Chapter 31: The teleportation array is afflicted with a debuff, making it impossible to move an inch in the main city of the Heavenly God Temple.

The day after Qin Wentian issued the challenge, Lin Ye did not go to the Main City Square.

It wasn't because he was afraid; he just couldn't be bothered. Qin Wentian brought fifty top-tier experts ranked in the top hundred of the entire server and stood in the Main City Square from ten in the morning until three in the afternoon, without even catching a glimpse of Lin Ye's shadow. The crowd of onlookers grew from a few hundred to several thousand, all watching the spectacle.

[world channel]

[Player "Wocao Wuqing": Hahaha! Qin Wentian brought fifty people and stood in the square all day, and Brother Ye didn't even show up!]

[Player "Brick-Moving Expert": Is Brother Ye standing him up? That's too wicked!]

[Player "Invincible Sword God": It's not standing him up, it's that he doesn't even bother to go. What is Qin Wentian anyway, that he's worthy of Brother Ye making a move personally?]

[Player "Yes Little Follower": Guild Leader Qin, you might as well go back. If you keep standing there, it'll be dark soon.]

Looking at the mockery on the world channel, Qin Wentian's face turned livid. He had waited for five hours, Lin Ye hadn't come, and the fifty experts he brought were getting impatient; a few had already logged off.

"Guild Leader, that Ye isn't coming," Pojun whispered. "Should we withdraw first?"

Qin Wentian gritted his teeth and opened a private message to send one to Lin Ye—

[Private Message] Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian: Ye, what is the meaning of this? We agreed on a time, and you didn't come. Are you afraid?

Lin Ye replied in seconds—

[Private Message] Lin Ye: Afraid? It's not fear, it's that I'm busy. Do you think everyone is like you, with nothing to do all day? Besides—Guild Leader Qin, you brought fifty people to wait for me in the square, how could I dare to go? What if you beat me up?

Looking at this message, Qin Wentian was so angry he almost threw his phone. He brought fifty people to kill Lin Ye, not to drink tea. But with Lin Ye saying it like that, it made him, Qin Wentian, look like he didn't follow the rules of martial arts.

[Private Message] Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian: What exactly do you want?

[Private Message] Lin Ye: I don't want anything. Just wanted to remind you—your ban order is useless against me. Instead of spending your energy on me, you should think about how to clean up that mess of yours.

Qin Wentian was stunned for a moment: "What mess?"

Just as he sent it, the guild channel exploded—

[Guild Channel]

[Temple of Gods - Berserker]: Guild Leader! It's bad! There's a problem with the teleportation array! Brothers are dying as soon as they step on it!

[Heavenly Temple Mage]: I lost three levels! All my equipment dropped! What the hell is this?!

[Heavenly Temple Priest]: Guild Leader, come back quickly! A whole bunch of people died near the teleportation array!

Qin Wentian's expression changed drastically, and he quickly teleported to the main city teleportation array. The scene before him made him gasp—the area around the teleportation array was littered with the corpses of Heavenly Temple members, at least a hundred of them. The survivors were all huddled in the distance, not daring to get close.

"What's going on?!" Qin Wentian grabbed a subordinate who had just stood up from the respawn point and asked.

The subordinate's face was pale, and his voice was trembling: "Guild Leader, someone put a debuff on the teleportation array! As long as it's someone from our guild, we get infected the moment we step on it, and our health bars are instantly emptied! We can't take it at all!"

Qin Wentian gritted his teeth, walked to the side of the teleportation array, and cautiously extended a foot—

[System Prompt: You have been applied with 1000 layers of Decay Debuff!]

His health bar instantly dropped to zero, and he died on the spot.

"Ding! Player [Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian] has died, level drop: 30 → 25."

Qin Wentian stood up at the respawn point, his face livid. He had dropped five levels, lost three pieces of epic equipment, and even the weapon he spent tens of millions of gold coins to buy almost dropped.

"This Ye..." he gritted his teeth and said, "is forcing me."

The subordinate behind him asked cautiously: "Guild Leader, should we send someone to clear the debuff on the teleportation array?"

"Clear? How? Even Su Qinghan can't clear his debuff, you tell me how to clear it?!"

The subordinate shrank his neck and didn't dare to speak.

Qin Wentian was silent for a long time, then finally said: "Notify all brothers, temporarily stop using the teleportation array. Walk out through the city gate."

The subordinate acknowledged and quickly went to send the notice. But the city gate leading from the main city to the wild map had also been debuffed by Lin Ye—as long as it was someone from Heavenly Temple, they would get infected the moment they walked out and die on the spot.

[Guild Channel]

[Temple of Gods - Berserker]: Guild Leader, we can't use the city gate either! We die as soon as we go out!

[Heavenly Temple Mage]: We can't enter the dungeon entrance either! The entrance is full of debuffs!

[Heavenly Temple Priest]: We can't even go to the Trading House! The NPC won't sell us anything!

Qin Wentian looked at the distress messages in the guild channel, his face getting darker and darker. Lin Ye's move had directly locked his entire guild in the main city—they couldn't leave, couldn't enter dungeons, couldn't buy things, and couldn't repair equipment. They couldn't even play the most basic parts of the game.

"Guild Leader, why don't we stop targeting that Ye for now?" Pojun whispered. "If this continues, the brothers will lose all their levels. The guild will fall apart too."

Qin Wentian clenched his fists, veins popping. He certainly knew the guild would fall apart if this continued, but he was unwilling—when had he, Qin Wentian, ever been bullied like this?

"Notify all brothers to gather at the Main City Square," he gritted his teeth and said. "I want to talk to that Ye personally."

Meanwhile, Lin Ye was sitting on the third floor of the Commoner Supermarket, watching the excitement on the world channel, with a wicked smile on his lips.

Fatty Wang was dancing with excitement beside him: "Brother! You're too awesome! The people from Heavenly Temple are all trapped in the main city, they can't even get out!"

Lin Ye laughed: "It's not trapping them, it's teaching them a lesson."

"What lesson?"

"Letting them know the consequences of messing with the wrong person."

Su Qinghan walked up from downstairs, holding a list: "The people from Heavenly Temple are starting to panic. Dozens of members have already posted on the forum saying they want to quit the guild. There are also a few squad leaders who contacted us privately, wanting to defect to us."

Lin Ye took the list, glanced at it, and shook his head: "Don't rush. Let them panic a bit longer."

"You don't intend to recruit them?"

"Recruitment is for later. If we take them now, they'll think we're giving them charity. Wait until they have nowhere else to turn, then recruit them, and they'll be grateful."

Su Qinghan looked at him and couldn't help but laugh: "You really are... material for doing business."

Lin Ye shrugged: "It's professional, after all."

As the three were talking, the system suddenly popped up a private message—

[Private Message] Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian: Ye, let's talk.

Lin Ye glanced at it and replied—

[Private Message] Lin Ye: Talk about what?

[Private Message] Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian: You remove the debuffs on the teleportation array and the city gate, and I'll lift the ban order on you. We'll both take a step back, and we won't interfere with each other.

Lin Ye laughed and replied—

[Private Message] Lin Ye: Guild Leader Qin, did you get something wrong? It's you begging me now, not me begging you. If you want to talk, sure. But I get to set the terms.

The other side went silent.

After a long while, Qin Wentian replied—

[Private Message] Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian: What do you want?

[Private Message] Lin Ye: First, lift the ban order on me and apologize publicly on the server-wide channel. Second, stop the material monopoly and adjust the prices back to normal levels. Third, compensate me with five million gold coins as mental damages for the past few days.

The other side went silent again. This time, the silence lasted even longer.

[Private Message] Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian: Five million? Are you robbing me?

[Private Message] Lin Ye: Then it's ten million. For every second you hesitate, I'll add another million.

[Private Message] Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian: ...Fine. I agree.

Lin Ye looked at this message, a wicked smile curling his lips. He stood up and said to Su Qinghan and Fatty Wang: "Let's go, to the square to collect the money."

"You're really going?" Su Qinghan frowned. "What if Qin Wentian goes back on his word?"

Lin Ye laughed: "He won't dare. His guild is already on the verge of falling apart; if he goes back on his word, he'll really have no one left."

The three walked out of the Commoner Supermarket toward the Main City Square. Heavenly Temple members along the way saw Lin Ye and dodged far away, their eyes filled with fear. They were truly afraid—this Ye wasn't human; he was a monster.

When they reached the square, Qin Wentian was already standing in the center waiting. Dozens of core members of Heavenly Temple stood behind him, but the momentum was completely different from before—the arrogance and domineering nature from earlier were gone, replaced by exhaustion and helplessness.

"You're here." Qin Wentian looked at Lin Ye, his eyes complex.

Lin Ye walked up to him, hands in his pockets, a wicked smile on his lips: "Guild Leader Qin, have you thought it through?"

Qin Wentian gritted his teeth, opened the server-wide channel, and sent a message—

[Server-wide Channel] [Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian]: Effective immediately, Heavenly Temple lifts the ban order on player "Lin Ye". What happened before was wrong of Heavenly Temple. Here, I represent Heavenly Temple in publicly apologizing to player "Lin Ye".

The whole server exploded—

[world channel]

[Player "Wocao Wuqing": Holy crap! Qin Wentian apologized?! And a public apology at that?!]

[Player "Brick-Moving Expert": Brother Ye is awesome! Forced the guild leader of the top guild in the server to apologize publicly!]

[Player "Invincible Sword God": So Qin Wentian has a day like this too? Wasn't he very arrogant when he banned Brother Ye?]

[Player "Yes Little Follower": Brother Ye is mighty! This is a real game master!]

After Qin Wentian finished the apology statement, he transferred ten million gold coins to Lin Ye.

[System Prompt: You have received 10,000,000 gold coins from player [Heavenly Temple Qin Wentian].]

Lin Ye received the money and nodded with satisfaction. He raised his hand and removed the debuffs on the teleportation array and the city gate.

"Alright. From now on, we won't interfere with each other." He turned and left.

Qin Wentian called out to him: "Wait."

Lin Ye looked back: "Anything else?"

Qin Wentian hesitated for a moment and asked: "What do you actually want?"

Lin Ye laughed: "What I wanted, you've already given me."

"What?"

"A fair gaming environment." Lin Ye pointed to the casual players around him. "These people shouldn't be bullied by you. The price of materials shouldn't be monopolized by you. The entrances to dungeons shouldn't be blocked by you. I'm just letting everything return to how it should be."

Qin Wentian fell silent.

Lin Ye turned and left. After walking a few steps, he turned back and said: "Guild Leader Qin, I'll give you a piece of advice. Whether doing business or playing games, don't be too greedy. If you're too greedy, it's easy to get yourself into trouble."

Qin Wentian stood in place, watching Lin Ye's back, his eyes complex.

Pojun came over and asked in a low voice: "Guild Leader, are we just going to let it go like this?"

Qin Wentian was silent for a long time, then sighed: "Let it go. We can't afford to offend him."

He turned and left, and the Heavenly Temple members behind him followed. The Main City Square returned to its usual peace.

Fatty Wang followed behind Lin Ye, dancing with excitement: "Brother! You're too awesome! Even Qin Wentian has been beaten into submission by you!"

Lin Ye laughed: "It's not beaten into submission, it's reasoning."

"You call that condition reasoning?" Su Qinghan couldn't help but laugh. "Ten million gold coins for mental damages? You really had the nerve to ask for that."

Lin Ye shrugged: "He provoked me first, so what's wrong with collecting some mental damages? Besides—" He took the core token out of his backpack and weighed it in his hand, "This thing is still in my hands. If he messes around again, I can do this again at any time."

Su Qinghan shook her head speechlessly: "You really are... wicked to the bone."

The three returned to the Commoner Supermarket, and Fatty Wang began to calculate today's income. With the ten million gold coins added to what they had earned before, Lin Ye's assets had exceeded fifty million gold coins. At the current gold price, it was worth at least one hundred million in real currency.

"Brother, are we considered rich people now?" Fatty Wang asked with a grin.

Lin Ye shook his head: "This is just the beginning."

"What do you mean?"

Lin Ye walked to the window, looking at the direction of the Heavenly Temple headquarters in the distance, a wicked smile curling his lips: "Although Qin Wentian has conceded, his material monopoly is still there. Those dungeon hunting squads, mines, and herb gardens are still his people. Our Commoner Supermarket still can't get a stable supply of goods."

"Then what should we do?"

Lin Ye turned around, took out [Eye of the Undead] from his backpack, and weighed it in his hand: "Fatty, I'll take you somewhere tomorrow."

"What place?"

"A hidden mine outside the main city. Heavenly Temple can't monopolize the materials there. And—" A wicked smile curled his lips, "There's also a hidden BOSS there. We'll take the first kill while we're at it."

Fatty Wang's eyes lit up: "Really? Another BOSS to fight?"

"Of course. And not just one."

Su Qinghan looked at Lin Ye's wicked expression and couldn't help but laugh: "You really are, never stopping no matter where you go."

Lin Ye shrugged: "It's not not stopping, it's professional."

At this time, Qin Wentian was standing on the top floor of the Heavenly Temple headquarters, looking at the direction of the Commoner Supermarket in the distance, his eyes complex. His subordinate reported: "Guild Leader, the price in the material market has started to fall. Although that Ye's Commoner Supermarket hasn't opened in the main city, his influence is too great. Casual players are all waiting for him to open the shop, no one is buying our materials."

Qin Wentian was silent for a long time, then said: "Adjust the price back. Sell at the original price."

The subordinate was stunned: "Original price? Won't we lose a lot?"

"If we lose, we lose. It's better than ceding the market to him." Qin Wentian turned around, looking at the night outside the window, and whispered, "This Ye is much harder to deal with than I imagined."

Meanwhile, Lin Ye was sitting on the third floor of the Commoner Supermarket, weighing that golden core token in his hand, a wicked smile curling his lips.

"Qin Wentian, do you think admitting defeat is the end? No, this is just the beginning."