Upon hearing this, one of the elves merely let out a flat, indifferent “Oh.”
“That is simply the divine punishment Elune has brought upon them.”
His tone was as calm as if he were discussing the weather.
Another elderly elf let out a cold snort, his soul light fluctuating slightly.
“They reaped what they sowed.”
A few quiet murmurs of agreement echoed from the surroundings.
There was no anger, no grief.
There was only a bone-deep... detachment and irony.
This reaction left Lin Gui stunned.
It was even more unbelievable to Clotina.
She floated forward slightly, her voice trembling.
“Why... why would you say that?”
“The Elven Forest... isn't that the home of all elves?”
The scene from Shadowmoon City flashed through her mind.
The heads in the bloody bag held by Shadow Blade Lynn, which looked suspiciously like those of Highborne Elves.
A terrifying suspicion welled up in her heart.
“What on earth... has happened over the years?”
“To make you feel... this way... about the Elven Forest...”
She could not bring herself to finish.
The surrounding elves fell into a deeper silence.
Only the faint shimmer of the fluorescent moss flowed silently across their soul bodies.
Clotina's friend, the spirit of the girl named Lia, floated gently to her side.
She reached out and lightly clasped Clotina's wrist.
“Clotina...”
Lia's voice was very soft, yet it carried a weariness that belied her age.
“Don't talk about the ‘Elven Forest’ anymore.”
“It was never... our home.”
Another young spirit drifted over and whispered,
“You are a child of Elune, Clotina.”
“But you were never... a child of the World Tree.”
Listening to this, Lin Gui's heart stirred slightly.
The Night Elves worshipped the Moon Goddess, Elune, and the dark night.
The night granted tranquility, reflection, concealment, and sanctuary.
This was fundamentally different from the faith of the World Tree, which championed nature, light, and growth; there was already an inherent, fundamental divergence between them.
In the past, this difference had been barely covered up by the bond of the “elven community.”
But now, the rift had deepened to the bone.
An elderly elf floated closer slowly, his gaze falling upon Lin Gui.
There was a final sliver of hope lingering in his eyes.
“Child...”
His voice was raspy.
“How are our Night Elf compatriots on the outside doing?”
“How many of them... are still alive?”
In an instant, the gaze of every elf focused on him.
In those flat, indifferent eyes, a long-suppressed anticipation finally welled up.
Lin Gui fell silent for a moment.
He needed to give an answer that was truthful yet would not arouse suspicion.
“...I am not entirely sure either.”
He lowered his head slightly, injecting an appropriate amount of gravity into his voice.
“I was sent to the human city-states to procure supplies.”
“I was relatively fortunate... ‘The Silent End’ did not pass through the city-state where I was stationed.”
“So... I survived.”
He paused, then continued.
“But my hometown... Deepwood Outpost, was devoured.”
“Fortunately... my family survived... in this form.”
A wave of low sighs rippled through the surroundings.
There was sympathy, as well as the sorrow of sharing a common fate.
Lin Gui raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping across the spectral faces.
“As for the other Night Elves...”
He fell silent for a brief moment.
“I only heard... that Shadow Blade Lynn seems to have become their clan leader.”
“But as for the specifics...”
He shook his head gently.
“I have been hiding near the City of Bounties and have had very little contact with our people.”
The moment his voice fell, the entire area plunged into a dead silence.
“Mad Blade... became the clan leader? That sinner!”
Clotina's soul shadow trembled violently, her voice filled with utter disbelief.
“Are you... are you lying to me?”
Lin Gui shrugged.
“No, it is indeed the truth.”
He did indeed know a thing or two about Shadow Blade Lynn's actions in the outside world.
His primary source was Theia.
Back then, Shadow Blade Lynn's return to the Elven Forest had caused a massive stir.
Theia had gone to watch the commotion and witnessed the scene from afar.
Later, during a casual chat, she had mentioned it to Lin Gui.
“I will never forget that scene.”
At the time, Theia was chewing on a piece of jerky, her eyes holding a rare touch of solemnity.
“Under the watchful eyes of countless elves, she stood in the center of the World Tree Square.”
“Gloomy, indifferent, her entire body radiating a... heavily suppressed rage.”
“Even though she didn't use any battle force, she made it hard for all the elves present to breathe.”
Theia remembered that her ears were filled with the suppressed whispers of the elves.
Through those fragmented pieces of information, she had pieced together Shadow Blade Lynn's background.
Her clan had been almost entirely wiped out by “The Silent End.”
This return was to gather those who had managed to escape the disaster for various reasons... the survivors.
Recalling Theia's description, Lin Gui spoke slowly.
“After ‘The Silent End,’ Shadow Blade Lynn rejoined the Elven Forest.”
“She then announced to the public... that she had become the new clan leader of the Night Elves.”
“But a year later, she disappeared again.”
“When she reappeared, it was in the City of Bounties.”
“She formed an exploration team with the human Unyielding Spear, Hant, and the barbarian Blood Butcher, Woodrow.”
“They attempted to complete a commission issued by the dwarves.”
“To open up a route through the Wall of Sighs.”
The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet.
Every elf held their breath as they listened.
Lin Gui raised his eyes and looked at Clotina.
His voice was calm, yet it was like a stone dropped into a deep pool.
“In the end...”
“She died in there.”
The elder fell silent for a moment, then asked in a raspy voice,
“When... did she die?”
Lin Gui replied, “Ten years ago.”
The surrounding Night Elf spirits fell into an even deeper silence.
The fluorescence rippled across their soul bodies, reflecting faces filled with complex, indescribable emotions.
The elder slowly closed his eyes, his soul light fluctuating weakly.
“It was because... Shadow Blade died...”
“...that they dared to be so completely unscrupulous...”
Clotina could no longer hold back. Her soul body drifted forward, her voice trembling.
“What on earth happened?!”
“What... what did you actually see?!”
Her friend Lia fell silent for a long time.
Then, in a voice that was extremely soft yet crystal clear to every spirit present, she said,
“We saw...”
“...the Highborne Elves capturing our compatriots who had not yet perished.”
“And... selling them to human hunters.”
Clotina's soul body shuddered violently.
She recalled the conversation of those hunters in Shadowmoon City, and the brands on the foreheads of her caged compatriots.
“How... how is this possible...”
“How could they...”
Another middle-aged elven warrior chimed in, his voice suppressed with icy rage.
“Over the past ten years, we have seen the same thing happen more than once.”
“Elven warriors wearing the crest of the Moonlight Royalty, escorting our shackled compatriots.”
“Trading with human hunters at the edge of the ruins.”
“We wanted to stop them...”
But most of those left behind in the Gloomlight Forest were the elderly, the weak, women, and children.
“The elite warriors had all been dispatched to Deepwood Outpost and other border city-states.”
“We... cannot even harness soul power.”
“We could only watch helplessly...”
The soul lights of the surrounding elven spirits fluctuated silently.
Anger, helplessness, despair.
Like an invisible tide, they spread throughout this dead, silent town.
Lin Gui listened quietly, then suddenly spoke up.
“It's not that hard to understand.”
All eyes turned to him.
Lin Gui's tone was flat, as if he were analyzing a puzzle that had nothing to do with him.
“The defeat ten years ago caused the Elven Forest to lose its core grain-producing city-states.”
“The resource deficit is massive.”
“To survive and maintain a stable political structure, they either had to bow completely to the Alliance, or turn to the black market to buy food and resources, much like how you sent procurement teams to human lands.”
“And that requires a tremendous amount of funds.”
He paused.
“Elven slaves fetch astronomical prices in the human market.”
“It is more than enough to cover such a deficit.”
“As for the Wall of Sighs...”
Lin Gui looked around.
“This place is practically a dead zone. No commoners would come here, and no ordinary elves would discover what they are doing.”
“It is the ‘safest’ black market trading post.”
He looked at the elder, his eyes devoid of emotion.
“As for why they chose the Night Elves...”
“I believe you understand the specific reasons far better than I do.”
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