The Patriarch's Logic

Shen Fei slapped the secret letters onto Shen Hong's desk.

The sheets scattered, laying everything bare beneath the candlelight: coordinates of weak points in the city's defenses, records of Demon Beast activity patterns, and the Dark Guild's contact code phrases. After he did that, a profound silence settled over the study.

Shen Hong did not lower his head to read the letters. He leaned back in his grand armchair, his gaze passing over the papers to settle on Shen Fei's face.

"Who do you think you're talking to?"

Shen Hong's voice was quiet and devoid of emotion. It held neither anger nor surprise, not even accusation-only a calm that chilled him to the bone.

The tone stung Shen Fei, but he did not back down. He was, after all, Gold Rank 1-Star, the strongest of the family's younger generation. His words ought to carry some weight.

He repeated the contents of the letters. By the final sentence, his voice was trembling slightly, not from fear, but from anger he could no longer contain.

"The Dark Guild is using us. They're helping the Demon Beasts breach the city. If Glory City falls, the Sacred Family won't survive either-when the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact."

Shen Hong stood up. He walked around the desk and stopped before Shen Fei, standing half a head taller than him. Even restrained, his peak Black Gold Rank soul force exerted an invisible pressure, like a silent mountain bearing down on Shen Fei's shoulders.

"I am the patriarch of the Sacred Family. I don't need to explain my decisions to you." Shen Hong's voice remained calm, but every word seemed tempered in ice. "Your grandfather refused to cooperate with the Dark Guild. And what happened?

"The Sacred Family was nearly pushed out of the Three Great Peak Families, and a third of our people died. It was me who spent twenty years pulling this family back up, inch by inch."

The candle flame flickered between them, and the shadows on the wall swayed with it. As Shen Hong spoke, his tone held neither pride nor grief and indignation, only a certainty that bordered on indifference.

He was not defending himself. He was stating a fact-in his eyes, the Sacred Family's survival had never been a matter of choice. Working with the Dark Guild was not betrayal. It was cutting their losses.

Refusing to cooperate was not integrity. It was squandering the family's fortunes. He had spent twenty years carving that principle into his bones. Now Shen Fei had come to lecture him, and to him, it was like an ignorant child discussing how to run a business with a bookkeeper.

"And now you come here to lecture me? You're a mere Gold Rank 1-Star junior who can't even venture beyond Glory City. Do you know how powerful the Dark Guild is? Do you know how many Demon Beasts there are? You know nothing."

"But, Father-"

"Enough." Shen Hong's voice was quiet, yet it sliced cleanly through every word Shen Fei had left unspoken like a blade. "I think you've had too much time on your hands lately. Starting tomorrow, you will stay at the institute and behave yourself. Keep your nose out of family affairs. You have no place interfering in the Sacred Family's business."

He turned, sat back in his grand armchair, and picked up his brush to continue reviewing documents. His movements were so smooth that it seemed the conversation had never happened. Shen Fei stood where he was, his nails digging into his palms inside his clenched fists.

He had ten thousand arguments to make, but he knew nothing he said would matter. His father had not lost his way in the darkness, nor had the Dark Guild deceived him. He had chosen that road willingly, and he would allow no one to question him.

Twenty years of compromise and calculation had turned this man into part of the darkness itself. Anyone who tried to change his course would be treated as a threat, even his own son.

"Get out."

Shen Fei turned and headed for the door.

"Remember your place. Don't do anything that brings shame on the family."

Shen Fei paused at the doorway for a moment without looking back. He pushed the door open and left.

The corridor was dark. Moonlight spilled in from the far end, spreading a layer of cold white light over the bluestone slabs. Shen Fei leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

All the emotions he had suppressed in the study surged up at once, but he did not move. He simply stood there in silence, letting his breathing gradually settle.

He had transmigrated here. Memories of his last night on Earth still lingered in his mind: working overtime, revising a proposal, and dozing off at his desk, only to wake up lying in this large, carved bed. Unfamiliar memories had poured in like a tide: the Sacred Family, Glory City, the Three Great Peak Families, the eldest legitimate son.

The original owner of this body had possessed decent talent and had already cultivated to Gold Rank 1-Star, making him outstanding among the younger generation.

But Shen Hong had never given him a proper glance. He was forbidden from touching family affairs or participating in important occasions. His younger brother, Shen Yue, was only Bronze rank, yet the family placed great hopes in him and regarded him as a future genius.

During the first month after transmigrating, he had worked hard to familiarize himself with this world: the courses at the Holy Orchid Institute, the layout of Glory City's districts, and the tangled interests between the families.

He had gathered as much information as possible, trying to piece together a complete picture. Then he had discovered those secret letters in his father's study. The study visited at night by a black-robed man, the locked drawer, the coordinates and code phrases packed onto coarse paper.

Weak points in the city's defenses. Demon Beast activity patterns. The City Guard's rotation schedule. The final letter contained only one line: "The guild's people are already in position."

At that moment, he had been certain. The Sacred Family was a knife the Dark Guild had planted in Glory City's heart, and the man wielding it was his father.

Shen Fei opened his eyes. Moonlight fell across his face, and his expression was much calmer now. The confrontation had failed. He should not have expected his father to suddenly see the light. Shen Hong had spent twenty years getting to this point; a few words from a Gold Rank 1-Star son could never persuade him.

He would not appeal to the family elders, either. They all obeyed Shen Hong. Going to them would only beat the grass and startle the snake.

He needed another way. A Gold Rank 1-Star cultivator, an unfavored eldest legitimate son, isolated and without support in this household. But he was not entirely without a direction. He vaguely remembered that Tales of Demons and Gods was the name of a novel.

Novels always have protagonists, and don't protagonists always turn back the raging tide? If I can find the protagonist, there might still be a chance to turn things around. He did not know the protagonist's name or appearance, but he could investigate.

The Holy Orchid Institute's student register, the City Guard's battle reports-he could go through every record he could get his hands on. If he found nothing, he would have to rely on himself. Either way, he would not give up.

Hundreds of thousands of people lived in this city. They knew nothing and were still going about their lives in peace. Yet he held the only warning in his hands.

He knew this impulsive act might get him confined to quarters.