My Junior Brother is a Hidden Boss

Chapter 16: Phantom God Flower

By the seventh day of the beast tide, casualties were mounting across all fronts, though the attrition rates remained within the Sect’s acceptable corporate projections.

Despite lacking a Peak Master to anchor their formation, Azure Cloud Peak possessed Zhou Qingyu. Under his vanguard, their sector was a meatgrinder, vastly eclipsing the kill counts of neighboring peaks.

With a sword in hand, he butchered his way through the horde with peerless grace. His sword qi grew increasingly lethal, radiating an unstoppable, indomitable momentum.

The onlookers were entirely spellbound. News of his flawless slaughter had spread, filling the Sect with awe and bright smiles.

To produce a singular talent like Zhou Qingyu in this generation guaranteed the Sect’s supremacy for at least a millennium!

Even Lu Changsheng let out a profound sigh of admiration.

“Ah, the hot-blooded vigor of youth!”

Had any other Elder uttered this, it would have been a profound reflection on the passing of eras. But coming from Lu Changsheng’s mouth, the sheer audacity of the statement triggered a collective eye-roll.

Did this notorious slacker possess absolutely zero self-awareness?

The crowd stared in disbelief. Lu Changsheng was comfortably perched on a smooth bluestone, a massive bonfire roaring before him. Suspended over the flames were two massive avian Demon Beasts that Zhou Qingyu had just decapitated.

The skins were roasted to a crisp, golden perfection, sizzling and dripping with rich fat.

He nonchalantly tore off a massive wing, grease coating his fingers, and waved the onlookers over.

“Orders up! Grab a bite while it’s hot, don’t just stand there buffering!”

Hearing this, the vanguard disciples raised their eyebrows.

Those who were already part of his social network naturally drifted over, shamelessly tearing off chunks of premium beast meat.

An Elder nearby sighed softly, shaking his head. “Changsheng!”

“Need something?”

“Add more chili flakes. This old man prefers a heavier kick!”

“Coming right up, Senior!”

As he responded, Ye Tianyi stood frozen, utterly speechless. He had to admit, though—his Little Junior Brother’s BBQ skills were terrifyingly optimal!

Zhou Qingyu, however, remained entirely detached from the mortal feast. Standing atop a solitary crag, he held his sword and gazed into the infinite horizon. He closed his eyes to meditate on the carnage of the past few days, gaining profound insights.

He was a hair’s breadth from Core Formation, yet he felt his Sword Dao stagnating. He was currently debugging his foundational insights.

As the disciples polished off the two massive Demon Beasts, Lu Changsheng leaned back, picking his teeth. His current workflow was highly optimized: scavenging premium corpses, running catering, and managing logistics. It was honest, low-risk labor.

But just as the camp was entering a food coma, a violent disturbance ripped through the distant heavens.

A massive cyan bird tore across the sky, its piercing shriek shaking the very souls of the disciples below.

Its wingspan stretched a full three zhang, its talons curved like lethal executioner’s blades, and an icy, murderous intent radiated from its piercing eyes.

“A Cyan Wind Bird!”

Lu Changsheng stared at the sky. It was an exceptionally ferocious Demon Beast notorious for feeding on human cultivators. It possessed blinding speed, terrifying lethality, and—crucially—it was a Core Formation entity.

Its mere wingbeats summoned a raging hurricane.

The murderous intent instantly pulled Zhou Qingyu from his meditation. A glacial light flashed in his eyes. With a cold gleam from his longsword, he launched himself into the sky to intercept it.

As man and beast collided, the onlookers gasped. The Cyan Wind Bird’s plumage was as impenetrable as divine iron, violently deflecting the lethal slashes of the longsword.

The blade grated against the feathers, sending showers of sparks raining down upon the mountains.

Surging Magic Power shattered the surrounding peaks.

An Elder stepped forward, moving to intervene out of fear for Zhou Qingyu’s life.

But another raised a hand to stop him.

“Hold. Qingyu is at the absolute peak of the ninth layer of Essence Condensation, right at the critical threshold of a breakthrough. This pressure is an excellent catalyst. Furthermore, he cultivates the supreme Sword Dao. That vile beast cannot easily claim his life!”

Hearing this profound analysis, the group stayed their hands. Indeed, if the battle metrics turned critical, they could still launch a rescue operation in time.

Lu Changsheng barely spared a glance at the sky. He knew the Cyan Wind Bird’s ROI on this attack was firmly in the negative.

His Eldest Senior Brother was a premium asset he had personally optimized. Soloing a basic first-layer Core Formation bird was entirely within his performance parameters.

Although they appeared evenly matched now, once Zhou Qingyu fully booted up his sword intent, the fight would end instantly.

The Elder of Azure Cloud Peak also recognized the underlying dynamics, his heart swelling with pride.

As the paramount prodigy of the Cangyun Sect, the boy was truly astonishing.

Suddenly, another catastrophic disturbance erupted from the horizon. The very earth violently convulsed, gravel danced, and a deafening roar shattered the air.

From the dust, a gargantuan snail barreled toward them at a terrifying velocity.

Wherever it passed, the ancient forests were annihilated.

The vanguard paled in terror. The snail was six or seven zhang wide, moving at a speed that defied its biology. While slightly slower than the Cyan Wind Bird, its momentum was apocalyptic.

The vile mucus trailing behind it possessed a deadly, corrosive toxicity—instantly withering ancient trees and melting solid bedrock into slag.

An Elder instantly mobilized, deploying a massive barrier to block its trajectory toward Zhou Qingyu.

Before the disciples could even exhale, a colossal black tiger shattered a mountain peak, its mountainous frame charging through the debris. It, too, radiated the suffocating pressure of Core Formation.

Before anyone could react, several more Demon Beasts arrived. Unlike the previous waves of fodder, these were all apex Core Formation entities!

“What is happening?!”

“Why is there a sudden surge of Core Formation Demon Beasts?!”

Every available Elder deployed to the frontline, yet the terrifying auras of approaching beasts continued to multiply on the horizon.

“Send an emergency flare to the other units for immediate reinforcement!” someone roared.

Ye Tianyi whipped his head toward Lu Changsheng. “The operational parameters have changed! Evacuate the outer disciples immediately!”

Lu Changsheng nodded sharply, his internal threat-assessment algorithms screaming. As he ushered the disciples back, that cloying, unnaturally sweet fragrance washed over him again. Sweeping his gaze downward, he spotted clusters of eerie, crimson flowers blooming from the blood-soaked soil.

Bizarre and impossibly vibrant, they continuously vented that intoxicating scent.

“Phantom God Flowers!”

Lu Changsheng’s brow furrowed. These biological anomalies absolutely weren’t here during their initial sweep.

Phantom God Flowers required fresh blood to germinate. Once blooming, the strange fragrance they emitted acted as a fatal, irresistible narcotic to any Demon Beast below the Nascent Soul realm that hadn’t yet formed true sentience.

The beasts would be trapped in a violent hallucination, driven by a suicidal urge to consume the flower, happily marching to their deaths to reach it!

As long as these flowers existed, they would continuously pull aggro from the entire mountain range.

“Those Xuantian Sect bastards really deployed a biological weapon.”

It was a flawless corporate assassination—killing via third-party assets, leaving zero paper trail. A rapid sweep with his Divine Sense confirmed that the Phantom God Flowers were entirely localized to this specific sector. This was a targeted strike on Zhou Qingyu.

The operatives merely had to sprinkle the seeds and walk away. Once Zhou Qingyu and the vanguard started slaughtering beasts, the spilled blood acted as fertilizer. The trap sprang itself, generating an endless loop of beast aggro.

The Azure Cloud Peak vanguard, previously operating at peak efficiency, was now totally overwhelmed. The Elders were pinned down, and Zhou Qingyu was locked in aerial combat with the Cyan Wind Bird, unable to divide his attention.

Although reinforcements were en route, the flowers were still blooming, continuously multiplying. If the pollen density reached a critical threshold, the entire beast horde would go completely rabid.

“A vicious exploit, sure, but do they think we’re completely illiterate?”

Lu Changsheng muttered to himself. Patching this vulnerability was painfully simple. He covertly formed a hand seal. A tiny spark flicked from his fingertips into the blood-soaked brush. Instantly, a roaring sea of mundane fire ignited, rapidly spreading across the battlefield.

The sinister crimson flowers were instantly incinerated into useless ash.

A trap like this was fundamentally flawed; a single localized fire would completely wipe the server data. Its actual lethality was entirely dependent on no one noticing the exploit.

As the flames purged the narcotic pollen, the frenzied Demon Beasts visibly snapped out of their hallucinations. The terrifying auras rapidly converging from the distant mountains abruptly halted their advance.

The vanguard had no idea who deployed the firewall, but they instantly felt the lethal pressure evaporate.

Lu Changsheng, however, kept his internal threat level at maximum. The server still felt corrupted.

In the next fraction of a second, an unnatural shadow flickered through the sea of fire. Moving with zero aggro generation, it silently scaled a sheer cliff face, its dead eyes locking onto Zhou Qingyu in the sky above.

But what sent a chill down Lu Changsheng’s spine was the data his Divine Sense returned. He could not sense a single trace of biological life force from the shadow—yet it radiated the suffocating, oppressive Cultivation base of the third layer of Core Formation!

…