Novels like The Forbidden Gate
Books Chinese readers most often put in the same booklists as The Forbidden Gate, best match first.
- 1 Shadows in the Daylight 白昼暗影 The criminal he hunts is himself. The shadow he cannot escape is his only protector. Lin Mo, the police department’s star profiler, cracks one extraordinary case after another with his precise criminal psychology analyses. But he doesn’t know that every night, another self awakens: Shen Ye, a “dark vigilante” who fights violence with violence, hunting down criminals who escaped justice through Lin Mo. The massacre that destroyed his family when he was a child split ten-year-old Lin Mo’s mind, cr —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 2 I Went to Pay Respects at Grandpa's Grave, and Somehow Angered Him Back to Life? 给爷爷上坟，把爷爷气出来了？ [Supernatural + comedy + fantasy. This story is entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual events is purely coincidental!] “Grandpa, help me earn enough to buy a house, and I’ll send you a whole hall of maids. Grandpa, bless me so I can buy a BMW, and I’ll make your home even more luxurious. Grandpa, bring me good fortune, and I promise you’ll have plenty of gold ingots to spend. Grandpa, bless me so I win the jackpot, and I’ll set off a hundred thousand firecrackers for you!” “Good grandson, 432Reads7.1Score—Shelves
- 3 You Fake Taoist, I Didn’t Know You Were the Real Deal! 骗子道士，没想到你是真会啊！ [Ghost stories + hilarious comedy + urban legends] As the supernatural resurges and the world descends into chaos, Lin Yu, a fake Taoist, awakens the Dao Ancestor System. He exorcises ghosts to earn merit, which he uses to draw character cards and take on the forms of Taoist disciples from across the myriad worlds. Faced with all kinds of vicious, uncanny, and sinister ghosts, he transforms into a holy master of myriad realms, the Thunder Lord... Wang Lingguan, the Three-Eyed Deity... becoming e 36.5kReads6.5Score5.7kShelves
- 4 Changing Fate with Yin Lifespan: The Yin-Born Child Raised on Milk by a Fox Immortal 阴寿改命：狐仙喂奶养大的阴生子 The day I was born, all the ghosts wailed through the night, the locust trees withered, and the setting sun refused to sink! The heavens showed strange signs at my birth, yet I was born without a single day of allotted life! To steal years for me, Grandpa found me a stunning, sickly-obsessive fox immortal wife to nurse me! She even likes to bite me whenever she gets the chance! My parents used a Three-Corpse Coffin to steal years for me. After they died, they left me a shop, and the very first 30Reads—Score—Shelves
- 5 Notes on Strange Folk Tales 民间诡事札记 The countryside hides the strangest legends and lays bare the truest depths of the human heart. A single red embroidered shoe beneath an old pagoda tree holds a grievance and a hatred left unspoken. A strange peddler knocking at the door in the dead of night carries no ordinary goods in his pack, only old stories frosted over with time. A bronze mirror rising from an ancient well can reflect ghosts, but not the depths of the human heart... These curious tales scattered across bustling streets an 66Reads—Score—Shelves
- 6 The Coffin Bearer 抬棺人 Those who carry coffins are also known as the “Eight Immortals” or the “Eight Vajra Warriors.” Only people with a strong birth chart, courage, and abundant yang energy can do the job. According to folk belief, the living use their own life force to carry the dead on their final journey, inviting yin energy into their bodies. Carry one coffin and you accumulate blessings and virtue; carry ten and misfortune clings to you; carry a hundred and you die an unnatural death. I’m a professional coffin b 3.4kReads8.6Score209Shelves
- 7 A Ghost Knocks at the Door 鬼敲门 A child born of a ghost, a fox worshipping the moon, a hundred ghosts roaming at night, ghost soldiers taking the road. I was born under the sign of ten calamities, and the Ghost Knocking Calamity came right to my door! To stay alive, I made a pact with a ghost when I was ten, setting out on a road of no return... 6.2kReads6.4Score239Shelves
- 8 Maoshan Ghost Arts: Kill, Never Deliver Souls 茅山鬼术，只杀不度 When I was twelve, my father was killed by someone using an evil technique, and my mother took her own life. I was adopted by relatives and suffered endless abuse. In the end, their entire family died horribly, leaving me an orphan. The villagers regarded me as an omen of misfortune. To stay alive, I stole offerings meant for the dead, only to attract an evil ghost, which bought my life with a hell banknote. At the critical moment between life and death, my master, Old Guo, saved me, took me in 254.1kReads8.8Score24.9kShelves
- 9 Medium's Notes: My Left Eye Can See Ghosts 灵媒笔记：我的左眼能见鬼 The Cangye lineage of the Southern Frontier unleashes chaos. The Cherry Blossom Curse, Yin Soil summoning, Ruin Spirits, and malevolent earth veins emerge one after another, leaving the seals protecting the land on the brink of collapse. In a desperate battle, pure Yang Heavenly Energy collides with the turbid qi of Yin Soil inside him, forming a yin-yang vortex whose blessings and dangers are impossible to predict. His old enemies flee into the Hundred Thousand Mountains, seeking a chance to p 12Reads—Score—Shelves
- 10 The Haunting One 诡缠人 Demons and monsters, uncanny forces and strange happenings, in a world where the living and the dead are indistinguishable and good and evil are hard to tell apart. No one can save anyone else, and no one can be saved... An epic tale of humans and ghosts: are they evil spirits wearing human skins, or is the human heart itself wicked? The conflict between humans and ghosts begins here. It will stir everything most real deep within you... 1.1kReads5.5Score103Shelves
- 11 I Inherited a Funeral Shop During the Hundred Ghosts' Night Parade 百鬼夜行时，我继承了一家冥铺 Lu Ci thought all his grandfather had left him was an old shop on the verge of closing. Then, one rainy night, the first customer walked through the door and bought a stack of spirit money. The next day, that very “ghost currency” appeared in someone else’s account. From then on, the shop, open only at night, began receiving one unusual customer after another: some sought wealth, some wanted to buy a life, and some only wished to exchange something for a long-overdue truth. At the end of the lon 9Reads—Score—Shelves
- 12 Don't Look Back During Evening Study at School 学校晚自习别回头 Don’t Look Back During Evening Study at School 6Reads—Score—Shelves
- 13 The Godslayer of the Countryside 乡村弑神者 [Chinese-style horror + not a power fantasy + more terrifying the more you think about it] When I was eight, my maternal grandfather took my two uncles and me to Chang'an Village to help harvest rice. Not long after we arrived, someone died under mysterious circumstances. Worried something might happen to me, my grandfather told my eldest uncle to take me home first. Before we left, he repeatedly warned us not to speak to anyone we met on the road. My eldest uncle agreed, and we hurried back. Ha 722Reads8.9Score105Shelves
- 14 Rules of the Rest Stop on a Stormy Night 暴雨夜服务区规则怪谈 Rules of the Rest Stop on a Stormy Night 4Reads—Score—Shelves
- 15 I Only Take on the Most Ominous Cases 我只收大凶之物 [Supernatural] + [Traditional Folk Customs] + [First-Person Narration] + [Chinese-Style Horror] + [Decisive and Ruthless] + [Not a Do-Gooder] + [One Female Lead] I was born in a rural village in the mountains of Southwest China. I'm a third-year university student, and I'm also a yin-yang master. Calling myself a yin-yang master is really just to make myself sound impressive. Back in my hometown, people in the countryside call someone like me a Daoist ritual master. Most people probably know a l 53Reads8.2Score—Shelves
- 16 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. 321Reads—Score—Shelves
- 17 My Neighbor Knocks on the Wall at 3 A.M. Every Day 我的邻居每天准时在凌晨3点敲墙 My neighbor knocks on the wall at exactly 3 a.m. every day 7Reads—Score—Shelves
- 18 Yin and Yang: The Book of Life and Death 阴阳：生死簿 Lin Zhao spent ten years as an outer disciple Taoist at Longhu Mountain and learned only one spell: the Soul Summoning Art. > Until one night, the voice of Heaven rang out in his mind: “Ten zhang ahead, a wronged spirit seeks help.” > Following the voice, he found an old woman clutching a black cat and sobbing that her son had gone missing. > He formed a hand seal to investigate and discovered that the cat's eyes reflected the scene of her son's death: the neighbor butcher's hideous face. > When —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 19 The Vengeful Ghost Curse 怨诡咒 (Traditional supernatural horror + No System + Not a power fantasy + Deduction + Suspense) My coworker died. He died in his own bathtub. By the time the police arrived at his home, his corpse had already begun to rot and stink. His limbs had been gnawed down to the bone, and the coroner found undigested flesh in his stomach. That very night, I received a WeChat message from my dead coworker. It said I was next... 18.9kReads8.6Score1.5kShelves
- 20 Someone New Appeared in the Footage 录像里多出一个人 The test shoot’s discarded footage was four seconds longer. Everyone in the frame held the same poses they had at the end of filming. No one moved. I counted three times. There were six people every time. But only five people had been there that day. On the hard drive my mother left behind, there was an empty folder with a four-character name: Do Not Fast-Forward. In the recycle bin was a deleted video, four minutes and twenty-five seconds long, which couldn’t be recovered. Our production crew w 3Reads—Score—Shelves
- 21 Blood Sun Annihilation 血日湮灭 [Potions]+ [Sequences]+ [Evil Gods]+ [Cthulhu] ·(When the blood sun is extinguished, humanity will perish as well.) ·(By day, the blood sun hangs in the sky and monsters run rampant.) ·(By night, the silver moon shines high above and ghosts run rampant.) ·(When the ‘Crimson’ corrupts the sun and invades Earth, humanity will fall into endless despair.) ·(They are followers of the ‘Crimson’.) ·(They are followers of ‘Folly’.) ·(And I am a follower of ‘Shadow’.) ·(So it was all my doing. So I’m the —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 22 Commanding Ghosts to Save the World: I Face Ten Thousand Calamities in the Mortal Realm 驭诡救世：我于人间抗万劫 This world is completely absurd At some point, evil spirits began appearing without warning, and one supernatural incident after another followed. Ordinary people could only hide in terror, while spirit wielders were the only ones capable of standing up to ghosts. Lin Jie only wanted to find a job and pay his rent, but through a twist of fate, he was drawn into a series of events that seemed destined to happen. There are no born heroes, and no fated burdens to bear. Since a ghost has already po 519Reads—Score—Shelves
- 23 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 1.2kReads8.8Score110Shelves
- 24 The Coffin Bearer 抬棺匠 My family has dealt with the dead for generations. Following in my father’s footsteps, I became a coffin bearer. Before carrying a coffin, I always offer the deceased five incense sticks. When offering incense to the living, three long sticks and two short ones are taboo. When offering incense to the dead, three short sticks and two long ones are taboo. That day, I carried a coffin, and the dead pregnant woman inside gave birth to a pair of twins, a boy and a girl! [Shh, keep quiet! We’re settin 2.9kReads8.3Score194Shelves
- 25 The Nightmare Kingdom, Where the Flesh Mutates 亘梦诡国，肉身畸变 [Supernatural]+ [Sanity Plummets]+ [Fantasy What-If]+ [Cthulhu]+ [Horror Folklore]+ [Transmigration]+ [Feel-Good Power Fantasy]+ [Fresh and Original] I hope more people will stop by and give me the motivation to update with 4,000+ words every day. The first instance may not be that interesting, so I recommend skipping ahead a dozen or so chapters before reading. Give the author a little patience and keep reading. The story won't disappoint you. You may find yourself wondering whether fate really 21Reads—Score—Shelves
- 26 Carrying the Dragon Coffin 抬龙棺 The First Emperor's coffin was called the Dragon Coffin. By rights, everyone who carried the Dragon Coffin should have been buried alive with him. But my ancestor somehow escaped. Was the elixir of immortality really just a legend? And where did Xu Fu go after sailing east? My ancestor was the only person who knew the secret of Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum... 2.9kReads8.5Score297Shelves
- 27 Soul Reaper 收魂人 To stay alive, I had no choice but to marry a two-headed monster. But I never expected her to be a Rakshasa with two souls. My fate was utterly transformed, and I embarked on a perilous path full of thorns, surrounded by demons and spirits... 765Reads7.2Score116Shelves
- 28 Netherworld Emperor: It All Begins with a Blood Coffin! 幽冥大帝：从血棺开始！ Mystery and the supernatural + horror + mind-bending deduction + wild imagination + Sichuan-Chongqing flavor After a flood, a blood-red coffin drifts down the river into our village... A strange song, eerie bloody handprints, a headless corpse, and somehow, I become the Great Emperor of the Netherworld... An accident reveals the secret of the Nine Fiends Blood Coffin and a grand scheme laid by the Great Emperor of the Netherworld. It all begins with the blood coffin, and everything will ultimate 683Reads—Score—Shelves
- 29 A Collection of Ancient Folk Tales of the Supernatural 古代民间灵异故事合集听来的故事 A hugely popular collection on Tomato Listen, featuring rule-based horror, infinite-loop survival, folk customs and taboos, deranged killers, deadly survival instances, feng shui, livestreaming, modern technology, and many other kinds of horror. Volume One: Classical ghost stories. A blend of modern and classical taboos: never look in the mirror at midnight, someone is under the bed... A wedding sedan, an old well, an ancestral shrine, a nighttime opera... Any ordinary thing can become a spirit; 4Reads—Score—Shelves
- 30 The Haunted Shroud 诡寿衣 My family sells burial clothes. Every seven days, a woman comes to order a set. Only at the end did I discover she had been ordering burial clothes for all four members of my family. 1.1kReads8.8Score117Shelves
- 31 Shattered Yin-Yang Jade 阴阳玉碎 [Supernatural + horror + suspense + first person + no idiots in the story + clever protagonist + a touch of angst] "I'm turning eighteen soon. I should die, too." Yu Yue and I are twin sisters, born eighteen years ago on Ghost Festival. A fortune-teller gave us each a jade pendant and said that on our eighteenth birthday, whoever's pendant broke would die. We're seventeen now, and suddenly both pendants have shattered. How can we possibly survive? 43Reads—Score—Shelves
- 32 The Spirit Burying Master 葬灵师 Every year since the year I was born, someone in the village has died. To keep me alive, Grandma arranged a marriage for me, and my betrothed was supposed to come for me when I came of age. On my eighteenth birthday, I discovered that the one who had come for me wasn't human... 146Reads7.9Score244Shelves
- 33 The Corpse Coffin's Ghostly Fragrance 尸棺鬼香 [The corpse sits in the coffin, the ghost eats incense] [Fate from a past life, continued in this one] A Maoshan Taoist’s path to raising ghosts... After his grandmother dies unexpectedly, Shen Lin happens upon the notes his grandfather left behind. From then on, he begins a ghost-hunting life in which he narrowly escapes death time and time again... 143Reads—Score—Shelves
- 34 Folk Horror Taboos 民间恐怖禁忌 Do you know the stories old people tell? Do you know there are many things in folk tradition that people say must not be spoken of? Do you know what the elders say about dreams? The elders say there are things you mustn't talk about at night. Did you know that? 130Reads6.3Score—Shelves
- 35 The Night-Sealed Door 夜封门 Seven months pregnant, the woman was brutally hounded to death, and her seven-month-old baby was thrown into a well. Her wronged soul is cut off from the road ahead, and evil spirits come to claim their due. The gates of hell swing open, and the underworld seals its doors in the dead of night. 2kReads8.3Score159Shelves
- 36 I Love Your Numbness, I Love Your Spice, I Love You Till My Stomach Gives Out 爱你的麻，爱你的辣，爱得老胃直拉胯 I love your numbing spice, I love your heat, I love you so much my stomach’s a mess 6Reads—Score—Shelves
- 37 Mama Haha Won't Fly Anymore 玛玛哈哈不飞了 Mama Haha Won't Fly Anymore 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 38 The Stone That Remembers the Light 会记住光的石头 The Stone That Remembers the Light 2Reads—Score—Shelves
- 39 Supernatural Revival: It All Began When I Married a Ghost Bride 灵异复苏：从娶了鬼新娘开始 Title: Supernatural Resurgence: It Began When I Married a Ghost Bride My name is Zao Chen. I had a dream, a very, very long dream. In it, I married a ghost bride, and after that, she wouldn't leave me alone. When I woke up, I realized it hadn't been a dream at all. I really had married a ghost bride, and the two of us had a child. The ghost bride was called Zhou Li, and our daughter was named Zao You. The day Zao You was born, the supernatural descended, and ghosts roamed the night. We call the —Reads—Score—Shelves
- 40 The Fox Wife Chosen by Fate 天命狐妻 Born with a frail fate that draws evil spirits, I married a fox under the terms of a written betrothal. She unfurled her nine tails and protected me, granting me a lifetime of peace. I cultivated the Dao and cut down every wicked ghost in the world. Together, human and fox, we roamed between yin and yang. Blessed with a fox wife, I alone stand guard against a hundred ghosts! 5.3kReads7.4Score278Shelves
- 41 The Skinning Ghost 扒皮鬼 (Traditional supernatural horror + extreme horror + multiple twists + mystery + entirely handcrafted) Lately, I've been having nightmares every night. A fortune-teller said I might have a ghost clinging to me. He told me about a forbidden folk ritual: Put on a pair of worn underwear over your head, and it will block a ghost's sight. That night, I got home and followed his advice, half believing it. My girlfriend came back to the room after washing up and stared blankly at where I was. "Where... 64.7kReads8.3Score7.2kShelves
- 42 The Yin-Yang Wicked Son-in-Law 阴阳恶婿 At the end of the Ming dynasty, four families discover a terrifying dragon's lair, a feng shui site said to lead to heaven. They divide it into four parts, named Power, Wisdom, Wealth, and Beauty. Those buried within it can ensure their descendants enjoy power, wisdom, wealth, and beauty forever. But the lair defies the natural order. Even its good fortune carries danger, and it invites Heaven's punishment. To preserve their destiny, the families must find a scapegoat to take the blow in their p 17kReads9.3Score1.3kShelves
- 43 Tales of the Supernatural 灵异怪谈 Yin-yang masters are fated to suffer the Five Evils and Three Deficiencies. Is there any way to escape their fate? A life-and-death romance with a bloodthirsty vampire zombie! After desperately searching for the Strange Records of Yin and Yang, he discovers it is all part of an even bigger conspiracy! The Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, bloodthirsty vampire zombies, an inn in the underworld, an ancient Warring States tomb, and the Strange Records of Yin and Yang all feature in Strange Tales of the S 1.6kReads8.8Score137Shelves
- 44 A Debt-Ridden Wage Slave Inherits a Mansion, but the Tenants Aren’t Human 负债牛马继承豪宅，但租客不是人 Chen Mo, a wage slave on the brink of being crushed by loan sharks, receives a mysterious phone call just as he’s losing hope. To his surprise, he inherits a mansion worth 30 million from a distant relative. He moves in overjoyed, only to discover that one of the tenants isn’t even human. The more he learns, the more shocked he becomes. It turns out a huge conspiracy is lurking behind it all... 1Reads—Score—Shelves
- 45 The Haunted Houses I’ve Experienced 我经历的凶宅 The older generation often says that people who die violent deaths cannot enter the cycle of reincarnation. Their souls endlessly haunt the places where they died, seeking substitutes. Only then can they be reborn. That’s why we often hear in the news about car crashes that keep happening at certain locations. Sometimes the place isn’t even a proper intersection, yet terrible accidents leave cars wrecked and people dead. Some streams aren’t even as deep as a person is tall, yet every year there 2.1kReads8.9Score188Shelves
- 46 Ghosts in Pieces 散装见鬼 Do you believe there are ghosts in this world? I think that question is as impossible to answer as whether there are dragons in this world. The answer you hear most often is: Believe in them, and they exist. Don’t believe in them, and they don’t. But if you ask me, my answer is simple: Yes! Not because I believe, but because I can see them. Of course, I wasn’t able to see them from birth. It all goes back to the strange experience I had when I was six... 32Reads—Score—Shelves
- 47 The Fragrance of Corpses for Ten Miles 十里尸香 Most people receive gifts that are heartwarming or romantic. Even if they aren't a surprise, they're at least well-intentioned. But the gift I received when I turned twenty was a very real shock, and a curse. 1.9kReads8.2Score165Shelves
- 48 Zhenwu Subdues Demons: Sixty Years of Peace 真武荡魔：甲子太平 [Invincible Protagonist] [Pure Supernatural] [No Female Lead] I was the True Warrior Emperor in heaven, but could not bear humanity's suffering. Moved by compassion, I descended to the mortal world, to vanquish evil, deliver ghosts, and bring peace to all. The Five Arts of geomancy, medicine, destiny, physiognomy, and divination can determine the fate of the world. Geomancy suppresses demons and evil; medicine saves people. Destiny can be changed, and physiognomy reveals the powerful and the nob 2.1kReads—Score143Shelves
- 49 A Genius of Yin and Yang 阴阳鬼才 A calamity when I was fourteen changed my whole life. Then, at eighteen, I was set firmly on the path of yin and yang, where I mastered top-tier secret arts and went ever farther along the road of slaying demons and vanquishing evil. 1.7kReads8.8Score112Shelves
- 50 The Year I Was Born, Ghosts Came Looking for a Groom 我出生那年，鬼招婿 The year I was born, ghosts came seeking a bride. To stay alive, I slept in a haunted coffin. When I was twelve, I was forced to marry a ghost bride, bringing disaster upon us all. My grandfather had me take an unclaimed grave as my master. I thought things would finally be peaceful from then on. But the good times didn't last. I discovered by chance that my ghost wife had been by my side all along... 12.1kReads8.2Score1.1kShelves
