Given Branch Leader Feng's standing as an Earth Rank Renowned Master, he had no need to depend on any backer. He could serve as a backer himself and command a force of his own.
But he had relied on mighty experts in the past, and inevitably had to return their peaches with plums, serving them to repay their favors. In the process, he had dealt with many formidable enemies and done plenty of dirty, grueling work.
These seemingly insignificant matters could shatter him to pieces once they erupted. Moreover, both the Righteous and Demonic Paths had no shortage of people eyeing the wealth and power he now commanded like hungry tigers. With trouble brewing within and threats looming without, how could he possibly remain unscathed?
In the short term, Branch Leader Feng's situation appeared unchanged, but in truth, he was already teetering on the brink.
The shopkeeper looked so troubled because he understood perfectly well that, had his branch leader been struggling upward from a low position, he could have climbed slowly. The collapse of the backer above him would not necessarily have brought disaster.
But if he had already held a lofty position, a sudden plunge could instead have smashed him to pieces.
The three visitors' arrival only made his predicament harder to put into words. After hemming and hawing for a while, he suddenly told them, "To be frank, our branch leader isn't here at present. He left some time ago to attend to an important matter."
"Oh? What important matter might that be? Could we perhaps lend a hand?" Lin Qi asked, a strange glint flashing through his eyes.
"I don't know either. The branch leader left in a great hurry and gave us little explanation. He merely told us to look after this place..." the shopkeeper