Peerless Bodyguard of a Stunning Beauty

After hearing Zhao Rong’s words, the assistant and the three women immediately began searching the crowd. To their surprise, the villagers across from them were completely unharmed. Instead, the Village Belle and her brother had been blasted into two figures, black as coal.

Stunned by the sight, the assistant said in disbelief, ”Are you kidding me? Were the Village Belle and her brother the great villains hiding in this village?”

When the three women saw the Village Belle and her brother covered in soot, they recoiled, their previous opinion changing in an instant. They stared intently at the siblings and said, ”So, you two are the real masterminds hiding in this village...”

Keeping a cautious distance from the Village Belle, Lili demanded, ”Village Belle, confess! Why did you deceive us? Why did you lie? Why hide in this village and harm everyone?”

Yu Lan pressed forward aggressively. ”Village Belle, admit it! You must be a ghost from the underworld. Why are you lurking in this mountain village, bringing suffering to everyone?”

Xuelian even pulled out two cans of pepper spray, preparing for a fight. ”So, Village Belle, it turns out you’re a lingering, malevolent spirit? I knew it. How else could you come and go without a trace, moving freely between that small mountain and this ancestral hall... It turns out you aren’t human at all. You’re a ghost...”

When the villagers on the other side saw that the Village Belle and her brother were now covered in soot, they became jubilant. ”Sir,” one called out, ”that ’lie bomb’ of yours is the real deal! It really can turn liars black as coal!”

The village chief stepped forward, brick in hand, and pointed menacingly at the Village Belle. ”Village Belle, you’ve brought nothing but misery to everyone since you came to our village! Now, finally, someone is here to deal with you! This is truly justice being served, what a relief!”

At that moment, Zhao Rong suddenly burst into loud laughter.

Seeing him laugh for no apparent reason, the three women and the assistant asked in confusion, ”Brother Zhao Rong, the truth is out. Why are you laughing like that?”

Zhao Rong took a step forward, pointed at the group of villagers, and unsheathed his Dharma Sword. ”You villagers have hidden yourselves quite deeply,” he said brusquely. ”Now, I’ll give you a chance to show your true colors. Reveal your true forms! Otherwise, I won’t be so courteous.”

When Lili, Yu Lan, Xuelian, and the assistant saw Zhao Rong suddenly draw his Dharma Sword and point it at the group of villagers, they were completely dumbfounded.

Lili, not understanding, asked, ”Brother, didn’t you already use the ’lie bomb’ to determine who’s good and who’s evil? The Village Belle and her brother were turned black, so they are clearly the villains. The other villagers weren’t affected, so they must be the good people. Why are you now drawing your Dharma Sword on them and telling them to reveal their true forms? What is going on?”

Yu Lan, also completely puzzled, asked, ”Brother Zhao Rong, did you make a mistake? Did you mistake the good for the evil, and the evil for the good?”

Xuelian furrowed her brow, her gaze fixed on the soot-covered Village Belle and her brother. She then turned to Zhao Rong and asked, ”Brother, are you saying that the Village Belle and her brother, the ones turned black by the ’lie bomb,’ are actually the good ones, while the villagers who were untouched are the evil ones?”

Zhao Rong sneered as he explained, ”I was just playing a little joke on you. This battery I’m holding isn’t a ’lie bomb.’ It’s a Ghostly Fluorescence Indicator.”

Hearing the name ’Ghostly Fluorescence Indicator,’ a confused Lili asked, ”Brother Zhao Rong, what is that? Can it really distinguish between ghosts and humans?”

Zhao Rong continued to explain, ”Just as the name implies, when this battery explodes, the fluorescent agent inside sprays out and accurately marks any ghosts, causing glowing spots to appear on them.”

As Lili listened, she was surprised to notice that every villager across from them now had one or two glowing spots on them.

Lili stepped forward and pointed to the glowing specks on the villagers. ”Brother Zhao Rong, I can clearly see some of the fluorescent agent on the villagers! Does this mean they aren’t human, but ghosts?”

”Lili, you guessed correctly,” Zhao Rong told her. ”These villagers aren’t just ghosts—they’re Thousand-Year-Old Demons.”

When Yu Lan heard that the villagers before them were Thousand-Year-Old Demons, she immediately took a step back in fear. She looked at the soot-covered Village Belle and her brother, then asked Zhao Rong, ”Brother Zhao Rong, if all the villagers here are Thousand-Year-Old Demons, then the Village Belle and her brother must be demons too, right?”

Zhao Rong shook his head. ”Yu Lan, there’s something you don’t know. This brother and sister are not demons; they are human.”

Hearing this, Xuelian was utterly astonished. ”Brother Zhao Rong, if what you say is true—that the other villagers are Thousand-Year-Old Demons and this brother and sister are human—how have they managed to live in this village for so long?”

”Xuelian, there’s something you don’t know,” Zhao Rong explained. ”The Village Belle and her brother are orphans that these Thousand-Year-Old Demons adopted from another village.”

After confirming that the Village Belle and her brother were human, the puzzled assistant asked, ”Brother Zhao Rong, if they are children that these Thousand-Year-Old Demons took in, why do the demons now want to eliminate them?”

”Because after their adoptive parents passed away,” Zhao Rong said, ”the Village Belle gradually discovered the village’s secret.”

”I understand now!” Lili’s eyes widened in realization. ”Before, the Village Belle never knew the village’s secret, so the demons tolerated her and her brother living among them. But now that she has discovered their secret and was about to expose them, the Thousand-Year-Old Demons could no longer tolerate her living here. To protect their secret and prevent the outside world from finding out, they decided they had to eliminate the Village Belle and her brother.”