In the deathly silent great hall, only the Ke family Crown Prince's heavy breathing remained, rising and falling like rolling thunder.

What Shen Yi had just done, put in immortal-sect terms, was like killing someone's Dao-son and then slapping the head in his Sect Master's face.

The Sect Masters sat quietly, but their long robes had all begun to stir slightly—the sign of qi being drawn up.

Not even they had expected the banquet to be over before it had even begun.

From the moment he'd entered the hall, every move Sect Master Shen made had gone beyond what anyone could imagine.

It was as though, in his eyes, the South Dragon Palace wasn't a lofty power on the Seven's level at all, but something he could bully as he pleased.

But clearly the Ke family's Crown Prince didn't see it that way.

A moment later, the aging dragon demon slowly straightened up. He stared coldly into Shen Yi's eyes, and to everyone's surprise his heavy breathing stopped. He gave a slight nod and answered slowly, “That's right. That's what I mean.”

He turned to the Sect Masters of the Nanhong Seven, his emotions settling back into calm with startling speed, and said earnestly, “No wonder you've all gathered at our South Dragon Palace today, and been so candid about it. You must already be prepared to give This Palace an answer.”

At that, even Qi Zhaoyi looked over, a little stunned.

The Crown Prince of a Dragon Palace, and he could swallow this much?

The Sect Masters exchanged looks. None of them answered. Instead, as one, they turned their eyes to Shen Yi in the host's seat.

If he could do something like this, he must already have a plan.

If the Nanhong Seven had been humiliated and forced to strike back, they would be in the right no matter where the case was argued, and they wouldn't have broken the agreement the East Dragon King had made with the other powers.

But now they had handed the other side a pretext, and the Ke family was putting on…