Novels like A Fading Lamp Shines on the Lonely Dead
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as A Fading Lamp Shines on the Lonely Dead, best match first.
- 1 Ten Years of Exorcism 十年驱魔往事 My name is Chen Feng. I learned to catch ghosts and ward off evil from my grandfather when I was little. In this world dominated by modern technology and rational thought, I seem out of step with the times. But when night falls and people tremble in fear, I am their only hope... 304Reads—Score—14d adds
- 2 A Taoist Priest’s Guide to Exorcising Evil in the City 道士之都市驱邪 25Reads—Score—14d adds
- 3 On My Wedding Day, My Deceased Sister Texted: You Can't Marry This Man 婚礼当天,亡妹发短信:这人不能嫁 —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 4 The World Is a Ghostly Hell, Good Thing I Went Crazy Early 人间鬼蜮,还好我提前疯了 A funny, mildly frightening Lovecraftian folk-horror Infinite Flow story, with no System, a small ensemble cast, and no female lead. It all begins with a text message sent to everyone in despair. Step onto the platform of death and search for hope amid despair. Completed instances: "The Haunted Nursing Home" and "The Age of Peace and Chaos." These two instances form the main story of the first arc. Based on "The Taiping Book of Sorcery," left behind by the Great Sage of Learning, Zhang Jue, 29kReads8.4Score3.6k14d adds
- 5 Don't Mess With Me, My Master Is the Purple-Robed Celestial Master 别惹我,我师父是紫袍老天师 [Urban Fantasy + Unraveling Ancient Mysteries + Feel-Good, No Angst + Suspense and Supernatural + Tomb Raiding] In ancient Huaxia, many strange events have taken place that defy explanation. For instance, did the First Emperor really die? Do demons and spirits truly exist in this world? How are drought demons born? Why did the Shatuo people, who had existed for centuries, vanish overnight? Does the desert death worm really exist? What is the monster with a human face and a cow’s body in the no-m 42Reads—Score—14d adds
- 6 Ghosts Are So Scary! Learning to Slay Them in a Supernatural World 有鬼好怕怕,我在灵异世界学斩鬼 [Horror novel. Not for the faint of heart.] Do you believe there are ghosts in this world? If not, where did the word “ghost” come from? Have you ever experienced despair? The world I live in is filled with it. My name is Li You'an. If you’d like to hear my story, come take a look at my world. Twenty kilometers beyond the cemetery, countless hands clawed their way out of the earth. The world changed, becoming strange and unfamiliar. Ghosts ran rampant, the gates of the underworld swung wide ope —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 7 After Ten Years as a Psychiatrist, I Finally Began to Doubt My Entire Worldview 当了十年精神科医生,第一次彻底怀疑世界观 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 8 Forbidden Tales of the Desolate Village: A Midnight Whistle, and a Shrouded Corpse Spirit at the Door 荒村禁忌:夜半吹哨,白布尸魂找上门 —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 9 I, a Young Maoshan Taoist, Walk Between Yin and Yang 我,茅山小道,行走阴阳 (A note to all readers!!! You can skip Volume One, The Young Maoshan Daoist Comes of Age, and go straight to Volume Two, Conquering the Yin and Yang. Volume One is a little slow, so feel free to skip it if you don’t want to read it.) My name is Li Qingfeng. The year I was born, strange phenomena appeared in the sky, as dragons and tigers contended. Later, I studied Maoshan Daoist arts under a master. He said I was the most gifted person he had ever met, and that taking me as his disciple left hi —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 10 After College, I Became a Taoist Priest 大学毕业后我去当了道士 Ghost-catching, zombies, tombs, feng shui, and the divide between the living and the dead I was just an ordinary person. That is, until I graduated from college. My relatives passed away, my parents abandoned me, and I became someone the world had no place for. An unexpected letter led me into the world of Taoism. From then on, the realms of yin and yang had boundaries, but they were no longer distinct. White-haired jiangshi lurking in the earth, ancient tomb zombies, spirit mediums borrowing so 16.5kReads8.1Score1.4k14d adds
- 11 The Yin-Yang Businessman 阴阳生意人 [Ensemble cast]+ [Capable protagonist]+ [Plenty of twists]+ [Mystery] (Paper effigy makers, coffin makers, pallbearers, coroners, funeral wailers, funeral banquet chefs, straw effigy makers, executioners, antique dealers...) (Physiognomy, secret arts, feng shui, witchcraft, curse arts, black magic) When I was born, Granny Feng, who ran the paper effigy shop in town, discovered that I was burdened by a debt to the underworld. When I was twelve, my mother pledged two of my life lamps and her own b 740Reads8.1Score10114d adds
- 12 Codename: Bone Butterfly 代号骨蝶 A young woman's body is pulled from a cold riverbank. The police's preliminary conclusion: accidental drowning. When the victim's twin sister, the sharp and composed forensic pathologist Ye Shuyun, touches the body that looks so much like her own, professional instinct cuts through her grief in an instant: abnormal fluid in the lungs, a hidden needle mark, a missing kidney... This was no accident! The victim was her younger sister, Ye Shuya, an investigative journalist determined to expose socie 16Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 13 Jiangcheng General Store 江城杂货铺 Rules of the Jiangcheng General Store: 1. The store opens at the hour of the Rat and closes at the hour of the Rabbit. We serve no customers at any other time! 2. Every visitor is a customer. Anyone who enters must follow the store’s rules, or bear the consequences! 3. All transactions must be honest. Payment is due upon delivery. Break the deal, and bear the consequences! 4. No pets allowed! —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 14 Insect Life: A Journey to the Brink of Death 蟲生:绝命之旅 Thirteen bodies are discovered in a derelict mansion on the outskirts of the city. The victims are from different walks of life, and their deaths are bizarre. I am ordered to investigate the case, only to discover that all kinds of details at the crime scene are eerily similar to last night's nightmare... The strangely arranged bodies, the colleague who seems to have something to say, the girlfriend acting strangely, the ancient sacrificial ritual... As the investigation deepens, more and more c 98Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 15 The Forbidden Gate 禁门 When I was six, I pulled a nail out of the depths of Yin Mountain. It had been driven into the Taiji symbol before a stone coffin. A dragon was carved into its head, and its eyes could glow. After I pulled it out, the woman inside the coffin sat up. Dressed in white and barefoot, she asked me: “Do you want to die, or do you want to live?” I said I wanted to live. She took me with her. Ten years. Spending nights in wells, practicing horseback riding on wooden stakes, and driving a copper coin 16Reads—Score—14d adds
- 16 Midnight Livestream 午夜直播 Other people livestream to make money. I livestream to stay alive. When you see me on stream, you need to be careful. Shh, don't look back... There's a ghost there. 1.9kReads6.7Score20914d adds
- 17 Folklore and the Supernatural: My Campus Crush Is a Fox Demon 民俗灵异:我的校花学姐是狐妖 [First-person narration + talking to myself + pure romance + supernatural + beast-girl] My name is Lin Mu, an utterly ordinary sophomore in high school. My only hobby is studying folk legends, and I dream of becoming a novelist. I thought my life would consist of skipping class to play video games and documenting weird internet stories, until one day, at an internet cafe, I saw Su Yu Jue, the aloof upperclasswoman who had everyone at school talking, with a pair of fluffy fox ears sprouting from 8Reads—Score—14d adds
- 18 The Paranormal Investigator 探诡达人 My name is Qi Yue. I was born in the seventh lunar month, so that’s how I got my name. I’m a restaurant reviewer, and I’ve been doing this for five years. I made a little money in the first few years, but after the pandemic, the jobs became fewer and fewer. I wanted to switch to another line of work, but I didn’t know how to do anything else, so I had no choice but to keep struggling. With my pockets nearly empty, I desperately searched online for similar jobs. At last, I found a well-paid posit 6Reads—Score—14d adds
- 19 The Funeral Bearer of the Desolate Village 荒村送葬人 When the suona sounds, it sends off neither ghosts nor gods. It only buries the player. Nineteen years old, a severed finger, a lonely tower, and a deadly Three Corpses Seal in his belly. Behind him, a skin-flaying demon. Before him, red coffins and mist. Not a single person beside him could be trusted. Driven to the brink, he blew the battered suona he’d found. The tune was off-key, yet it shook the underworld. Since this world insists on making me a sacrifice, I’ll be the corpse-piper who send 2.8kReads8.2Score17414d adds
- 20 The Maoshan Chronicles 茅山录 Pure supernatural horror, no cultivation, Maoshan Taoists, ghost hunting Maoshan Celestial Master Liu Xiangyu: Qianyuan breaks curses and sweeps away demon stars. He strides through the Nine Palaces, summoning thunder; his sword divides the Eight Trigrams and subdues the netherworld. The Three Pure Ones’ edicts destroy evil spirits; the Five Emperors’ talismans subdue ghost fiends. The Taiyi Golden Light incantation appears. He walks between yin and yang, proving his devotion to the Dao. Born wi 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 21 Tales of the Supernatural in the City 都市灵异传 “The living must not wander into the mass grave, and the dead must not disturb Mr. Chen.” This old saying has been passed down in Chenjia Town for decades. Chen Hui is Mr. Chen’s grandson, but he scoffs at his grandfather’s arts of yin and yang and wants nothing more than to be an ordinary college student. That is, until zombies attack the village at night. Forced to take up a peachwood sword and open the ancient book titled The Dao, he wields the family’s ancestral divine weapon, the Heaven-and 8Reads—Score—14d adds
- 22 Tales of the Countryside: My Grandma Was a Midwife 乡野怪谈之我的姥姥是稳婆 At the foot of Mount Maqi, midwife Zhang Guilan spent her life delivering babies on nighttime roads. Other midwives delivered human babies. The ones she delivered were ghosts, demons, and wronged spirits from the wilderness. Road-blocking skin-sellers, water ghosts demanding souls, Pixihuzi repaying a debt of gratitude, and Li the Bald-Tailed Dragon making his presence known. She didn't believe in the supernatural when she was young. Only after surviving countless dangers did she understand t 145Reads—Score—14d adds
- 23 Strange Tales: Paper Money 诡异杂谈之纸钱 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 24 Multiple Fears 多重恐惧 An invitation to a party brings together nine writers, each with a very different style. At the party, the novelist who invited them traps everyone inside and demands that each guest tell a story. With no other choice, they comply. One story after another unfolds at the party: will they reveal the clash of human nature or unleash ghostly terrors? Everything will come to light here. "This is my debut work. I hope you'll show it plenty of support." 10Reads—Score—14d adds
- 25 The First Strange Tale of the Countryside 乡野第一怪谈 Funeral Mound Village is an ancient, remote place surrounded by burial hills. Corpses roam everywhere, and the yin energy is overwhelming. There are walking corpses, weasels as fat as pigs, malevolent gods that wreak havoc, bizarre Gu witches, Xi spirits, evil Jian ghosts... One paranormal incident after another... 107Reads6.6Score—14d adds
- 26 Tales of the Demon Trafficker 贩妖记 If I told you all of this was true, would you believe me? A bizarre walking marriage among the Mosuo people set me on an extraordinary path that would shape half my life. A thousand-year-old cosmic box. A river where the dead never die. Inspired by numerous supernatural events that really happened and drawing on little-known local customs and traditions, this story reveals a hidden world of spirits and strange creatures! 113Reads8.0Score—14d adds
- 27 I'm Done Being a Celestial Master This Poor 这么穷的天师不当也罢 In times of peace and prosperity, Buddhism flourishes across the land while Daoists hide away in remote mountains. In times of chaos, Bodhisattvas turn a blind eye to worldly affairs, while the Old Lord shoulders his sword and saves a world in turmoil. Daoists emerge from seclusion to save the people only when chaos reigns. In prosperous times, they shun worldly gain and retreat to the mountains, pursuing the Great Dao in their hearts, untouched by mundane distractions. This seems to have become 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 28 The Eerie Descends, and I Tamed the Wish-Granting Ghost! 诡异降临,我驾驭了许愿鬼! [What do you want?] “I want beautiful women, luxury cars, gold, silver, and treasure.” Seven days later, beautiful women, luxury cars, gold, and jewels are laid out in front of his portrait. [What do you want?] “I want my father to come back to life.” The next day, his father stands at the child’s bedside, dragging his rotting body behind him. [What do you want?] “I… am the Wish-Granting Ghost!” Feng Sheng finally gains control of the Wish-Granting Ghost, but as it struggles against him, he is s 2.5kReads—Score21214d adds
- 29 Shadows in the Mountain Mist 迷山雾影 Have you ever seen a monster? A creature that exists only in legend... Suddenly appearing in the human world, thirsting for blood and slaughter, treating human lives like ants... In ancient times, whenever a "heavenly dog devoured the moon," people would bang drums and gongs, hoping to drive away the dog eating the moon... Today, human satellites roam through space, and humans have even set foot on that bright moon hanging in the sky, going so far as to declare that its surface is unsuitable for 988Reads8.2Score11714d adds
- 30 Welcome to the Global Wonderland of the Bizarre 欢迎来到全球怪诞乐园 [You have never entered a strange-tale realm like this before] [This is an adventure game that spans dimensions] [This is a collection of mind-bending stories beyond the limits of scientific understanding] [This is an unusual and uncanny book unlike any other] [Welcome to: The Global Wonderland of the Bizarre!] 10Reads—Score—14d adds
- 31 Evil at Pawnshop No. 4! 肆号当铺邪! Xi Fan, a pure-hearted person through three lifetimes, died while trying to save someone. As his soul arrived in the underworld to be reincarnated, the King of Hell, cherishing the purity he had maintained through three lifetimes, sent Xi Fan back to the mortal world to take charge of Pawnshop No. 4. 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 32 The Taoist Descends the Mountain: Signing In at the Funeral Home to Judge Yin Spirits 道士下山:我在殡仪馆签到审阴灵 [Fantasy Supernatural Mystery]+ [Funeral Home]+ [Comedy]+ [Subversion of Tropes] My name is Su Jiu. When I was ten, my master packed up and ran off, leaving behind nothing but a notebook that completely baffled me. I look lively and well, but my true soul has long since vanished. Even I can’t tell whether I count as a living person or a little ghost wandering the mortal world. I went down the mountain to look for my master and picked up Chen Liu along the way. The two of us ended up at Old Man’s 132Reads—Score—14d adds
- 33 The Feng Shui King of the Underworld 江湖风水之王 On the day I was born, ten thousand demons emerged from the mountains, a hundred ghosts clawed their way out of their graves, and an immortal corpse guarded the way. My master, Daoist Jingxian, took me from a tomb and raised me for twenty years, only to fall under a curse and die a horrible death, skinned alive. Knowing he was going to die, my master left me a letter. First, he warned me not to seek out the killer. Then he urged me to stay away from the world. But I chose a third path, resolute 111Reads7.1Score—14d adds
- 34 The House Immortal Affairs Office 家仙办事处 Chen Ping'an, a graduate student in folklore, has never believed in ghosts or gods. That is, until he inherited his old family home and caught a fox spirit sitting on his sofa in the middle of the night, playing Honor of Kings. Then it tossed him an employment contract from the “Household Spirits Affairs Office.” From then on, his materialist worldview completely fell apart: Huang Xian works as a delivery driver, gathering intelligence. Bai Xian runs a traditional Chinese medicine clinic and sec 5Reads—Score—14d adds
- 35 Six Relics to Banish Evil 六器渡邪 On a stormy night, the evil box passed down through my family shattered on its own, and I became a wanted fugitive accused of several murders. My only chance of survival was to recover the six cursed artifacts scattered across the Lin family. But they weren't treasures. They were instruments of torture, each one imprisoning the soul of someone our ancestors had tortured into becoming an artifact. Soul-harvesting rice from the Hungry Ghost Realm, a mending needle used to sew together a hundred —Reads—Score—14d adds
- 36 I Have a Ghostly Wife 我有鬼娇妻 [Mystery] [Comedy] Have you ever experienced something like this? I mean, asking for a wife at the bottom of a dry well! I live in a small village in the mountains, cut off from the outside world. No outsiders have visited in hundreds of years. Maybe it's because of a curse, but no baby girls have ever been born in our village. 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 37 The Temple That Eats People 吃人的庙 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 38 After My Face Was Stolen, I Drew the Six Realms of Living Beings 我的脸被夺走后我画出六道众生相 My face was stolen. It wasn’t disfigured. It wasn’t disguised. My face was literally gone. To stay alive, I had no choice but to paint one new face after another onto my own. Human, ghost, demon, beast, god, immortal. Every face I painted gave me a new ability. As I tried to reclaim my original face, I gradually discovered that this world was far more complicated than it seemed. 96Reads—Score12614d adds
- 39 The Paranormal Cases I Experienced Over the Years 那些年,我经历的灵异事件 [Standalone Stories] + [Supernatural Horror] + [No System] Ten years ago, after graduating from college, I happened to get a job driving a taxi. I never expected to encounter a whole series of bizarre and terrifying events! It wasn’t until later that I learned I was born with a yin fate and a pair of yin-yang eyes, but someone had sealed them when I was young. I’ve written more than a dozen stories so far, and there’s plenty to read! 4.8kReads7.3Score21014d adds
- 40 Darling? Darling! 亲爱的?亲爱的! Welcome, everyone, to our Loving Family The blurb can't show off my charm, so just read Chapter One. I'm a new author, and the earlier chapters aren't very good. Please bear with me. I'll try to wrap up the instances quickly and just write romance in the real world instead. I'll be making major revisions to the earlier chapters. Updates will probably come gradually, with around 200,000 words in total. The earlier chapters really aren't good. Start reading from Chapter 60 onward. The earlier part 2Reads—Score—14d adds
- 41 Cultivating Buddhism and Taoism, I Befriend the Paranormal 佛道双修我与诡异为伍 No System, no harem, no goody-two-shoes protagonist, and either one or two heroines. Fresh out of college, Chen Xiao scraped by delivering takeout in his spare time. One night, he accidentally crossed paths with something unclean, and from then on, evil spirits clung to him relentlessly. Strange events kept happening, and misfortune followed him everywhere. On the road, he ran into a ragged wandering monk. Unable to turn a blind eye, Chen Xiao gave him a little help. He never imagined that this 4Reads—Score—14d adds
- 42 Tales of Feng Shui 说说风水那些事 1Reads—Score—14d adds
- 43 The Secondhand Goods I Collect Come with Ghosts 我收的旧货里住着鬼 [Urban supernatural horror · Hunting ghosts and growing stronger · Folklore and strange tales · Golden finger stat upgrades · No System] Also known as: Don't Go Out at Night People know how terrifying ghosts are, but ghosts know how poisonous human hearts can be. Jiang Ye is an ordinary man who was just fired from his job. All he can do is ride a beat-up motorcycle and listen to people who burn paper money tell ghost stories. Then, beneath the cabinet in his rented room, he found a scroll of Sou 16Reads—Score—14d adds
- 44 My Ghostly Wife Rules the Roost 阴妻当道 On the seventh day after Grandma’s death, she came back, and even arranged a new bride for me... 152Reads5.4Score—14d adds
- 45 The Spirit-Medium Exorcist 通灵诡医 I’m a doctor. I save lives and work on the boundary between life and death. But I also know how to exorcise ghosts and have mastered the best of both witchcraft and Taoism. As I save people with a scalpel, I also use magic to save the world. And here’s a little secret: I can even treat ghosts! One day, I received a piece of human skin. It was a ticket to board a ghost train... From then on, a yin-borne child encounters a woman who can communicate with spirits, mysterious corpses skinned alive ap 147Reads7.0Score—14d adds
- 46 King of Destiny Arts 命术之王 The year I was born, a fire took my parents’ lives. A black-furred weasel rescued me from the flames. My grandfather said I was born under a deadly curse, with three calamities following close behind. So I devoted myself to mastering the arts of fate and divination, overcoming the three calamities, severing the Heavenly Dao, and defying heaven to change my fate. 175Reads6.8Score—14d adds
- 47 The Fear-Soothing Shop 收惊铺 Don’t open this novel in the middle of the night! The protagonist runs a shop in Nanjing that helps people ward off evil spirits and calm their fright. He thinks it’s just a way to make a living, until one rainy night, a woman rushes into his shop and says her husband vanished into thin air at the foot of Baohua Mountain. I went to investigate, and after a fishpond was drained, an ancient well over a thousand years old appeared beneath it, covered in talismans! Buried inside was none other than 386Reads—Score—14d adds
- 48 Strike It Rich by Opening the Coffin 开棺发财 [Handcrafted from scratch + Traditional supernatural horror + No System + No cultivation + Extremely scary + Based on true experiences] Paper figures carry the coffin, a black dog tosses the grave, and an old man falls in love with a ghost. An opened coffin is carried home, and a beautiful fairy follows through the door. My name is Qin Yang. I was down on my luck and only hoped to make money by opening coffins. I never expected that it would turn out to be such a high-risk profession. (Friends i 1.7kReads—Score13114d adds
- 49 Grandpa Started the Trouble, Three Generations Must Pay 爷爷闯下的祸,三代来还 3Reads—Score—14d adds
- 50 A Guide to Raising an Evil God 邪神养成指南 The professor is passionately lecturing in class when, in the next moment, the floor caves in and black water floods the classroom. When she opens her eyes again, everything in the classroom is as it was. A ring of purplish bruises has appeared around her wrist. One campus ghost story after another begins to surface: A baby crying by the lake at midnight, bruises crawling across her roommate's body, and a pregnant senior student mysteriously falling to her death. Is it all coincidence, or reveng —Reads—Score—14d adds

















































