! After the college entrance exams, I took a fatal blow meant for my friend and lost my sight. By chance, I ended up at a bizarre vocational college. My classmates are dying one after another under strange circumstances, and there seems to be a much bigger secret behind it all. This world seems so strange... so strange... I have to solve the mind-bending challenges one by 3kReads—Score30314d adds
- 90 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. 14.8kReads8.8Score1.6k14d adds
- 91 Calculating Fate Through Yin 算阴命 My mother was snatched away by a beast when she gave birth to me. Twelve years later, my father brought home a woman. Three days after that, my father died… 1.8kReads8.9Score25514d adds
- 92 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
- 93 Yin-Yang Eye Realtor: Selling Haunted Houses in Chongqing 阴阳眼中介：我在重庆卖凶宅 A novel inspired by local Chongqing legends and historical anecdotes. This story is entirely fictional. As a child, the protagonist gained the ability to see yin and yang from a Qing dynasty skeleton. His family’s ancestral ledger is filled with secrets of old Chongqing. The folklore is meticulously researched, with traceable details ranging from place names and historical anecdotes to traditional remedies and feng shui formations. Each haunted house seems like a self-contained case, but in trut 194Reads8.3Score—14d adds
- 94 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
- 95 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 6kReads9.1Score57914d adds
- 96 No Living People Allowed 活人勿近 [Inspired by real events, but the setting is entirely fictional] [No cultivation] [Supernatural horror only] The countryside is different from the city. Rural areas are vast and sparsely populated, with too little human presence to suppress what lurks beneath the ground. That's why ghost stories and strange legends keep cropping up. Ask anyone from a village in Sichuan, and they'll have plenty to tell you about supernatural happenings in the mountains and fields in years gone by. Some people 97.2kReads9.3Score8.8k14d adds
- 97 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 30.9kReads8.1Score2.4k14d adds
- 98 The Little Taoist of Green Mountain 青山小道士 [Taoist priest + supernatural mysteries + technically detailed + magic arts + urban + no power fantasy + slow growth + no heroine] (The central idea of the first book: Heaven and humanity) This novel is told in the first person and explores knowledge and experiences from many perspectives, including Taoist culture, astronomy, feng shui, Qimen Dunjia, physiognomy, palmistry, humanities, society, and science. Everything unknown in the world is like a vast darkness. Science is like a flashlight ill 4.3kReads9.2Score72614d adds
- 99 Eerie Tattoos 诡纹 My grandfather was a tattoo artist, but the things he tattooed were seriously sinister… 7.3kReads9.1Score77414d adds
- 100 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
