Lina Starseeker felt as if her lungs were about to be ignited by fury.
As the legion commander of the Third Legion of the Moon Whisper Kingdom's Royal Guard, when had she ever suffered such humiliation?
The playful and flippant look in the eyes of the black-haired, buzz-cut human man before her pricked at her lofty pride.
"Human, you are provoking the great Elven Kingdom!"
Lina forced herself to calm down, yet her voice still carried an irrepressible tremor.
In her beautiful pale purple eyes, rage was almost bursting forth.
The elven guards beside her also tightened their grip on their longbows, the arrows shimmering with magical radiance; with just one command from the legion commander, they would make this ignorant human pay the price.
Wu Liang looked at her fierce-looking but inwardly weak appearance and found it amusing.
Elves? Noble?
In his eyes, they were nothing more than naive fools who hadn't yet been beaten down by society.
He stepped forward bit by bit, the pressure brought by his 188-centimeter height making even Lina, who was also tall, feel a massive weight.
Almost subconsciously, she took half a step back—a subtle movement that made the smile at the corner of Wu Liang's mouth deepen.
"Provoking?"
Wu Liang stood still in front of Lina, close enough to smell the fresh fragrance on her, reminiscent of grass and morning dew.
He reached out, ignoring Lina's wary gaze, and slowly twirled a lock of her silky, smooth silver hair.
"No, I am simply curious about you creatures who claim to be so noble."
He brought the lock of hair to his nose, took a light sniff, and then said word by word in a playful tone:
"An elf's hair really does smell wonderful."
"You!"
Lina's whole body shuddered violently, an indescribable sense of humiliation instantly rushing to her head, leaving her mind blank.
This was worse than being killed outright! She swung her hand suddenly, trying to swat away Wu Liang's wicked hand.
However, her wrist was caught mid-air by a large hand as firm as an iron pincer.
No matter how much she struggled, that hand remained motionless.
"Let go of me! You filthy... mmph!"
"You can leave if you want."
Wu Liang's smile suddenly turned cold as he interrupted Lina's cursing. His other hand still gripped her wrist; the force wasn't great, yet it left her completely unable to move.
"Pay the toll. You elves have been skulking around my territory; there's a price to pay for that, isn't there?"
He paused, his gaze sweeping over Lina's exquisite face, which was flushed with anger and humiliation, and slowly added:
"Or you could personally be my guide and take me for a tour of your Moon Whisper Kingdom."
At these words, not only Lina but all the elven guards behind her changed expression drastically.
The Moon Whisper Kingdom was the sacred land of the elves, a secluded pure land that absolutely did not allow any outsiders—especially humans—to set foot in it!
"Bastard! Die!"
A young elven guard could take it no longer; he roared and released his bowstring.
A magical arrow tempered with paralyzing toxin shot toward the center of Wu Liang's back like a bolt of green lightning, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound!
"Watch out!"
Lina cried out instinctively. Though she loathed Wu Liang, she hadn't intended for him to die here.
However, the scene that followed caused the thoughts of every elf present to grind to a halt.
Wu Liang didn't even turn his head; as if he had eyes in the back of his head, he reached back and grabbed.
The arrow, so fast it was nearly invisible to the naked eye, was caught firmly in his hand just like that.
The impact and magical energy contained within the arrow vanished like a stone dropped into the ocean, failing to affect him in the slightest.
"Is this the attitude of you elves?"
Wu Liang's voice betrayed no emotion as he toyed with the arrow in his hand, as if it weren't a deadly weapon but a mere toy.
The elven guard who had fired the arrow was dumbstruck; he stared at Wu Liang, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg.
He couldn't understand how a human could possibly catch his full-strength strike with bare hands. That was an arrow imbued with Windwalk!
Wu Liang's gaze finally fell upon the arrow, his five fingers slowly tightening.
"Crack..."
A crisp sound rang out, so sharp it made one's teeth ache.
The arrow shaft, made of the incredibly hard Ironwood unique to the elves, was snapped into two by his raw strength.
And he wasn't finished.
"Crack... crack-crack..."
Wu Liang's fingers continued to apply pressure; the hard wooden shaft was like a fragile cracker in his hand, being crushed bit by bit into fine wood chips that trickled down through the gaps between his fingers.
Silence.
A deathly silence.
In the mountain forest, only the rustling of wind through the leaves and the heavy breathing of the elves remained.
Lina stared blankly at the wood chips falling from Wu Liang's fingers, feeling her worldview being crushed bit by bit.
That was an Ironwood arrow shaft! Even the strongest Bearman warrior in the Tribe would need to use all his strength to break it, yet this man... he had used only two fingers!
Wu Liang's cold gaze swept over the elven guard who had already collapsed to the ground, his powerful aura pressing down like a physical weight.
The elven guard felt as though he were being watched by an ancient behemoth; his legs gave way, and with a short wail of terror, he slumped directly onto the ground, a wet patch quickly spreading across his crotch.
Fear spread through the elven squad like a plague.
The archery they took pride in, the magic they relied on for survival—all of it seemed so laughable and powerless before this man.
Lina looked at Wu Liang's handsome yet wild and domineering face, into those deep eyes that seemed capable of swallowing everything.
Any resistance would be futile.
They were like a group of rabbits that had stumbled into a dragon's lair; their life and death depended entirely on the other's whim.
She took a deep breath and slowly closed her beautiful purple eyes, suppressing all her resentment, anger, and humiliation.
When she opened her eyes again, only determination and a hint of sorrow remained in those pupils.
"I promise you, I will go with you."
Her voice was somewhat hoarse.
"But you must release my companions; they were only following orders."
The playful smile returned to the corners of Wu Liang's mouth. He released Lina's wrist, took a step forward, leaned in close to her pointed, fair, and slightly trembling ear, and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"No, they are coming with me too, as your attendants."
Lina's body stiffened instantly.
"Remember, from now on, you are in no position to negotiate with me."
Wu Liang's warm breath brushed against her ear, making it feel itchy and numb, a shiver racing from her spine all the way to the top of her head.
Just then, Ignis, who had been hiding nearby, emerged with a squad of Ember Fire Legion soldiers.
They wore uniform black armor and held black iron tubes the elves had never seen before, an aura of iron and blood radiating from them.
"Chief."
Ignis bowed to Wu Liang, her fiery red hair fluttering in the wind.
"Confiscate all their weapons."
Wu Liang ordered flatly.
"Yes!"
Though the elves were unwilling, at the signal of Lina's desperate yet commanding gaze, they could only humiliate themselves by laying down their longbows and allowing the human soldiers to seize their weapons.
Wu Liang watched everything with satisfaction, his gaze finally landing on Lina's exquisite face, which was slightly flushed with anger.
When dealing with such self-righteous higher races, you cannot reason with them.
You must use the most direct and brutal methods to trample their pride ruthlessly beneath your feet.
Only then will they truly learn the meaning of awe.