My Junior Brother is a Hidden Boss

Chapter 13: Will You Die If You Don’t Show Off?

Lu Changsheng returned to Qingyun Peak, his face clouded with immense stress.

His previously optimized, low-overhead lifestyle had been completely shattered.

He was busy coaching Ning Yuxin in Cultivation to generate Spirit Stones, and now his Second Senior Brother had forcibly drafted him into a hazardous work detail: resisting the beast tide.

If it were just that, it would be manageable; at worst, he would just shadow the Elders and Senior Brothers, punch the clock, and wait for the shift to end.

But Luo Xianling was actually plotting to steal the Sect Leader’s personal vault of Spirit Stones to fund him. If the Sect Leader caught wind of this, how could that possibly end well? Wouldn’t upper management subject him to endless workplace retaliation?

What if they demoted him back to guarding the spirit herbs in the Hundred Herbs Garden? Would he need to bring a bamboo basket this time, or a burlap sack?

“Ah!”

Lu Changsheng let out a heavy sigh, lamenting the abysmal ROI of his current existence.

But just as he lifted his gaze, a familiar figure stood nearby. It was actually Shi Feng, whom he had encountered previously.

That elderly man was also standing quietly to the side.

Sensing someone’s arrival, the old man turned his head. Upon seeing Lu Changsheng, he merely offered a polite, knowing smile and nodded.

Shi Feng, however, still radiated palpable hostility, though he didn’t speak, continuing to stare intently toward the rear of Qingyun Peak.

Lu Changsheng couldn’t care less about the glaring; he was simply curious as to why they were loitering here.

However, in the very next moment, he sensed two tyrannical auras erupt, accompanied by violent fluctuations of Magic Power.

Two figures launched themselves from the earth high into the sky. It was none other than Zhou Qingyu and that youth from the Xuantian Sect.

Zhou Qingyu strode across the empty air, his hands rapidly forming intricate seals. Azure Magic Power swept out like a tidal wave, coalescing into a brilliant ribbon of lethal light that slashed downward.

As the azure light danced horizontally, gale-force winds howled, physically shaking the surrounding mountain forests.

He had already reached the ninth layer of Essence Condensation, standing merely a hair’s breadth away from Core Formation. Yet, Lu Changsheng’s sharp eyes noticed that Zhou had deliberately throttled his own output, suppressing his cultivation to a mere seventh layer of Essence Condensation.

The youth from the Xuantian Sect also moved. He threw his arms wide, and crimson Magic Power surged into the heavens, taking the shape of a roaring, spectral tiger that radiated sheer, unadulterated dominance.

As their respective Magic Powers collided, a deafening boom echoed in everyone’s ears. The ambient spiritual energy was violently scattered, and fragments of spiritual light rained down from the sky, blooming in extraordinary, violent colors.

The crackling hiss of annihilating Magic Power filled the air.

The entirety of Qingyun Peak was thrown into chaos as the very sand and stones beneath their feet danced from the kinetic impact.

Lu Changsheng watched a stray strand of his own hair flutter in the shockwave and couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

“Are they just sparring?”

As he muttered to himself, his senses confirmed that the Xuantian Sect youth was also operating at the seventh layer of Essence Condensation.

Cross-referencing his mental database, the only person in the Xuantian Sect matching that age and cultivation bracket was Li Changfeng, their vaunted second disciple.

The two combatants traded blows continuously, their forces clashing and their Magic Power viciously intertwining. The skirmish appeared entirely deadlocked, with neither able to secure a decisive profit margin over the other.

The old man watched the spectacle with rapt attention, completely ignoring Lu Changsheng’s presence.

Taking all this in, Lu Changsheng sank into deep thought.

Suddenly, a blinding radiance flared in Li Changfeng’s grasp, and a heavy long spear materialized. The moment his fingers closed around the haft, he thrust forward. The spear shot out like a roaring dragon, trailing a silver luminescence that emitted a high-pitched, lethal hum.

With a sweep of his arms, he brought down a crushing force that felt as heavy as a collapsing mountain, aiming directly for the kill.

Zhou Qingyu remained suspended in the void, utterly unfazed. With one hand resting casually behind his back, he brought the index and middle fingers of his right hand together. A terrifyingly sharp aura instantly materialized.

Strand after strand of crystalline sword qi manifested out of thin air, levitating obediently by his side. With a casual downward point of his fingers, the myriad of sword qi tore across the heavens. The ear-piercing shriek of the sky being shredded echoed out, causing the hearts of all onlookers to palpitate with primal dread.

The old man’s expression froze completely. He could vividly feel the profound sword intent radiating from Zhou Qingyu, a purity of Dao that shook him to his very core.

The exact moment the barrage of sword qi descended, the long spear crashed against it, unleashing an explosive shockwave.

The strike that had surged forward like a majestic dragon was violently, instantly halted in its tracks.

The sword light was simply too oppressive, its lethality overwhelming. Li Changfeng was violently knocked backward. His sleeve was instantly pulverized to ash, and a rogue strand of sword qi sliced clean through his collar, grazing the flesh of his neck.

Yet, he stubbornly persisted. He swung his spear to parry the onslaught, but the impacts left deep, jagged sword scars across the weapon’s shaft. Absolute terror flickered in his eyes; the sheer, unadulterated violence of this Sword Dao was enough to make anyone despair.

Unsurprisingly, Li Changfeng was thoroughly defeated.

The battle came to a sudden, jarring halt.

Li Changfeng cupped his fists and bowed deeply in a formal salute.

“Brother Zhou is truly extraordinary. I willingly concede defeat!”

Hearing the praise, Zhou Qingyu remained the picture of tranquil indifference, his hand still resting calmly behind his back.

“Brother Li flatters me. You are already a paragon among our peers; I merely relied on the inherent advantages of my Sword Dao.”

“It is my own skill that is lacking. Brother Zhou’s talent is absolutely unparalleled in all of Cangzhou!”

Li Changfeng let out a self-deprecating chuckle and descended from the sky.

The old man also spoke up, his voice practically trembling with reverence. “The Little Sword Immortal of Cangyun truly lives up to his legendary moniker. This old one has been profoundly enlightened!”

“Senior praises me too highly!”

With the pleasantries concluded, the trio exchanged formal farewells.

Lu Changsheng couldn’t have cared less about their polite posturing. He just stared at Zhou Qingyu, lost in thought, a massive migraine building behind his temples.

If the naive, sheltered young girls of the Sect had witnessed that cinematic display just now, it would be absolute chaos.

They would be swooning by the hundreds.

Will you die if you don’t show off?

He muttered internally. The more aesthetically flawless Zhou Qingyu’s combat posture was, the more severe Lu Changsheng’s headache became.

The opposition had obviously engineered this entire encounter to probe for operational intel, and his Senior Brother hadn’t bothered to hide a single card. He was far too painfully straightforward.

During the previous incident when the Xuantian Sect dispatched assassins after Ning Yuxin and her brother, Lu Changsheng had deliberately left one alive. Did the Sect fail to apprehend him? Or did the interrogators completely botch the extraction?

Had literally no one briefed Zhou Qingyu on basic operational security?

But Lu Changsheng knew he couldn’t exactly blame him. It wasn’t that Zhou Qingyu was a narcissistic show-off; it was just his core programming. He was a sword-obsessed fanatic, utterly pure of heart, who completely lacked the capacity to care about political maneuvering or optics.

But the more aggressively he dominated the spotlight now, the more meticulously his enemies would optimize their countermeasures against him.

“Ah!”

Lu Changsheng sighed helplessly. Watching the man made him want to walk up and slap him in the face with a heavy ledger.

Zhou Qingyu finally noticed him standing there. He drifted down from the void and spoke in a measured tone.

“Little Junior Brother, I heard from Second Junior Brother that he intends to take you to the front lines to resist the beast tide?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Just being reminded of the mandatory draft made Lu Changsheng’s headache spike.

Zhou Qingyu, however, replied calmly, “Stagnating within the Sect indefinitely is not a viable path. Venturing out to temper yourself in real combat is beneficial. When the time comes, simply stay close to my side!”

“Deal!”

Lu Changsheng nodded instantly, abandoning any pretense of polite refusal. After all, that was exactly his business strategy.

Wherever Zhou Qingyu was deployed, aside from the perpetually glaring Shi Feng, absolutely no one would waste a glance on Lu Changsheng.

The blinding radiance of the Cangyun Sect’s Little Sword Immortal generated enough aggro to eclipse everything else on the battlefield.

All Lu Changsheng had to do was follow in his wake, play the invisible intern, and maybe scavenge a couple of high-value Demon Beast corpses to liquidate on the market. Earning a few extra Spirit Stones wouldn’t make the trip a total loss.

Having delivered his instructions, Zhou Qingyu departed to resume his relentless Cultivation.

Watching his Senior Brother’s retreating back, Lu Changsheng muttered, “He’s really embodying that flawless Sword Immortal brand more every day.”

Over their decade together, despite Zhou Qingyu’s sparse words, the man had always prioritized his Little Junior Brother, freely dumping all of his hard-earned insights and Cultivation data right into Lu Changsheng’s lap.

Whether it was premium loot from the Ascension Assembly or rare materials extracted from secret realms, Zhou Qingyu always made sure Lu Changsheng got a cut.

“This Senior Brother is way too pure. He’s a walking liability. I need to get him transferred to a mega-Sect. With his metrics, he’d secure corporate-level security in a heartbeat!”

His thoughts immediately pivoted to the Dynasty War.

Every few years, the Yue Kingdom hosted a massive, state-sponsored Dynasty War.

When the event launched, every Sect across the Yue Kingdom would deploy their elite assets into the grinder.

It was a violent showcase to identify the highest-yielding geniuses, who would then be aggressively recruited by significantly more powerful Immortal Sects, unlocking access to vastly superior resource pools.

In exchange, the recruits’ original Sects would be granted subsidiary status and top-tier protection. This umbrella policy was a primary reason the Cangyun Sect had survived for so long.

After all, a small-market firm like Cangyun would only bottleneck premium talent. They needed a larger platform to scale.

As long as Zhou Qingyu secured a high ranking and was drafted by an Immortal Sect, Cangyun would receive a massive security upgrade, which meant Lu Changsheng’s own long-term retirement plan here would become infinitely safer.

The Cultivation industry was cutthroat and hyper-lethal. The outside market was far too volatile, and he had zero intention of exposing his own assets.

The tallest tree catches the axe; the smartest guy gets assassinated first. He understood these basic survival principles perfectly.

The absolute ceiling of power in the Yue Kingdom was the Nascent Soul realm, and those executives were exceedingly rare. As long as he meticulously avoided risk, his survival rate was exceptionally high.

Having optimized his long-term strategy, he turned to head back to his quarters. But suddenly, a streak of light rocketed from Cangyun Peak, detonating high in the sky and blooming into a massive, lingering azure flare.

Lu Changsheng’s eyes narrowed. He knew exactly what that was: the early-warning system for the beast tide.

…