I didn't understand what Lihua meant by these words.
Seeing that I didn't get it, she grabbed my hand and gently flicked the silver bell on my wrist with her finger.
Just this one flick, a ring of electric current coiled around the edge of her finger. The current crackled loudly, which was quite scary.
Lihua winced in pain and quickly patted it with her other hand. Only then did the current gradually disappear.
There was still a wisp of black smoke lingering around her finger, though.
"How could this happen?"
"This is the remaining magical power of the immortal. My guess was right. It's protecting you."
"Protecting me?"
Lihua nodded and said, "Yeah. The greater the hostility towards you, the stronger its lethality. I just thought about hurting you for a moment, and my hand ended up like this."
I pulled her finger over with concern and gently blew on it.
"You could just have told me. You didn't have to demonstrate it yourself. It must have hurt a lot."
Lihua shook her head to show it was okay and continued, "Jixiang said he heard the sound of the silver bell before he passed out, and then there were two thunderclaps. I dare not say both thunderclaps were brought by the bell, but one of them must have been."
This bell could summon thunder? I raised my wrist and looked at the silver bell again. It looked quite ordinary, showing no sign of anything special.
"I used to be a medium myself, so I know a thing or two about such things. When I saw you wearing this, I knew you had a special relationship with Third Master."
I didn't say a word and just listened to her continue.
"This bell is called Lingyin. It carries the magical power of the immortal. Normally, a medium won't give it to their disciple unless they're on very good terms."
Lihua raised her eyebrows and emphasized the words "on very good terms".
Lihua also said that although Lingyin looked ordinary, it could save one's life. When a medium was in danger and summoned the immortal, if the immortal couldn't arrive in time, the silver bell would borrow more than 70% of the immortal's magical power to help the disciple out of danger.
At that time, the immortal would be left with less than 30% of their magical power. If the immortal was also in danger at that moment, they wouldn't be able to protect themselves. Normally, an immortal wouldn't risk their own life to save their disciple.
"So although Third Master wasn't there, he still saved you."
"He was in the arms of a beauty. What kind of danger could he be in? Could it be that he even needed to use his magical power while... doing that?"
I pouted, hugged my knees, and rested my chin on them. I didn't want to listen to her at all. He had treated me so roughly just now, not caring whether I was in pain or not. My whole body still ached. I still had a grudge in my heart.
"Did Third Master tell you he was in the arms of a beauty?" Lihua asked.
"No, I guessed it myself."
"Your imagination is really rich. He spends 28 days a month with you. He just goes out to take a breath on the 15th and 16th, and you say he's off to have a fling. You're even more domineering than Third Master."
I frowned and pouted at Lihua.
"Okay, pretend I didn't say anything." Lihua raised her hands.
"Actually, I think the main reason Third Master was angry was that you didn't care about your own safety and almost lost your life."
"I didn't think that much at that time. I just didn't want the senior to get into trouble. I thought if I went ahead and retrieved the senior's soul, everything would be okay. I didn't expect they had already set a trap for me."
"So, you're still too young. You don't think things through thoroughly enough. It's understandable." Lihua placed her hand on my head and ruffled my hair.
"But you also need to act within your capabilities. You want to protect others, but others are also protecting you. You'll be sad if something happens to the senior. If something were to happen to you, Third Master would definitely be as sad as you."
"Lanlan, you need to learn to put yourself in others' shoes. Also, only when you're strong enough can you protect others."
I fell silent, thinking Lihua's words made a lot of sense. I had indeed been too impulsive. But right now, I just wanted to be alone and didn't want to have any more conflicts with Guyuan.
Lihua glanced at the red marks on my neck and curled the corner of her mouth: "This is Third Master declaring his sovereignty."
My face flushed instantly.
I lowered my head and took out the small bottle that Long Lin had given me from my pocket. Wei Liang's soul was still inside.
"Here, I'm giving this to you. Decide what to do with it according to your Third Master's instructions. It's getting late. You should go back."
"Aren't you coming back with me?" Lihua took the bottle and asked.
"Don't worry. I'll go back to the school dormitory."
"Okay. It's good to take some time to calm down and think things through. Then I'll be off."
As soon as Lihua finished speaking, her figure gradually became transparent and then disappeared.
I seriously suspected that she was a persuader sent by Guyuan. Hehe, I was overthinking. How could he send a persuader? He was Third Master Liu, after all.
However, Lihua's words did remind me. When we were in the comprehensive building, the situation was very chaotic. I was worried that Jixiang would die, so I rushed to protect him in a panic.
It seemed that there really was a tinkling sound of the silver bell at that time. For a moment, I thought I had summoned Guyuan, but it was Long Lin who landed instead.
And Long Lin had mumbled something like: He beat me to it again.
I didn't understand what he meant at that time. Now, thinking about it, it might really have something to do with this bell.
It was also Long Lin who mentioned the "arms of a beauty". What was he up to? What good would it do him to sow discord between Guyuan and me?
Was it just because he wanted to marry me?
So many questions were swirling in my head, making me dizzy.
I had a splitting headache. I walked back to the school dormitory.
Crouching in my small bed, I felt much more at ease.
In a daze, I dreamt of that heavy snow again. This time, it wasn't on a bloody battlefield.
Instead, it was in a grand mansion that had endured the wind and snow.
I was wearing a red wedding dress and sitting in front of a dressing table. My face was cold and expressionless.
The wedding attendants were bustling in and out of the room. A little maid beside me kept sobbing.
"Princess, have you thought it through? If you really get married, there's no turning back."
My eyes drooped slightly, as if there were too many things I couldn't say.
"Only in this way can I save him..."
...
"Lanlan, wake up. You've been sleeping for almost a whole day and night."
I quickly sat up and looked at my phone. It was 4 p.m.
"The class advisor has issued an ultimatum. If you don't go to see her, she'll give you a major demerit." Yan Lin woke me up by shaking me on the edge of the bed.
"Damn it." I quickly got out of bed and changed my clothes.
Yan Lin fixed her gaze on me, her face full of worry.
"Ouch, did you eat something that made you allergic? Why are there purple marks on your waist and red marks all over your neck?"
Suddenly remembering what had happened yesterday, I quickly covered my neck. My face flushed with embarrassment.
"Could it be... something too exciting..." There was a sly look on Yan Lin's face.
"No... it's just an allergy." I quickly put on my clothes and wrapped a scarf around my neck.
Yan Lin wasn't stupid. I was just burying my head in the sand.
...
I didn't even have time to tidy up. I simply washed my face and rushed out of the door without putting on any makeup. I trotted all the way to the class advisor's office.
Our class advisor wasn't like the ones in campus idol dramas, who were either young and handsome or beautiful and reasonable. She was an old lady on the verge of retirement.
She was really good at nagging. She rambled on and on with me for more than three hours. It was almost 7 p.m., and she still didn't seem to be finished. It was only when her husband called to urge her to go home and cook that she reluctantly let me go.
Before leaving, she punished me to clean the toilets in the whole teaching building. I wasn't allowed to leave until I finished.
There was nothing I could do. If I didn't obey, I would definitely get a major demerit. I didn't want to be expelled from school in my sophomore year.
I walked out of the class advisor's office. The sun was almost setting.
I wanted to take out my phone and call Yan Lin to ask for help, but when I felt in my pocket, I realized I had left my phone in my backpack. I had been in such a hurry that I forgot to bring it.
Oh well, forget it. I should take responsibility for my own mistakes. I went to the teaching building alone, carrying a bucket and a mop, and started cleaning the toilets from top to bottom.
Although our teaching building wasn't very tall, it had ten floors. There were two male and two female toilets on each floor, and they were all very long.
From top to bottom, there were at least forty toilets. Even if I cleaned as fast as I could, it would take me half an hour for each floor. It would take at least five hours to clean all ten floors.
As I was cleaning the toilets, I kept muttering to myself that the old class advisor was so inconsiderate.
Before I knew it, it got dark. By the time I finished cleaning, it was already past 11 p.m.
Most of the students had left the teaching building. I was about to put the mop away behind the door after cleaning it.
Suddenly, the lights in the teaching building went out.
Was it a power outage?
The emergency lights clicked on. A dim, eerie yellow light enveloped the toilet.
The toilet door opposite me suddenly started to move without any wind.
With a sharp creak, the toilet door slowly closed. A woman in a red dress was standing behind the door...