In the chaotic years of the Republic of China, the deepest things are not among the crowds, but beneath the earth. Shen Jinnian, a stele engraver from Bantang in western Hunan, is drawn into the thousand-year-old machinations of the Keepers of the Embers because of an ancestral rubbing. The Keepers of the Embers do not rob tombs or take treasures. They do just one thing: race against the foreign powers, warlords, and Japanese invaders to protect the sparks of Chinese civilization buried beneath the yellow earth: lost crafts, military secrets, and scattered volumes of the Lost Records. They read the earth through charcoal charts and discern the situation through lampwork. The rules of the Keepers of the Embers are three iron laws: if the lamp is lit, no one retreats; if its flame leans against the wind, leave at once; if the lamp explodes three times, seal the coffin and await a guest. The trio, stele engraver Shen Jinnian, the one-eyed old hand Ba Xiazi, who walks between yin and yang, and Wenren Su, a healer from the Keepers of the Embers, journey from Broken Dragon Mountain in western Hunan to Huohuan Pass on the Shu roads of Bashu, then head west into the vast Ember Caves of Hexi. The Eastern Ocean Blue Society pursues its accounts, warlord garrisons stand guard, and Western plunderers circle nearby. Meanwhile, the secret his father left unfinished in Hexi is waiting for someone who comes after to bring that great volume up from the earth. To protect the land is to protect its history; to protect the records is to protect its roots. What they guard on this journey is no treasure, but civilization.
