My Junior Brother is a Hidden Boss

Chapter 2: Myriad Tribulations Immortal Physique

At the foot of the mountain peak, the three exchanged glances. Ye Tianyi’s face was dark, fundamentally at a loss for words.

Lin Po shook his head in helpless resignation. “Changsheng, your Senior Brother has been traveling the world with your Master for ten years and has only just returned. From now on, you must heed your Senior Brother’s guidance!”

“Rest assured, Martial Uncle!”

Lu Changsheng waved his small hand dismissively, his tone dripping with mock earnestness.

Ye Tianyi was momentarily rendered speechless.

Seeing this attitude, perhaps the boy isn’t entirely beyond salvation, Ye Tianyi thought, his expression softening slightly.

He pondered for a moment, steeling his resolve to have a proper, heart-to-heart discussion with the youth.

But before the words could leave his lips, a resonant sound echoed from deep within the Sect.

Dang…

A dull, heavy bell toll reverberated across the peaks. Upon hearing it, Lu Changsheng’s entire demeanor drastically shifted, his eyes lighting up with opportunistic fervor.

Without a second word, he snatched an empty burlap sack from the ground and sprinted down the mountain path like a madman.

“Senior Brother, I have an urgent operational matter to attend to! I’ll host your welcome banquet later!”

By the time he finished speaking, he had vanished without a trace.

Ye Tianyi knitted his brows together. “What in the heavens is he going to do?”

Lin Po choked on his words, letting out a long, weary sigh. “The Sect is distributing the monthly quota of Spirit Grass to the inner disciples today…”

“I…”

A profound silence descended upon the surroundings. Ye Tianyi recalled the sheer, man-sized dimensions of the burlap sack Lu Changsheng had just snatched, and plunged into a deeply disturbed contemplation.

“Tianyi, I know you are anxious to correct him, but do not act in haste!”

Lin Po didn’t elaborate further; there was truly nothing he could do to assist in this managerial disaster.

However, just as he turned to leave, a thought struck him, and he paused.

“I nearly forgot to warn you. From now on, absolutely do not wander the Sect alone at night!”

“Why? Are these peaks haunted by malevolent spirits?” Ye Tianyi asked, baffled.

“If only it were mere ghosts! This is far more terrifying!” Lin Po said, his brow creasing into tight, fearful lines. “About eight or nine years ago, a Night Demon materialized within the Sect. It strikes intermittently, singling out a victim and beating them within an inch of their life. Initially, it preyed upon inner disciples, but then it escalated to personal disciples. In recent years, its arrogance has grown utterly deranged. Not long ago, it even began stalking the Peak Masters…”

The more Lin Po spoke, the more outlandish the tale became. Realizing the sky was rapidly darkening, he abruptly cut himself off, hastily offered his farewells, and fled.

Ye Tianyi didn’t pay the warning much heed; his mental bandwidth was entirely monopolized by Lu Changsheng.

Calming his turbulent spiritual sea, he cemented his absolute determination to properly discipline and guide his wayward Junior Brother.

Yet, the sheer absurdity of the day’s events made true tranquility impossible.

What did ‘quota Spirit Stones’ mean? Was this blatant extortion? Was he leveraging the sacred authority of a personal disciple to run a mafia racket on mortals?

Soon enough, Lu Changsheng returned, hauling a bulging burlap sack taller than his own body. A sweep of Ye Tianyi’s spiritual sense confirmed the horrifying truth-it was packed to the brim with Spirit Grass.

A standard inner disciple was allotted perhaps one or two stalks a month; this menace had just looted an industrial quantity…

Witnessing this, Ye Tianyi’s complexion darkened to the color of soot. What kind of degenerate behavior was this? He was purely dragging the pristine reputation of Qingyun Peak through the mud!

Just as Ye Tianyi opened his mouth to deliver a thunderous reprimand, a breathtaking figure descended from behind Qingyun Peak, riding a flying sword to land gracefully before them.

“Greetings, Senior Sister!”

Ye Tianyi immediately suppressed his surging anger, clasping his hands in a respectful bow to the woman.

Lu Changsheng, however, flashed a blinding smile. “It’s only been half a month, yet Senior Sister’s ethereal beauty has somehow transcended mortal limits once again!”

“Always with the silver tongue!”

The woman chided with a melodic laugh, her absolute adoration for this little Junior Brother plainly written across her features.

This woman was Liu Qingcheng, the Eldest Senior Sister of Liuyun Peak. True to her name, her beauty could topple cities, her every smile and frown possessing a captivating, otherworldly charm.

“When did Junior Brother Ye return to the Sect?” Liu Qingcheng finally registered Ye Tianyi’s presence.

Ye Tianyi replied stiffly, “I have only just returned today.”

“Ten years wandering the world must have been arduous!”

“It was no burden!” Ye Tianyi maintained his rigid politeness. “Has Senior Sister graced our peak so late at night seeking Eldest Senior Brother for a matter of importance?”

Liu Qingcheng shook her head. “No, I came specifically for Junior Brother Changsheng. I require his assistance with a minor issue!”

“What possible assistance could he provide?”

“There is a slight instability within a Formation. I wanted him to inspect it!”

“A Formation problem… and you want him to inspect it?”

Ye Tianyi stared blankly at Lu Changsheng, who was still casually balancing a mountain of pilfered Spirit Grass on his shoulder.

Liu Qingcheng lightly raised her flawless jade hand, directly sweeping Lu Changsheng away with her toward the back of the mountain.

This casual display of extreme favoritism left Ye Tianyi utterly stupefied.

After what seemed like an eternity, Liu Qingcheng strolled back alone, a serene, satisfied smile gracing her lips.

“Senior Sister, has the Formation anomaly been resolved?” Ye Tianyi asked, probing carefully.

“Mm, completely resolved!”

“My Junior Brother actually solved it?”

“Of course he did!”

“But he…”

Before Ye Tianyi could voice his mounting existential crisis, Liu Qingcheng interjected gently. “It seems you have been influenced by the baseless rumors circulating the Sect and harbor a severe misunderstanding of Junior Brother Changsheng. He is far from what you imagine.”

“Senior Sister holds a different perspective?”

“Simply coexist peacefully with him. You will gradually come to comprehend his profound depths. Treat him well; you certainly will not suffer for it!” Liu Qingcheng offered no further elaboration.

Greatly puzzled, Ye Tianyi declared, “I shall go converse with him immediately!”

Liu Qingcheng raised a hand. “Perhaps another day. He has entered closed-door cultivation!”

Hearing this, Ye Tianyi’s rigid expression finally thawed. If he is actively seeking the Dao, then he isn’t completely hopeless, he thought. At least he understands the importance of cultivation.

Yet, the very moment he turned around, Lu Changsheng shot out from behind the mountain like a bat out of hell.

Without a word of greeting, he lunged straight for the ancient pine tree at the foot of the peak.

“Is he… finished cultivating already?” Ye Tianyi turned to his Senior Sister, his voice hollow.

Liu Qingcheng completely ignored him, shouting affectionately toward Lu Changsheng, “Junior Brother, slow down! Be careful not to trip!”

“???”

Ye Tianyi’s mind blue-screened. From the moment his Senior Sister announced Lu Changsheng had begun cultivating to this exact second, barely a few sentences had been exchanged. That was the entirety of his cultivation session?!

At that pathetic speed, even a mortal taking a bowel movement would require more time.

Liu Qingcheng, however, was thoroughly accustomed to this spectacle. She gazed at Lu Changsheng, a tender, knowing smile blooming in her eyes.

“Junior Brother Changsheng’s physical development should be reaching maturity soon, shouldn’t it?”

“Huh?”

Ye Tianyi flinched. What in the Dao did that even mean?

Meanwhile, beneath the ancient pine tree, Lu Changsheng’s brows were locked in a ferocious grimace. His face was a mask of extreme gravity, and his body trembled involuntarily, as if he were being crushed by an unfathomable agony.

Beads of cold sweat the size of soybeans had long since erupted across his forehead, thoroughly soaking his robes.

Only when a gentle breeze swept down from the peaks, rustling the treetops and showering him in the pale, soothing starlight of the old pine, did his tortured expression marginally ease.

Can I file for a refund on this Myriad Tribulations Immortal Physique? Every single time I push a breakthrough, it feels like I’m being actively murdered. Who designed such a fundamentally toxic build…

Lu Changsheng was thoroughly exasperated. Before stepping onto the path of immortality, he had naturally assumed his exceptional bone structure marked him as a one-in-a-million protagonist.

He was entirely correct; he did indeed possess the genuinely peerless Myriad Tribulations Immortal Physique.

When normal people cultivated, they smoothly guided the world’s Spiritual Qi into their meridians, completing harmonious macrocosmic orbits to organically increase their cultivation base.

When he cultivated, it felt like swallowing jagged razor blades, having his ribcage shattered by a sledgehammer, and plunging his bare hands into a vat of boiling oil!

Every meditation session was a visceral torture chamber. Breaking through a realm was a literal death sentence, flooding his nervous system with an endless ocean of agony. True to its namesake, his physique practically demanded he suffer myriad tribulations.

To make matters worse, his operational overhead was abysmal. He required several times-often over ten times-the Spiritual Qi of a standard cultivator. As his realm advanced, his energy consumption skyrocketed exponentially.

The only marginal return on investment was that his Spiritual power reserves were monstrous, vastly eclipsing anyone within his same realm.

It had been ten agonizing years of this grind.

The orthodox path of immortality flowed from Qi Condensation, laying the foundation with Spirit Accumulation, advancing through Essence Condensation, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Void Transformation, and beyond.

He had already violently brute-forced his way to the eighth layer of Core Formation.

At this thought, his gaze shifted toward a distant, towering summit. That was Cangyun Peak, the sovereign domain of the Sect Leader.

I’ve gathered market intel that the Sect Leader’s KPIs plummeted after he reached the eighth layer of Core Formation. He’s been slacking on his cultivation. Let’s run a stress test and see if my combat metrics can out-scale him now!

Calculating his odds, Lu Changsheng stripped off his white robes, donning a set of pitch-black garments. With a single, explosive step that shattered the empty air, he launched himself into the night sky, radiating an oppressive, suffocating malice.

…