The Vermilion Cinnabar Guide

In the thirty-fifth year of the Jiajing reign, a carefully plotted “accident” at the Qinghui Academy in the capital sends Shen Xinghen, an orphan from a poor family, straight to hell. Flames consume her, her name is dragged through the mud, and she is driven out of the capital. Ten years later, a mysterious woman returns under the guise of a “shadow portrait artist,” a craftswoman who uses special pigments and light to create lifelike portraits and illusions. She slips quietly into the shadows of the capital’s powerful. In her left hand, she holds a cinnabar brush to sketch her enemies’ inescapable doom; in her right, a Ziwei compass to chart the dynasty’s hidden celestial patterns.

As bizarre deaths descend upon the men who abused her, seemingly as “divine punishment,” the powerful Yan faction, the inscrutable Eastern Depot, and the White Lotus remnants lying low among the people are all drawn into the fray. The web of revenge woven by Shen Xinghen unexpectedly ensnares the shocking secret behind the Jiajing Emperor’s quest for immortality and the succession struggle threatening the foundations of the state.

This is a dark painting rendered in flesh and blood, with power and intrigue for its brush. As the flames of vengeance begin to consume the one who set the plan in motion, can Shen Xinghen achieve her “dark glory” within the Forbidden City, where danger lurks at every step? Or is she herself merely a pawn in a far greater game? Vermilion Guide leads to blood feuds, and to the fate of the realm.