Sword Sect Master Xiaoling's words greatly surprised Chen Lin.
It was not that he was surprised the other party knew about the Explorers' "peculiar tastes," but rather that his attitude when mentioning Sword Woman seemed rather disrespectful.
And he was not the only one.
Chen Lin had noticed this long ago.
When the people in this scenario mentioned Sword Woman, they almost never used an honorific, instead calling her directly by the name Sword Woman.
It went completely against common sense.
After some thought,
Chen Lin decided to ask directly.
"Miss Xiao Ling, there's something I don't understand. Why don't the Sword Cultivators here use an honorific when mentioning Sword Woman?"
"Because Sword Woman doesn't like it."
Xiao Ling answered directly.
Then she brought the conversation back to the original topic.
"Come on, tell me. Why do you Explorers like watching Sword Woman bathe?" she urged.
"Well..."
Chen Lin hesitated.
He asked in return, "You must have spoken with other Explorers, Miss Xiao Ling. Don't you know why?"
"I haven't spoken with any."
Xiao Ling shook her head.
"Although there are plenty of legends about Explorers in this realm, I've never managed to meet one. I rarely left the mountain before, so I heard all these things from my senior brothers and senior sisters."
So that was it.
Understanding dawned on Chen Lin.
He immediately explained, "The story about peeping on Sword Woman while she bathes must have gotten distorted as it spread. We Explorers enter the Nightmare Realm mainly to seek cultivation resources. No one would take such an enormous risk just to do something as sordid as watching someone bathe."
Xiao Ling said nothing.
She simply watched Chen Lin quietly.
Chen Lin sighed inwardly.
This woman's perception was truly formidable. Before her eyes, he had nowhere to hide.