How to Bring Common Sense to Xianxia World

Chapter 266: Installing Critical Thinking

Ximen Ren feigned sleep while his demonic senses continued lingering throughout the camp, observing everyone.

Many mortal servants walked under the watchful eyes of the experts in black armor serving as the camp’s guards.

Each of them possessed either Nascent Soul Realm cultivation or, at the very least, Core Formation Realm cultivation. One had to understand that a Nascent Soul cultivator was powerful enough to become the leader of a major sect in Jade Bamboo Province or serve as an elder in either Azure River Province or Vermilion Bird Province.

Yet here in this camp, they were merely guards, warriors, and cannon fodder.

He needed to be extremely careful and make sure none of the guards caught wind of what he was planning to do.

Then...

His demonic senses picked up that Song Wan had moved from the common room into the cultivation section of the tent.

Ximen Ren slowly got up. He carefully used his cultivation to sneak over and peek outside, checking whether there was an opening for him to slip past Song Wan.

Seeing that his naive little fool had sealed off the cultivation section to begin cultivating, he finally found an opportunity to sneak out.

Ximen Ren transformed himself into a shadowy breeze and silently drifted out of the tent.

Unnoticed by anyone, he floated outside and saw many warriors in black armor patrolling the campsite while casually chatting with one another.

Then one of them suddenly looked in his direction just as he emerged.

"What are you looking at?" the other guard asked.

"Huh? Oh... it’s nothing... must’ve been the wind."

The first guard let out a sheepish laugh before the two resumed their patrol, chatting about trivial topics such as Monopoly and Uno, games that had recently been sold by the Thousand Treasure Pavilion and had become a huge hit among both mortals and cultivators.

"Phew... it’s a good thing they can’t detect me," Ximen Ren muttered with a sigh of relief before spreading out his demonic senses once again.

This time, the positions of the mortals had changed.

Near the river on the outskirts of the camp, he detected a lone mortal.

This mortal possessed a unique aura. It was the same kind of aura as Wei Chen’s woman, the kind that the demon within him craved the most.

He rushed toward the outskirts, following the presence of that lone mortal. Then he manifested his body behind a cluster of thick trees, hiding among them as he observed the scene before him.

There...

He saw an unbelievable sight.

A lone mortal.

No.

A goddess.

A goddess sat gracefully upon a large stone by the riverside, gently playing the zither.

Her fingers glided across the strings, each note drifting over the river. It painted a landscape of tranquil streams and bamboo groves, where the wind gently caressed the bamboo leaves without haste, and the water flowed calmly through the stream without resistance.

It was a song of serenity, of stillness, of peace.

And yet...

It was the most tormenting and agonizing melody he had ever heard.

Because she was the one playing.

She, whom the demonic side of him desired with every ounce of its accursed instinct.

She, whose very presence made his cursed cultivation tremble and his blood run hot.

The heat in his lower abdomen was no longer like a bonfire.

It had become an uncontrollable wildfire, spreading through his core and settling within his dantian. If he didn’t have her now... his qi might deviate.

The demon within him was no longer under his control. It struggled to seize his thoughts, urging him to act upon its beastly instincts.

Yet...

A small flicker.

A tiny flicker of survival instinct surfaced within him.

There were no guards.

No patrols.

The place was far enough from the camp that even loud noises shouldn’t carry back.

All of this...

It looked like a trap.

A trap meant to lure him in.

Was he just being paranoid?

He had to be overthinking this... right?

Right...

No!

No!

Even if the chance was small, he couldn’t afford to be careless.

But somehow...

Somehow...

This unbearable surge of lust was beginning to overwhelm him.

— Meanwhile —

Back at the camp, the two patrol guards had just returned from their rounds and reported to the command tent.

Inside the command tent were Wei Chen, Mo Xingyao, and finally Song Wan, the special guest, who was staring at the monitor displaying Ximen Ren hiding behind a cluster of thick trees.

The monitor showed Ximen Ren wearing an expression of extreme discomfort. His face was flushed red, and beastly desire was written all over it.

"Is this what you wanted to show me, Young Master Wei? You want to show me how you’re using your wife to lure Ximen Ren into a trap? Don’t think I don’t know that your wife was once the number one courtesan. A song that can entice people and stir up the lust in their hearts would definitely be within her capabilities!" Song Wan loudly admonished Wei Chen.

"Just a moment," Wei Chen said, signaling Song Wan to keep quiet as he turned toward the two patrol guards.

"Reporting, Boss! The plan went off without any problems," one of the guards reported professionally.

Wei Chen smiled.

It was a smile that mixed friendliness with malice.

"If this plan had failed because you two almost screwed it up, I’d make both of you drink a glass of beer."

Hearing that, the two guards smiled and cupped their fists, thinking it was only a symbolic punishment.

But then...

"A glass of beer from Shit-Eater Murong..... Secondhand."

The moment those words left Wei Chen’s mouth, both guards’ faces turned pale.

"No! Boss Wei! No! Anything but that! You can dock our pay for this month! No, three months if you want!" the guard who had just reported immediately tried to negotiate.

"No. Why would I do that? That’s disgusting. I won’t dock anyone’s pay. In fact, I hate employers who cut their employees’ wages over small mistakes. I won’t become the same kind of person as them," Wei Chen said righteously.

And making us drink from Shit-Eater Murong’s glass isn’t disgusting!?

The two guards screamed inwardly.

They seriously wanted to crack open Wei Chen’s skull just to see how his brain was wired.

"Shit-Eater Murong? Is there really someone like that?" Song Wan blurted out in confusion.

"Trust me, Lady Song. There are all kinds of people in this world, each stranger than the last," Wei Chen replied as he waved his hand, dismissing the two guards.

Seeing that Wei Chen had already shooed them away, the two knew the matter was settled.

They could only walk out of the command tent listlessly.

"It’s because of you! If you hadn’t looked in that bastard’s direction, I wouldn’t be facing this inhumane punishment!" the reporting guard roared at his partner, who had instinctively glanced toward Ximen Ren while they were patrolling near his tent.

"It was instinct! Didn’t I fix it right away!?"

"Fix my ass!"

The two continued arguing with each other until their voices gradually faded into the distance.

Seeing that the two guards had already left, Song Wan continued glaring at Wei Chen.

"Young Master Wei! I know you’re on friendly terms with Ximen Hao. But please, open your eyes! Ximen Ren isn’t an evil person! He has never lied to anyone! Unlike Ximen Hao!" Song Wan continued defending Ximen Ren.

"That statement... is incorrect. He does lie. In fact, he’s been lying to you and everyone else," Wei Chen said before continuing.

"You already saw him using his cultivation to sneak out. If I hadn’t warned you beforehand and asked you to play along, he might have already knocked you unconscious, and you might have become his victim."

"He lied to everyone by claiming he was just a mortal with no cultivation. He also lied about having poor health, despite the fact that he’s even stronger than you in terms of cultivation," Wei Chen said matter-of-factly.

Song Wan wanted to argue.

But she couldn’t.

Because what Wei Chen had said about Ximen Ren’s lies was the truth.

"But... but that must be his way of protecting himself! The tallest trees attract the wind and are the first to fall. He must be hiding his cultivation because he doesn’t want to attract trouble!" Song Wan came up with a reason to defend Ximen Ren.

Hearing that, Wei Chen smirked and shook his head.

"That doesn’t make any sense either."

"Huh? Why?"

"Hiding one’s cultivation out of fear that fame will attract malice makes sense if the person has no background, no connections, and plenty of enemies. In that context, it’s a reasonable choice. But... Ximen Ren? I don’t think so."

He paused before continuing.

"From what I can sense, Ximen Ren is already at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm. Revealing his cultivation now would give him a far greater advantage than Ximen Hao. But he hasn’t done it."

"Why is that?"