Chapter 11: Counterattack against the elite team of the Heavenly God Temple, and turn the tables by shifting blame and smearing them.

When Lin Ye logged back into the game, night had already fallen over the Novice Village.

He didn't delay and ran straight toward Black Wind Ridge. He glanced at the map along the way—the twenty-plus Heavenly Temple elites were still blocking the entrance to the Wolf Kings Lair, looking determined to wait for him.

The leader's ID was "Lingtian of Heavenly Temple," a Level 18 Warrior. His equipment glowed with purple light, and the weapon in his hand was golden—the special effect of an Epic-grade weapon. He was a top-tier player ranked in the top fifty of the server, Qin Wentian's right-hand man, and held a position in Heavenly Temple second only to the Guild Leader.

A wicked smile curled at the corner of Lin Ye's mouth. Fat sheep delivered right to his door—it would be a waste not to fleece them.

Just as he reached the entrance of Black Wind Ridge, he saw over twenty people blocking the lair's entrance tightly. Lingtian of Heavenly Temple stood at the front with his arms crossed, looking impatient.

"You're here." Lingtian of Heavenly Temple sneered upon seeing Lin Ye. "I thought you wouldn't dare to show up."

Lin Ye walked over unhurriedly, his expression flat. "Your Heavenly Temple people are blocking my BOSS; why wouldn't I come?"

"Your BOSS?" Lingtian of Heavenly Temple scoffed. "This Novice Village Wolf King belongs to Heavenly Temple. Our Guild Leader said that from today on, all BOSSes in the Novice Village are under the jurisdiction of Heavenly Temple. Anyone who wants to fight them must pay a fee first."

The lackeys behind him joined in the jeering—

"Exactly! A pathetic solo player like you thinks you're worthy of fighting a BOSS?"

"Be smart and hand over the [wolf kings protection], then apologize to our Guild Leader, and we'll let this matter slide."

"Otherwise, you won't be leaving the Novice Village today!"

Lin Ye looked at the group and couldn't help but laugh.

"Is everyone in your Heavenly Temple this shameless?"

Lingtian of Heavenly Temple's expression instantly darkened. "What did you say?"

"I said you're shameless," Lin Ye said flatly. "Stealing someone else's BOSS and acting so righteous about it. Is this the conduct of the server's number one guild?"

"You're fucking dead!" A warrior behind Lingtian of Heavenly Temple couldn't take it anymore, drawing his weapon and charging forward.

Lingtian of Heavenly Temple didn't stop him; he also wanted to see how capable this guy named Ye really was.

The warrior rushed in front of Lin Ye and swung his sword—

And then his health bar vanished.

[System Notification: Player [Kuangdao of Heavenly Temple] attacked a malicious target, triggering Decay Debuff contagion!]

Lin Ye had already applied the "Rebound Decay" effect to himself. Anyone who attacked him would be infected by the debuff. Furthermore, he had deliberately set the debuff stacks to 100—dealing True Damage equal to 100% of maximum HP per second.

With one swing, the man was gone.

"Ding! Player [Kuangdao of Heavenly Temple] has died. Level dropped: 15 → 10."

Total silence fell over the scene.

Lingtian of Heavenly Temple's face changed drastically. "What's going on?!"

Lin Ye shrugged. "You guys made the first move. It has nothing to do with me."

"Bullshit!" Lingtian of Heavenly Temple gritted his teeth. "Brothers, attack together! Can he really hold out against all of us alone?"

The twenty-plus people looked at each other and charged forward.

Warriors charged, mages threw fireballs, and assassins went invisible to flank him—their coordination was seamless, clearly well-trained.

But they forgot one thing—Lin Ye's Talent dealt area-of-effect damage.

He stood there without moving. The moment all the attacks landed on him, they were all reflected back. Moreover, it wasn't damage that was reflected, but the debuff.

One hundred stacks. Two hundred stacks. Three hundred stacks.

In just three seconds, all twenty-plus people were afflicted with hundreds of stacks of Decay Debuff, and their health bars plummeted.

"Holy shit! Why is my health dropping so fast?!"

"It won't clear! Priest, dispel it quickly!"

"Dispel my ass! This debuff can't be cleared at all!"

"Guild Leader, save me!"

In less than ten seconds, all twenty-plus people died instantly.

Lingtian of Heavenly Temple was among them. He watched helplessly as his health bar went from full to zero, his level dropped from 18 to 13, and three pieces of his purple gear dropped, almost losing even his Epic-grade weapon.

"Ding! Player [Lingtian of Heavenly Temple] has died. Level dropped: 18 → 13."

Lingtian of Heavenly Temple stood up at the resurrection point, his face ashen. He looked at his level, which had dropped by 5, then glanced in Lin Ye's direction, his whole body trembling.

"You... just you wait!" He threw out a threat and fled with his defeated group.

But Lin Ye didn't intend to let them off that easily.

While fighting earlier, he had secretly started a screen recording. From the moment the Heavenly Temple people blocked the entrance to them making the first move, and finally to them all being counter-killed—he had recorded the entire process.

Lin Ye opened the forum and uploaded the video with the title—

[Heavenly Temple Maliciously Snatching BOSS, Bullying Novice Players, Only to be Wiped Out! Is this the conduct of the server's number one guild?]

In the video, he deliberately edited out his provocative parts, leaving only the footage of the Heavenly Temple people blocking the entrance, hurling insults, and making the first move. At the end, he added a text description:

"I am a solo player from the Novice Village, just fighting a BOSS normally. The Heavenly Temple elite team blocked the entrance for no reason, used threats and extortion, and initiated the attack. Above is the full recording. I ask all players on the server to judge for themselves."

Less than a minute after the post was made, it was pushed to the front page.

The entire server exploded—

[Trending Forum Thread]

1st Floor: Holy crap! Is Heavenly Temple really this shameless? Blocking a Novice Village BOSS and threatening people?

2nd Floor: It's clear in the video they made the first move. They got counter-killed and now they're going to blame others?

3rd Floor: Heavenly Temple has always been like this, monopolizing dungeon materials and inflating prices. Who doesn't know that?

4th Floor: Careful upstairs, you might get hunted by Heavenly Temple. They are the number one guild, after all. Better not provoke them.

5th Floor: Can't afford to provoke them? Brother Ye took down over twenty of their elites by himself, and you say we can't provoke them?

6th Floor: Exactly! Heavenly Temple only bullies solo players, but they cower when they meet someone tough.

The post climbed higher and higher, surpassing 100,000 replies in just half an hour. Players across the server collectively condemned Heavenly Temple, demanding an explanation from Qin Wentian.

Meanwhile, the Heavenly Temple guild channel was in utter chaos.

[Guild Channel]

[Lingtian of Heavenly Temple]: Guild Leader, that guy Ye is too weird! He killed over twenty of us all by himself!

[Kuangdao of Heavenly Temple]: My level dropped by 5! I lost three pieces of equipment too! Guild Leader, you have to reimburse me!

[Heavenly Temple Mage]: I dropped 4 levels! Is this game even playable?

[Heavenly Temple Priest]: That debuff can't be cleared at all; Priest skills are useless! This is definitely a BUG!

Qin Wentian looked at the messages in the guild channel, his expression terrifyingly dark. He glanced at the forum post, his fingers cracking as he clenched them.

"This Ye..." he whispered, "is quite interesting."

A lackey behind him asked, "Guild Leader, should I take more people over there? Is a hundred enough?"

Qin Wentian shook his head. "No need. The whole internet is watching us now. Attacking again will only make the public opinion worse."

"Then what? We just let it go?"

Qin Wentian fell silent for a few seconds before sneering. "Let him enjoy himself for a few days. Once the heat dies down, we'll deal with him slowly."

He opened the World Channel and sent a message—

[World Channel][Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian]: Regarding the incident in the Novice Village, I represent Heavenly Temple in apologizing to all players. The actions of Lingtian and the others were personal and do not represent the guild's stance. The personnel involved have been demoted. Heavenly Temple will strengthen its management in the future to prevent such incidents from happening again.

As soon as this message was sent, the server exploded again—

[World Channel]

[Player "Onlooker": Personal actions? They were using the Heavenly Temple banner when they blocked the entrance!]

[Player "Solo Player Old Li": Demoted? That's it? Just a demotion for bullying novices?]

[Player "Yes Little Follower": Guild Leader Qin, this apology is way too perfunctory, don't you think?]

Lin Ye also saw Qin Wentian's message, a wicked smile curling his lips.

He opened the forum and made another post—

[Ye: Thank you for the apology, Guild Leader Qin. However, just an apology isn't enough. I have a bill here; I'd appreciate it if Guild Leader Qin could settle it.]

The post included a list—

Compensation for dropped equipment: 5,000 Gold

Mental anguish fee: 3,000 Gold

Loss from BOSS harassment: 2,000 Gold

Total: 10,000 Gold

When players across the server saw this bill, they all went wild with laughter—

[Trending Forum Thread]

1st Floor: Hahaha! Brother Ye is straight-up extorting Heavenly Temple!

2nd Floor: Ten thousand gold? Not much at all, Heavenly Temple has plenty of money!

3rd Floor: Qin Wentian is stuck between a rock and a hard place now. If he doesn't pay, he loses face; if he does pay, he still loses face.

4th Floor: Serves them right! That's what they get for bullying novices!

Qin Wentian looked at the bill, his face ashen. Ten thousand gold was nothing to him, but he couldn't afford to lose this much face.

He gritted his teeth and directly transferred ten thousand gold—

[System Notification: You have received 10,000 Gold from player [Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian].]

[World Channel][Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian]: The money has been sent. This matter ends here.

Lin Ye received the money and laughed until he doubled over. He replied—

[World Channel][Ye]: Received. Guild Leader Qin is truly generous. If your Heavenly Temple people ever harass me again, I'll keep charging at this rate.

Players across the server saw this conversation and were completely awestruck—

"Brother Ye is awesome! He's plucked Heavenly Temple bald!"

"Ten thousand gold in hand! Brother Ye made a massive profit this time!"

"Qin Wentian is paying for peace, hahaha!"

Meanwhile, in a corner of the Novice Village, Zhao Kai was looking at the forum posts, a glint of malice in his eyes.

"Even Heavenly Temple got screwed by him..." he muttered. "Even Qin Wentian can't do anything to him?"

He gritted his teeth, and an idea suddenly popped into his head.

"Since I can't beat him openly, I'll play dirty."

Zhao Kai opened his friend list and found an ID—"Black Market Trader."

[Private Message] Master Kai: Old Hei, do me a favor. Can you bribe all the material merchants in the Novice Village? I want to monopolize materials and cut off that guy Ye's source of income.

[Private Message] Black Market Trader: Bribing all the material merchants in the village? That's going to cost a lot of money.

[Private Message] Master Kai: Money is no object. Is a hundred thousand gold enough?

[Private Message] Black Market Trader: Enough. When do you need it?

[Private Message] Master Kai: Now. I want to make it so that guy Ye can't even buy the materials to repair his equipment in the Novice Village!

[Private Message] Black Market Trader: Fine. Wait for my word.

Zhao Kai closed the private message, a sinister smile appearing on his face.

"Ye, aren't you supposed to be so great? Let's see how you survive without materials!"

Meanwhile, Lin Ye was sitting at the entrance of the Wolf Kings Lair, looking at the ten thousand gold in his bag, feeling great.

He didn't know what Zhao Kai was plotting, but he knew one thing—in this game, anyone who tried to screw him over would end up in a much worse state.

He opened his Talent panel and looked at the newly unlocked effect—

[System Notification: Detected that 23 players, including [Lingtian of Heavenly Temple], were killed by Decay Debuff. Cumulative achievement "Guild Duel" triggered. New effect unlocked: Guild Decay—Can apply Decay Debuff to all guild members simultaneously.]

Lin Ye's eyes lit up as he looked at this new effect.

Takes effect on all guild members at the same time?

He checked the number of members in Heavenly Temple—over three thousand people.

Over three thousand people getting the debuff at once?

A wicked smile curled at the corner of Lin Ye's mouth.

Qin Wentian, your Heavenly Temple is probably about to go down in flames.