Regarding the thoughts of these shop managers, if they truly had a force behind them comparable to the Cang Yan Medicine Pavilion, perhaps they could speak their minds without consequence. This would further increase their leverage with the forces behind these individuals, making it easier to handle other matters in the future.
But the problem was, what kind of force did Li Qi have behind him? The Dixu Realm? Or the Xiao Yan District? The strongest in that little Xiao Yan District, Xu Tianzong? It was questionable whether he could withstand a single blow from his Natal Spirit Puppet after activating a secret technique.
Li Qi, of course, would not honestly reveal the truth. Manipulating his Natal Spirit Puppet, Li Qi casually grabbed an empty stool and sat down. His face was calm, but his voice, devoid of ripples, rang out.
"The force behind me? Isn't the name of my shop already displayed? It's just Penguin."
As soon as he said this, subtle changes appeared on the faces of these shop managers in the room. The Penguin Shop had been established for three or four days now. They had noticed it on the very first day it opened for business selling imitation elixirs. For the first three days, the Penguin Shop had not been open.
But none of them, the managers, had been idle. To uncover the background of the Penguin Shop, they had immediately contacted their respective behind-the-scenes forces. In the dozens of void black markets covered by their forces, and in the various areas near those void black markets, they had inquired for information.
Unfortunately, the information these shop managers had obtained from their forces was all the same: there was no information about the Penguin Shop whatsoever. Initially, they had speculated that the naming of the Penguin Shop might be different from theirs, that the shop's name wasn't necessarily the name of the force behind it.
But now, hearing the founder of the Penguin Shop, Ma Yunteng, personally state that the force behind them was called "Penguin," these managers were all somewhat perplexed.
As if sensing the confusion radiating from these managers, Li Qi's calm voice rang out again. "This Void Land is too vast, and the force behind me is too far away. It's normal that you haven't heard of it."
"Moreover, this time, besides myself and two or three others, we only brought some low-level death warriors from the Penguin headquarters who are not particularly useful. Compared to our Penguin headquarters, they are too insignificant, so it's normal that no one noticed."
Hearing Li Qi's words, the pupils of the shop managers present suddenly contracted. Death warriors? They naturally understood what Li Qi meant by death warriors. When the Cang Yan Medicine Pavilion had repeatedly suffered suicidal attacks from cultivators at the Hedao stage, these shop managers had also become somewhat flustered. They feared that if the person behind the sale of imitation elixirs took a disliking to them and decided to cause trouble for the Cang Yan Medicine Pavilion, they might incidentally pay their shops a visit and cause an explosion. The losses they would incur were not something they were willing to bear.
And now, they had heard something from Li Qi. The Hedao stage cultivators who had attacked the Cang Yan Medicine Pavilion were actually... death warriors? And they were all low-level death warriors? This implied that above low-level death warriors, there were also mid-level death warriors and high-level death warriors?
Low-level death warriors already possessed the cultivation of the Hedao stage, and even in the last attack on the Cang Yan Medicine Pavilion a year ago, three of them self-destructed together, severely injuring Tian Mo of the Cang Yan Medicine Pavilion and forcing him to flee. As a result, Tian Mo was still at the Cang Yan Medicine Pavilion headquarters, spending a great deal of precious treasures to heal. If this were extrapolated, how terrifying would mid-level death warriors and high-level death warriors be?
Furthermore, judging by Ma Yunteng's words, it seemed there were quite a few such death warriors. At this moment, these managers from other shops felt somewhat fortunate that their enemy was the Cang Yan Medicine Pavilion. If their shops had also suffered so many suicidal attacks, they feared they would fare no better than the Cang Yan Medicine Pavilion.
How terrifying was this force called Penguin? It seemed what they were seeing was merely a minuscule fraction of it? A sense of unease began to stir in the hearts of these managers. Although they still had no information about the force called "Penguin," they did not doubt that Li Qi was fabricating a force out of thin air. After all, a force could be conjured, but those Hedao stage cultivators who self-destructed could not be faked.
If it were them, let alone a small branch, even their own headquarters would find it incredibly difficult to cultivate a few Hedao stage death warriors, let alone casually send death warriors to commit suicide.
Recovering their senses, the faces of these managers in the room became somewhat stiff. Wu Anji forced a smile and cupped his hands towards Li Qi, his tone unconsciously becoming more respectful. "Hehe, so Daoist comes from a farther place. It's just that we are ashamed of our shallow insight, for we truly haven't heard of the 'Penguin' that Daoist mentioned."
"However, since the force behind Daoist is so distant, why have you come to a small place like ours?"
Hearing this, Li Qi's expression remained as calm as ever. He yawned and said in an incredibly leisurely and unconcerned tone, "There's no particular reason. It's just that I've been watching my elders do business, and I was getting a bit bored at home. After discussing it with a few friends, we simply found a place to establish our own force for fun. If I get tired of it one day, I might just go back."
This was a typical explanation of a young master gaining experience, and it didn't have too many loopholes. Combined with Li Qi's earlier statement that, apart from two or three people, the rest were death warriors, it fit perfectly.
By now, these managers from various forces had learned as much as they could from Li Qi. At the same time, they had developed a greater sense of apprehension towards this force called "Penguin," which they had heard of for the first time. At least based on the fragments Li Qi had revealed, the true combat strength of the cultivators behind the Penguin force might far exceed their imagination.
However, it was fortunate that, at least for now, apart from the Cang Yan Medicine Pavilion, they, the local shops, had no conflict with this Penguin Medicine Shop. This brought a sigh of relief to the managers.
Immediately, the minds of these managers present began to turn rapidly. With a slight shift in their thoughts, since there was no conflict, could they find a way to befriend the Penguin Shop? If they could truly befriend them, even if it seemed useless in this small corner of the world for now, if their own forces were to develop in farther regions in the future, they might just hear about an incredibly terrifying force called "Penguin." Thinking of this, the eyes of these managers present lit up slightly, a look of pleasant surprise appearing on their faces.