QT: Grace To Grass Counterattack System

The footsteps stopped but the erratic breathing told Lu Jingye that the stranger was still there. It definitely wasn't General He so... was it an assassin?

Lu Jingye doubted that strongly. He'd never met an assassin but he imagined they'd move soundlessly, even out their breathing and conceal their presence. Unless, of course, this assassin wasn't very good at his job.

After waiting for five more seconds, Lu Jingye stood to his feet, turned around and called out calmly, "Who?"

Without a lantern, the ancestral hall was quite dark but there was a hole in the roof above Lu Jingye and the moon was full so Lu Peng could see Lu Jingye's features clearly. He placed a hand on the porcelain jar tied to his waist as his manhood jumped in desire.

Lu Peng had been restless all day. Although he'd gotten a male servant to impersonate Lu Jingye last night, the useless servant didn't last long enough to quench the fire burning inside him. If anything, it only made him want Lu Jingye even more!

Because of this, he quickly lost his patience to take things slow. Lu Jingye was currently secluded from the rest of the Lu mansion in the Ancestral hall.

Now was clearly the best time!

So he spent all day making his plans and once night time approached, he instructed Min Shin to sneak into the kitchen and drug the meals of the guards guarding the Ancestral hall.

Presently, those two were completely knocked out. As for Lu Jingye, Lu Peng stroked the jar on his waist with shiny eyes. The jar contained a special kind of aphrodisiac that had hypnotic effects too. He planned to force Lu Jingye to drink it and then have his way with him!

He wasn't even worried about Lu Jingye telling everyone. First of all, who would believe the unfavored son of a concubine? And secondly, he, Lu Peng, did not believe that a man would be willing to go out there and tell everyone that he was dominated by another man!

At that thought, Lu Peng laughed loudly and directly launched himself at Lu Jingye.

Lu Jingye's eyes flashed. He'd been paying close attention to the stranger so immediately that person suddenly dashed in front of him, he extended his leg and sent out a vicious kick.

BAM!

"Ugh!"

CRASH!

In the dark Ancestral hall, Lu Peng's body flew backwards, like a rag doll, and smashed against a pillar, effectively crashing it.

At that moment, two servants with scars across their faces rushed into the hall in alarm. When they saw Lu Peng buried under a rubble of decayed wood and rocks, their eyes widened. "Eldest young master!"

These two were Lu Peng's personal guards, Min Luo and Min Guo.

Once Lu Peng was pulled from the rubble, he quickly pushed them away in embarrassment. "Move!" And then he looked down. He had a couple of bruises, his robes were torn in some places and he was covered in white dust but none of these mattered to him.

Rather, he quickly removed the jar attached to his belt and caressed it. Seeing that the content of the jar was safe, he heaved a sigh of relief before turning to Lu Jingye.

The young man in question had a calm and collected look on his face. He simply took out a weird looking object and balanced it on the bridge of his nose. Lu Peng had to time to pay attention to the useless thing as he was too busy being embarrassed by Lu Jingye's nonchalant attitude.

He never would've thought that a malnourished seventeen year old would put him in such a sorry state! With a sneer, he eyed his two servants. "Pin him down for me!"

Min Luo and Min Guo advanced towards Lu Jingye without delay. They both had terrifying expressions on their faces but below that, they were brimming with excitement. They were usually responsible for cleaning out the scene and 'dismissing' the young servant boys the Eldest young master used.

Most times, the young boys lost their lives under the Eldest young master but other times, one or two were able to survive with a breath of life in them.

The third time they were asked to clear out the scene, Min Luo had suggested that they try it with the barely breathing young servant and see what it was that enticed the Eldest young master so much.

Just like Lu Peng, it didn't take long for them to get hooked.

The Eldest young master simply thought that the few servant boys that survived his torture later died due to lack of recovery but what he didn't know was that Min Luo and Min Guo took their turns when they were asked to clean up so it was impossible for the servant boys to survive.

The main reason for their excitement this time was the fact that the Fifth young master was going to be drugged and the Eldest young master would definitely hold back in order not to kill him.

This meant that, after the Eldest young master was done and goes away, they would have a chance to have their way with the Fifth young master!

On a normal day, the both of them would never dare think of such a thing much less do it but they knew the potency of the aphrodisiac in Lu Peng's hands. Lu Jingye would be in a derilious state so it would be hard for him to tell if it was Lu Peng or them!

Min Luo looked to Min Guo and after exchanging discreet smiles, they both moved forward to grab Lu Jingye.

BAM!

BAM!

"Ugh!"

The second they got close enough, Lu Jingye sent out two more kicks and subconsciously adjusted his glasses with his index finger and middle finger. Next, he sneakily took out the broken piece of porcelain from last time when he fought with General He.

Just now, he'd used majority of his strength to kick those two and they only moved backwards a few steps. Compared to him who only fought on instinct, those two were clearly trained. The situation wasn't looking good.

Standing close to the shattered remains of the pillar, surprise flashed in Lu Peng's eyes when Min Luo and Min Guo slid two steps backwards from the force of the kick. He could accept that he'd been caught off guard when Lu Jingye hit him but Min Luo and Min Guo were both martial arts practitioners that his mother had brought for him. They had been specially trained with the Bai family death soldiers from young!

Lu Peng turned to Lu Jingye once more with narrowed eyes. 

On the other hand, Min Luo and Min Guo also eyed Lu Jingye in surprise. They'd only been planning to restrain him since he was weak but it seemed they underestimated him. They both attacked.

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

SLASH!

Blood oozed from the part on Min Guo's chest where Lu Jingye's porcelain had struck and anger flashed in his eyes. He swiftly took out a dagger.

Lu Peng's eyes widened. "Be careful of his face!"

Sounds of fighting rang out in the Ancestral hall and as the fight became more heated, Lu Jingye slowly began to panic. This was because the longer he fought, the more he felt a burning pain in his chest.

Five minutes later,

CRACK!

The shard of porcelain in Lu Jingye's hand fell to the ground as he suddenly staggered and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Lu Peng's eyes brightened. "Quick, pin him down!"

The scars on the faces of Min Luo and Min Guo became even more sinister in the moonlight as they approached Lu Jingye with terrifying smiles.

Lu Jingye simply lowered his head, held his chest with one hand whilst the second hand tightened around another smaller shard of porcelain. The blood wasn't fake but he'd deliberately staggered and dropped the first shard of porcelain in order to let down their guard.

Once those two got close enough, there was a small chance of slashing the neck of one and consecutively stabbing the neck of the other as long as he was fast enough.

Impatiently, Lu Peng joined Min Luo and Min Guo in advancing towards Lu Jingye with bright eyes and his hand fiddling with the cork of the jar. So much time had already been wasted and he couldn't wait anymore!

Six feet.

Three feet.

Two feet.

THUD.

THUD.

THUD.

Lu Jingye froze with the hand holding the porcelain shard in the air as Lu Peng and his cronies suddenly stiffened and fell to the ground one after the other.

The next moment, a black clad figure dropped in from the hole in the roof and Lu Jingye was suddenly face to face with a pissed off General He.

He Yuan grit his teeth to rein in his anger as he slowly lowered 888's hand that was still in the air, took away the shard of porcelain and lifted his hand to wipe his System's bloody lips with his sleeves.

He really didn't plan on coming to the Lu mansion before leaving for the Eastern frontier but for some reason, he'd felt really restless when he was in the middle of practicing the [[Strongest Martial Arts]] and had to stop.

He Yuan sighed. He'd been careless. He overlooked 888's current identity as a member of the Lu mansion. As someone who was familiar with the struggles of the inner courtyard he should have known that the other members of the Lu mansion would not be willing to ignore 888's existence.

Once he finished wiping away the blood, He Yuan asked softly, "Are you okay?"

Lu Jingye finally blinked. He'd been a little dazed since the General appeared. Without realizing, his tense shoulders sagged a little in relief and he lowered his head. "En."

Knowing 888's character, He Yuan still grabbed the System's wrist to check for himself. 888 wasn't lying. His body was really okay.

He Yuan was about to breathe a sigh of relief and let go when an idea came to his head and he decided to check using his soul energy.

The next second, he stiffened from shock.

Lu Jingye noticed this change immediately. He frowned. "What's wrong?"

He Yuan's mouth opened and closed a few times. What was wrong? A lot! 888 was able to manifest a body in this realm by attaching the Leaser's soul thread to himself so it stood to reason that the System's soul should be completely fine right?

It was not.

888's soul was currently thinner than his when he was a novice Tasker!

Worse, for some reason, 888's soul was slowly assimilating Lu Wenduo's soul thread! This was bad. This was very bad. If Lu Wenduo's soul thread was unable to be returned then both him and 888 would be trapped in this Task realm!

He Yuan's mind went to the bright light that had transported them to this realm. Just how much did 888 expend himself to get them away from that Hunter?

Without wasting time, He Yuan held both of 888's wrists and slowly imbued his own soul energy into the System.

Lu Jingye lost consciousness immediately.

Holding 888 in his arms, He Yuan lowered himself to the ground in a lotus position. Using his own soul energy to supplement 888's was dangerous to himself too but this could be helped with the aid of the revamped [[Strongest Martial Arts]] manual.

If he could replenish his own soul at the same rate he supplied 888 then they would both be fine.

Minutes later, the Ancestral hall became eerily silent accompanied by the occasional howl of the wind.

A tiny star shaped mark flickered on the foreheads of both System and Host but due to having his eyes closed, He Yuan missed this strange phenomenon once more.