The moment Shen Fei said those words, everyone at the table froze. Wine cups stopped in midair, chopsticks hovered above plates, and even their breathing seemed to have been put on pause.
Everyone at the Sacred Family's table, from Shen Yue to Shen Xiu, from the First Elder to the Third Elder, wore an expression that froze in that instant, as though they had not understood what he meant-or had understood, but could not believe their ears.
Second Elder Shen Kun had still been holding his wine cup, its rim just touching his lips. The instant he heard those words, his entire body went rigid.
His fingers trembled as he set down his cup, which struck the tabletop with a soft clink.
He turned toward Shen Fei, making no effort to hide the shock in his eyes. Heavens, what was he doing?
Surely he wasn't planning to challenge the patriarch openly in front of all these people?
Had he lost his mind? The patriarch was at the peak of Black Gold Rank! In all of Glory City, no one besides Ye Mo and Ye Zong was stronger than him. How did he dare?
The walnut in Shen Yue's hand fell onto the table, rolled twice, and stopped beside a plate.
Mouth agape, he stared at Shen Fei, turned to look at Shen Hong, then looked back at Shen Fei. His lips moved twice, as though he wanted to say something, but not a single word came out.
His first thought was that Shen Fei had gone mad. His second was that Shen Fei must have eaten something he should not have. Only then did a third thought slowly surface-Shen Fei's tone had been far too calm, too calm for those words to have been an angry outburst spoken on impulse.