What on earth had stimulated him? Or had he heard something from Long Lin and thus decided to give up on me?
"You're injured. I'll take you home to recover first." Ignoring Gu Yuan's words, I tried to step forward and support him.
"You've got only one chance. Once you miss it, it's gone forever."
After saying that, he slowly let go of my hand, his face full of dejection.
Immediately afterwards, he clutched his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood with a "puff". His body swayed unsteadily and he slumped to the ground powerlessly.
"Gu Yuan, you..."
"Go! Leave now!" Gu Yuan's chest heaved violently. The menacing aura around him made me dare not get any closer.
In my mind, two conflicting voices were constantly fighting.
"Lan Chiyu, he's been so mean to you. Haven't you had enough? Finally, he's not bothering you anymore. This is a perfect chance to get rid of him. Seize it!"
"But he got injured for you. If you just leave like this, are you still a decent person?"
"..."
I stood there rooted to the spot, then glanced back at Gu Yuan's face.
"Then you must keep your word."
Gu Yuan slightly opened his cold eyes but didn't answer.
However, I had already made up my mind. I turned on my heels and rushed out of the playground.
Halfway through my run, my heart started to ache so badly that I could hardly catch my breath. I looked back at Gu Yuan again.
His eyes had never left me. The initial dullness in them had now turned into disappointment.
I rushed to the school's mailroom in a hurry, got a cart, and then dashed back to the playground.
By now, Gu Yuan had passed out. I had no idea whether he was alive or dead.
"Gu Yuan, are you okay?" I dropped the cart and rushed forward to check on him.
My index finger trembled as I moved it close to his nose to feel his breath, fearing that he had stopped breathing.
When I felt his weak breath, I finally let out a sigh of relief and cried with joy.
Thank goodness he was still alive. I was so scared!
Two crystal - clear tears rolled down my cheeks. One dropped onto Gu Yuan's face, and the other landed on the necklace around my neck. The necklace glinted for a moment, but I didn't pay any attention. Instead, I focused all my energy on lifting Gu Yuan onto the cart. Then I called He Bi and told him to come and pick me up quickly.
Just as I was about to reach the gate, a woman's voice came from behind me.
"Stop!"
I whirled around abruptly. To my surprise, it was Qin Lan standing there, along with a young man.
This young man looked very familiar. He was the pond - collector I had met at Bai Linlin's house not long ago.
No wonder there had been a red - dressed ghost in the teaching building. It must have been his doing.
I guessed that seeing Gu Yuan injured, they thought I was left without any protection, so they came to pick a fight again.
I didn't have the time to argue with them now. I would surely settle the score with them later after I had taken care of things here.
I ignored them and was about to push the cart out when suddenly I tripped over something.
My body lunged forward, and I almost fell flat on the ground. My chin hit the handle of the cart, and my teeth bit through my lip, making it bleed.
I covered my mouth with my hand, my face contorted in pain.
"Qin Lan, what do you want?"
"Leave the man on the cart, and you can go."
Gu Yuan was now so weak that he definitely needed to return to the altar in the hall to recover.
"Can't you see he's injured?"
"That's exactly why we're taking him. If he weren't injured, who could beat him?" said the pond - collector.
It seemed they had come with a specific purpose.
I stepped closer to the cart and stood in front of Gu Yuan. Looking at them firmly, I said, "I won't let you take him. He's my grand master of the hall. I'll never allow you to hurt him."
Qin Lan folded her arms and took a few arrogant steps forward. "Lan Chiyu, I'll be honest with you. I've set my eyes on this man. I know he's not human. If you hand him over to me, I have my ways to make him obey me. It'll also set you free, won't it?"
"Do you want to turn him into your puppet?"
"I didn't expect you to know this," said the pond - collector.
This kind of evil spell could only be cast when Gu Yuan was seriously injured. If he weren't hurt, with this young man's limited power, he wouldn't even be able to get close to Gu Yuan.
I was afraid Gu Yuan couldn't hold on any longer. I couldn't waste any more time with them. I had to leave immediately.
But as soon as I lifted my foot, I tripped over something again.
This time, I fell flat on the ground.
I looked down and saw a hideous little ghost clinging to my foot.
It had a pair of blood - red eyes and let out a mocking "giggle". Its garlic - like teeth were sticking out, looking just like a ghostly yaksha.
When it grabbed my leg, I thought I would be scared. But when it reached out its hand towards Gu Yuan's shoulder, I don't know where I got the courage from. I grabbed its head and flung it away with all my might.
Ghosts are not heavy. I easily slammed it against the wall.
"This is a school. If you come any closer, I'll scream," I threatened fiercely, my hand on Gu Yuan, fearing that another little ghost might attack.
"Scream all you want. Let's see who can come to your rescue," Qin Lan said smugly, folding her arms and taking a few steps towards Gu Yuan.
I stood guard beside Gu Yuan. The pond - collector waved his arm, and several more hideous little ghosts appeared out of nowhere.
They bared their fangs and pounced on me all at once.
I managed to pull one of them off, but I couldn't hold off a whole horde of them.
I let out shrill screams and kept tugging at the little ghosts. They didn't care about anything and just pounced on me, biting and scratching.
My clothes were already torn to shreds, and my blood had stained them.
Qin Lan and the man walked towards Gu Yuan again. I didn't care about the little ghosts tugging at me and stepped in front of them once more.
I wouldn't let them touch Gu Yuan no matter what. My hands were still struggling with the little ghosts, and I was screaming in pain.
"Get away from here!"
"Snap!" A whip cracked, and I felt a sharp pain in my back. I fell to the ground.
The man took out his ghost - summoning whip and lashed it at me.
I lay on the ground, dizzy from the pain. The two people in front of me were blurry.
This whip seemed to have whipped out my soul.
"You're still too inexperienced to fight against me," Qin Lan said, folding her arms arrogantly.
The pond - collector told the little ghosts to push the cart. I watched as they were about to touch Gu Yuan's body.
I endured the pain and got up from the ground.
"I've said it before. Don't touch him!" At this moment, I was burning with anger and staggered to my feet.
Gu Yuan had once told me that in the three realms, all living beings had their own domains. Ghosts were the masters of the underworld, while humans were the masters of the mortal world. The most powerful beings in the mortal world were not demons and ghosts but humans themselves.
As long as one behaved uprightly, one would have a righteous aura that could repel all ghosts and be protected by all the Buddhas.
I staggered towards them. The little ghosts saw the firm aura around me and showed their fierce looks but actually retreated obediently.
Qin Lan and the man were just bullies who were afraid of the strong and bullied the weak. I couldn't defeat them, but for Gu Yuan's sake, I had to hold them back. He Bi would come soon.
Qin Lan didn't expect me to protect Gu Yuan so desperately.
My face was gloomy, my chest heaving up and down. My eyes were like two sharp knives as I glared at them and roared fiercely, "If you want to take him away, you'll have to kill me first."
"Hey, what are you doing? Fighting on campus. I'll tell your counselor if you're not careful."
It was Uncle Zhang, the school security guard at the gate. He was holding a baton and walking towards us from the guard post.
At the same time, the first ray of morning sunlight shone on the school gate.
Qin Lan glanced at the man beside her. They exchanged a look and then turned around and left in perfect unison.
Just as she turned around, the shadow of Qin Lan on the ground looked like a fox. I thought I was seeing things, but when I looked again, it had returned to normal.