QT: Grace To Grass Counterattack System

As if on cue, all three subordinates turned to run away. Mo Jiu took three steps after them before he suddenly paused and roared in anger. What were they running for? It wasn't as if this was their first time seeing him kill. Hypocrites!

Angrily, Mo Jiu took out his beast satchel and let out his phoenix. They were supposed to be on his side but had chosen to run instead. He couldn't have that. Such traitors did not deserve to live!

CAWWW!

The phoenix rose to the sky with a loud call, let out a breath of fire before diving down and chasing after the three.

Mei Hua, Ba Duo and Han Wei took out the transportation artifacts they all owned and pushed with all their might as they rode away. They were in great shock and tried their best to escape the horror they'd just witnessed after exchanging disbelieving glances.

This was not the first time Mo Jiu had killed but other times, it was always in self defense! This time... This time, they could not get over the pure sadistic cruelty they had caught in the eyes of the man they subordinated themselves to.

If he could do such a thing to a woman he claimed to love then... They all rode a little faster as fear made their hearts skip twenty beats at once. They were doomed.

The three had managed to get a few miles headstart when,

CAAWWW!

"AAAAHHHH!"

Mo Jiu's phoenix intercepted them and let out a huge spray of fire. Half of Mei Hua's skin was burned and she fell off her artifact with an anguished scream, plunging directly into the forest.

"MEI HUA!" Ba Duo called out in shock as he held of the phoenix with some hidden weapons and and prepared to dive in after her. Han Wei was about to rush in after them when he shouted. "STOP, GO!"

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Han Wei also threw all the hidden weapons he could find on himself at the phoenix as he shook his head adamantly. How could he leave his teammates?

CAAWWW!

The hidden weapon attack did no noticeable damage to the phoenix except making it angrier. It let out another spray of fire, which both male cultivators managed to dodge but their transportation artifacts were destroyed so they directly plunged in after Mei Hua.

BANG!

BAM!

CRACK!

The two males landed on the ground with a heavy thud and a loud crack indicated Han Wei's broken rib.

"Mei Hua!" Ba Duo rushed over to the whimpering Mei Hua, picked her up and quickly ran over to a small hole between two large rocks with Han Wei following after, a hand on his rib cage.

Han Wei shakily took out his high grade energy blocking robe and after huddling close to the other two, he spread it over the three of them. It was a high grade artifact that blocked the presence of a cultivator by covering up their spiritual energy.

That way, the phoenix would not be able to sense their spiritual energy and find them easily.

CAAAWWW!

The phoenix circled the skies and let out a few sprays of fire as it tired to spot them.

Han Wei stared as the light increasingly died in Mei Hua's eyes. If this was ordinary fire then there was no doubt Mei Hua would withstand it but this was different. It was the fire from a phoenix. A spirit beast with a strong affinity to its mythical origins. "Mei Hua~" He burst into tears as he held her hand. How could this happen? Mo Jiu was the one who always rushed forward to protect them... Right? How could he do this to them?

Mei Hua held her unburnt hand to the youngest's face. She tried to circulate qi throughout her meridians but it was useless. The fire from the phoenix was known as divine fire so it was one of the few things that caused fatal and irreversible injuries to cultivators.

She was bleeding out from the burnt half of her body and soaking the energy blocking robe and her teammates with her blood but she did her best to make her expression neutral to reassure them. Her heart ached as Han Wei cried out in pure anguish. He had been the last one to become part of their group -being just five back then. He had idolized Mo Jiu the most.

In his eyes, Mo Jiu could never do wrong. Going through such a thing now...

CAAAWWW!

The phoenix cried again and began burning parts of the forest at random to find its preys.

The hearts of the three cultivators hidden between the rocks shook in fear as the surrounding trees lit up in flames and smoke filled the air. Even with all their hidden weapons, the three of them would never be able to take on the phoenix that was now half step in divine level.

Mei Hua wheezed as she took out a medium grade teleportation talisman. Unlike the outside world believed, Mo Jiu's subordinates did not have the best of hidden weapons and treasures. All the good stuff always went to Mo Jiu and his harem members. And unlike elder Mo, their own masters did not treat then like their own children so each of them had to work hard for the treasures they owned -which wasn't much.

It was especially hard for Mei Hua who was just an inner disciple but she managed to earn the medium grade teleportation talisman after a hunting mission. It's effects were not as good as the high grade teleportation talismans but it was good enough.

"Here. It would take the both of... you a mile away from," Mei Hua took a pause to catch her breath as the pain hit her hard, "...This spot at most but if you work hard enough, you would be able to make it."

Ba Duo stared down on the teleportation talisman. The spirit trees were quickly burning to crisps and it was only a short while now before the phoenix found their hiding spot. "Take it." He directed at Han Wei.

Han Wei's eyes widened. "No! Are you nuts? No!"

"Don't be a fool," Ba Duo said sternly. "If we use the talisman together, it would be as Mei Hua said. Only taking us a mile away. It would be a piece of cake for the phoenix to catch up to us. We both know your robe would lose its effects any minute now."

Han Wei shook his head repeatedly. "Please. How about you use it the-"

Before Han Wei could finish, Ba Duo impatiently pasted the talisman on the younger male's forehead and activated the rune.

"NOOO-" Han Wei's scream was cut short as the talisman teleported him away.

The surrounding spirit trees had been burnt to crisps and a long stretch of clear ground surrounded their hiding spot now.

CAAWWW!

Ba Duo didn't have to raise his head to know the phoenix had spotted them and was heading straight for them. He slowly caressed Mei Hua's teary cheek with a bitter smile. "Mei Hua..."

Mei Hua smiled and then winced when the movement tugged on the burnt half of her face. "I know."

"Good," Ba Duo said and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Mei Hua's smile increased a little. "I might not use my brain much but I'm pretty sure I know what you're thinking."

CAAAWWWWW!

The phoenix went straight at them, ready to burn them to unrecognizable crisps and both cultivators waited patiently. Once the phoenix was some feet away, mouth open,

BOOOM!

A loud, deafening, sound reverberated throughout the forest as both cultivators blew up their cores.

Miles way, Mo Jiu knelt to the ground as blood spilt from his lips uncontrollably. His cultivation received a heavy blow and he shot down two levels to the middle stage of Core formation.

His phoenix was dead.

In the opposite direction, Han Wei steadily rode his sword in the direction of the Duoluo sect. If he was fast enough, then he could manage to save his teammates. They just needed to last a little while longer. He knew they could do it. Mei Hua was the strongest of the three of them and Ba Duo had the most perseverance.

He wiped the tears that streamed down his cheeks repeatedly as he urged himself on. He still could not believe that Mo Jiu would send his phoenix after them. It had caught all three of them by surprise. He just had to go a little faster and he would get help in time. Suddenly,

BOOOM!

That sound shook Han Wei to his very core and he froze in shock. No. He choked on his tears as he slowly turned around and stared at the forest in the distance. No.

"NO!" Han Wei screamed as he fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

"Mei Hua, Ba Duo!" Han Wei suddenly woke up from a nightmare with an anguished scream. He looked around quickly and realized he was in a room. He slowly let out a breath of relief. It was just a dream.

"Han Wei..."

Han Wei looked to the side at the call only just realizing he wasn't alone. His eyebrows furrowed a bit when he found Gu Long. He was a little confused. Gu Long had been avoiding them for a while now so he was the last person he expected to see. Where was Mei Hua and Ba Duo?

Gu Long took in Han Wei's confused expression and sighed sadly. "It... Wasn't a dream..."

Han Wei's frown deepened as his memories came crashing down.

Outside the room, anguished cries could be heard throughout the Cloud peak..

Three days later, Mo Jiu stood over the mutilated body of his second target with an angry sneer. He was currently in the private courtyard that had been rented by Xing Mei in a rundown inn. Xing Mei's body was sporting bloody gashes all over with her eyes open in pure shock which only made Mo Jiu angrier. What had she been shocked about? It was all her fault! Their fault for stealing his inheritance!

How could she have claimed not to know anything about his inheritance when she and Mu Qingqing had clearly collaborated with each other to frame him?!

Mo Jiu paced about the room in angst. He was running out of time. His phoenix had been killed by those traitors he had called subordinates and his cultivation level had dropped to a pitiful state. Said cultivation was also increasingly unstable and his groin problem was so bad he was beginning to leak bits of blood at this point.

All he had left was a bunch of hidden weapons and his second spirit beast, the saber toothed horned rabbit, that was currently injured because he had encountered a siege two days ago. His escape had been incredibly narrow and it was all thanks to Xing Mei, who was now lying in a pool of her own blood.

Mo Jiu grit his teeth as his anger flared once more. If he didn't absorb the inheritance soon enough then he could only wait for death!

The only people left were the jade twins and Mo Sheng. The jade twins had returned to their sect which was about a month away. The Duoluo sect, on the other hand, was three days away.

Mo Jiu had lived in that sect all his life so he was very familiar with how it operated and knew best how to exploit the loopholes in the barriers. He firmly believed Mo Sheng had been the one to absorb the inheritance. He had decided.

His next target was Mo Sheng.

Back at the Duoluo sect,

Elder Mo stood in front of Mo Jiu's courtyard with eyes filled with sadness. Where had he gone wrong? He had come out of seclusion a week ago and had been shocked to find out about all that had happened. He was not concerned about some fairytale divine cultivation method or the suspicion that his disciple had absorbed the Dao ancestor's inheritance.

He was more concerned about how Mo Jiu had gotten the dimension pass and the things Han Wei had reported when the youngster had been found unconscious by rogue cultivators over a week ago.

The dead body of Mu Qingqing that had also been discovered with the residue of Mo Jiu's spiritual energy. No one knew why Mo Jiu didn't bother to disintegrate her body but elder Mo was not thinking about that.

He couldn't get over the state of Mu Qjngqing's body, adding to the fact that Han Wei did not spare any gory detail in his report, elder Mo was devastated. How did this happen? Mo Jiu had always been the pride of the Duoluo sect so how did this happen? Where did he, as Mo Jiu's master, go wrong?

A horde of cultivators had managed to trap Mo Jiu but the youngster managed to escape with the help of his spirit beast, Xing Mei and a couple of teleportation talismans. The shocking fact was that just yesterday, Xing Mei's dead body was also discovered and all traces were pointing to Mo Jiu.

Mo Sheng stood outside his master's courtyard, watching the old man mope in sorrow. His master looked to have aged three thousand years right after he heard the news. Mo Sheng sighed and turned away. He had done everything to convince his master and show the old man Mo Jiu's true colours.

Now it was up to elder Mo to sort out his devastation on his own. Him, on the other hand, had a fight to prepare for. He was very much aware that Mo Jiu was coming for him. Han Wei had mentioned that the lunatic had convinced himself that him, Mo Sheng had somehow absorbed the inheritance.

Mo Sheng scoffed. He was satisfied that his benefactor had split the inheritance apart. He preferred a simple life and would not have known what to do with all that power.

"Mo Sheng?"

Mo Sheng looked sideways as soon as he entered his courtyard and found Gu Long. He walked up to the smaller man and caressed his hair. "Hm?"

Gu Long smiled gently and then he seemed to have remembered something and frowned in worry. "About what Han Wei said..."

"I know," Mo Sheng said with a nod. "Let him come."

"But-"

Mo Sheng shook his head. "Honestly, the reason I'm still in this sect is because I've been waiting for him to show up."

Gu Long's eyes widened. "You plan to leave?"

Mo Sheng nodded again. "En. I've been in this sect all my life. At first I thought this was all I wanted to be but now..." He looked in the far distance. "There's so much of the world to see and limiting myself to an environment that measures a person's worth by something that is sometimes beyond their control just wouldn't do anymore. I'm sick of it."

Gu Long smiled. "Take me with you?"

Mo Sheng chuckled. "You shouldn't even have to ask."

That night, Mo Sheng sat cross legged, immersed in cultivation when he suddenly felt a strain on the Converging peak barrier. Elder Mo was over at the Cloud peak trying to put the Duoluo sect back in order with the other elders and peak masters so he knew who exactly had breached the barrier.

Mo Jiu.