Strength is the prerequisite for negotiation. It might not make your adversary surrender directly, but most of the time, it can make them—full of arrogance and prejudice—calm down and communicate properly with you.
Is language the bridge for communication? Indeed, but in Lu Ping'an's view, violence is the "permit" that allows this "bridge" to be built.
Without sufficient strength for support, your eloquent words are considered meaningless by the opposite party. If you want to make a fool sit down and listen, you first need the power to drag the fool out and beat them into a pulp.
Half a year ago, or even a month ago, if Lu Ping'an said he wanted to negotiate with the Lady of the Forest, the opposite party would have treated it as a joke and then casually sent out an assassin.
What would follow was mutual slaughter—with one dead, an even crueler one would come to assess Lu Ping'an's threat level before sending out the cruelest one for a clean-up.