Ma Lingzhi suppressed his anger.
He immediately sent people to investigate which Dungeon Lord had initiated the challenge.
Finally...
A Contract Adventurer arrived at the Baiye City Guild meeting room.
He sat down with Ma Lingzhi and the others.
"Old Sun, I respect you as a senior, a person of high prestige, but isn't this matter a bit inappropriate? How could you unilaterally issue a 'Dungeon Duel' and challenge Tidal Town without consulting us...?"
Ma Lingzhi tried to keep his tone as calm as possible.
To be honest, if it were a Dungeon Lord, he would have directly started scolding them.
But unfortunately...
The one who came was a Contract Adventurer of a certain Dungeon Lord.
The immortal Contract Adventurer were a very unique existence; they were often highly respected and renowned in the Adventurer World, so Ma Lingzhi and the others had to show deference to any one of them.
And this Sun Mingde in front of him was even more so...
Because his identity was the Guild Master of the Adventurer's Guild from three terms ago, he had countless disciples and grand-disciples in various institutions, and he himself was a legendary Adventurer, deeply loved by countless Adventurers.
When Ma Lingzhi saw this old man standing in the meeting room, his heart sank, knowing that this matter would be difficult to handle.
Sun Mingde was also not polite; he immediately sat down next to Ma Lingzhi, in the Vice Guild Master's seat.
This made Xu Gaoyuan touch his nose and awkwardly change his seat.
Sun Mingde glanced at everyone, evidently reasserting the authority he had when he was Guild Master, which silenced everyone below.
Due to his immortal nature, he still looked like he was in his middle age.
His imposing aura as someone in a high position had not changed.
Sun Mingde finally looked at Ma Lingzhi in the main seat and nodded, "Oh, it's Little Ma. I didn't expect you to be so old now. Time... it really flies! I remember when you first joined the Adventurer's Guild, I was the one who taught you how to create data. In a blink of an eye, you're already capable of handling things on your own and have taken over the position of Guild Master!"
He did not directly answer Ma Lingzhi's words, but instead rambled on about other things, talking about the past.
Needless to say, he was playing a card.
He started with a 'king bomb,' which gave Ma Lingzhi a headache. This was truly difficult to respond to.
Either turn hostile!
Or concede to the other party and no longer pursue the matter!
Regarding this.
Ma Lingzhi was silent for a moment, his eyes flickering.
After weighing the pros and cons, he ultimately conceded.
After all, he would also join them in the future and become a Contract Adventurer. If he offended them too much, it would be difficult to deal with them when they met frequently.
"Old Sun, you are a senior. When you were Guild Master, I indeed received a lot of care from you."
"Hahahaha, I dare not take credit for caring..." Sun Mingde waved his hand, his expression looking jovial, but his attitude was very arrogant, "This is what we, as Guild Masters, should do. The burden of the Guild Master's position is very heavy!"
Ma Lingzhi nodded.
He said nothing, just waiting for the other party to get to the point.
Sun Mingde then continued, "We, ah, not only need to consider the feelings of the Adventurers below, but also arrange for the interests of the Dungeon Lords. In doing anything, we need to consider the overall situation, don't you agree? Little Ma..."
"You are right, but Old Sun, this matter..."
"This matter is indeed our fault. It was an emergency, and we didn't inform you, but it's not just me saying... As an old city like our Baiye City, when I was in charge, when did we ever suffer such humiliation? Not only did we lose face in front of people from other regions, but in the end, we also lost seventy to eighty thousand Adventurers. Tell me, is this reasonable?"
Seventy to eighty thousand!
That's seventy to eighty thousand Adventurers, not seven or eight hundred...
Such a huge loss indeed made some of the Dungeon Lords under Baiye City uneasy.
It was equivalent to all of them losing 400,000 soul crystals for nothing in one day.
As a sixth-tier county-level city, Baiye City's total population was only a little over five to six hundred thousand, which meant a loss of one-seventh of its population.
When this loss occurred, the ecology of the Dark World corresponding to the entire Baiye City was shaken.
In such a situation, how could those Dungeon Lords remain calm?
They all came out to demand an explanation.
And the territory that Sun Mingde had contracted was one of the very large ones.
However...
Ma Lingzhi also had unspeakable bitterness and said helplessly, "Old Sun, I have already explained this to you all. As you can see, Battle Royale is simply too strong, and we have no way! This time, we indeed lost face and Adventurers, but at least I managed to get the match video...
It is also because of this that our Baiye City has now formed a complete 'Battle Royale' type Dungeon industry chain. With such an industry chain, we can't do anything about Tidal Town, the main culprit, but if we turn our guns outward, we can still have a very good advantage when dealing with Dungeons in other regions.
Look...
The recent 'Dungeon Duels' are an example; we still successfully attracted many Adventurers. One day, we will definitely be able to fill this void."
Ma Lingzhi tried to explain.
He had actually said these words to the representatives of those Dungeon Lords before. Although Battle Royale type Dungeons were currently not as good as Tidal Town, they had a significant advantage compared to Dungeons in other regions.
As long as they held a dozen more 'Dungeon Duels,' attracting people to Baiye City would not be difficult then.
However...
"Too slow!" Sun Mingde shook his head and said.
"Huh?"
Ma Lingzhi opened his mouth in a daze.
Sun Mingde slowly said, "Don't you understand? It's too slow! Compared to 'Dungeon Duels' with Dungeon Lords from unknown regions, it's better to directly challenge those nearby. Adventurers from unknown regions need a 'rooting' system to bring people over, while nearby regions have coordinate information, allowing a large number of people to transfer directly back. Isn't that faster?"
"This, this, this, although, but..."
Ma Lingzhi wanted to say something.
But he ultimately held back.