My Junior Brother is a Hidden Boss

Chapter 4: I Am Well-Read

The young girl arrived in a frantic rush.

Upon hearing that his Eldest Senior Brother had suffered a mishap, Ye Tianyi’s face instantly contorted with anxiety.

Yet, he was profoundly baffled. If there was a cultivation deviation, why not seek out the Elders or the Sect Leader? What possible use was running to Lu Changsheng?

Lu Changsheng, however, maintained an expression of absolute calm. He merely arched an eyebrow and sighed, “Another system failure? Can no one on this peak self-manage?”

“???” Ye Tianyi was left utterly stupefied.

Having delivered her urgent report, the young girl simply stood there, gazing at Lu Changsheng. A brilliant smile bloomed across her face, her eyes already shimmering with a starry-eyed reverence.

Her name was Luo Xianling, the cherished daughter of the Sect Leader. She frequented Qingyun Peak, constantly trailing after Lu Changsheng.

Feeling the weight of her adoring gaze, Lu Changsheng sighed helplessly. “Junior Sister, didn’t you just say Eldest Senior Brother suffered a critical error?”

“That’s right!”

“Then hurry and escort him back to base!”

“He is already en route! I merely hurried ahead to deliver the notification!”

“I see.”

Lu Changsheng furrowed his brow. He was completely at a loss regarding this particular Junior Sister.

She was the Sect Leader’s daughter, after all. Having her constantly hover around him generated far too much public attention, completely violating his core strategy of maintaining a low profile.

Shouldering a terrible reputation was fine. At worst, the masses labeled him a useless, idle wastrel. Such rumors were excellent camouflage.

As long as he didn’t commit any heinous crimes, no high-level cultivator would waste their precious time investigating a verified parasite.

However, entangling himself romantically with the Sect Leader’s daughter would absolutely shatter his cover and invite unwanted scrutiny.

The mere thought of the potential PR disaster left him feeling deeply exhausted.

Soon, several disciples appeared on the path, heavily supporting a figure as they stumbled toward the courtyard.

The injured man was none other than Qingyun Peak’s Eldest Senior Brother, Zhou Qingyu.

He possessed a tall, commanding physique and striking, handsome features. Even while slumped in the arms of his juniors, he exuded an undeniable aura of majestic fortitude.

“Eldest Senior Brother!”

Ye Tianyi rushed forward, his eyes burning with genuine alarm as he reached out to assess the man’s meridians.

Instead, Zhou Qingyu unceremoniously shoved him aside, lunging desperately toward Lu Changsheng.

“Junior Brother, my path has deviated once more!”

“Maintain your focus.”

Lu Changsheng caught him smoothly, supporting the imposing man as they headed indoors, leaving Ye Tianyi standing rigidly in the dirt, entirely dumbfounded.

“What is the meaning of this?” Ye Tianyi slowly turned his stiff neck toward Luo Xianling.

Luo Xianling beamed. “He is asking Senior Brother Changsheng to diagnose the foundational error and stabilize his injuries!”

“Him? Diagnose? Treat?” Ye Tianyi’s frown deepened into a severe trench. “Is this some kind of absurd farce? Has Eldest Senior Brother lost his mind to the deviation?!”

He prepared to storm the room. Though he lacked the full context, entrusting a critical medical emergency to his notoriously lazy Junior Brother felt like pure negligence.

Luo Xianling frowned back, clearly displeased by his doubt. “Senior Brother Changsheng resolves his bottlenecks every single time, and it has never once failed!”

“What do you mean, ‘every single time’?”

Ye Tianyi froze, his mind reeling. Could I have truly misjudged my Junior Brother?

Could this idle, tea-sipping slacker actually be a peerless, hidden divine healer masking his profound expertise?

Just as his imagination began painting a majestic portrait of a hidden master, Lu Changsheng strolled out of the room. From afar, they heard him let out a long, weary sigh.

“Ah, constantly driving up my stress levels. Can the pursuit of the Dao be rushed? If I weren’t here to manage the overhead, this entire peak would have filed for bankruptcy ages ago!”

Muttering complaints about poor risk management, he slouched toward an adjacent study.

Ye Tianyi immediately rushed into the sickroom. He found Zhou Qingyu already meditating on the bed, the sickly pallor of his face rapidly regaining a healthy, vital color.

“Eldest Senior Brother, what exactly transpired?”

“It is nothing severe. I merely suffered a slight backlash while tempering my sword intent. I had Little Junior Brother evaluate the flaw, and by following his adjustments, the chaotic Qi has mostly been subdued!”

Ye Tianyi gasped in absolute shock. “He comprehends the Dao of the Sword as well?!”

Yesterday, he was debugging complex Formations for a Senior Sister. Today, he was lecturing on sword dao to their Eldest Senior Brother. Was this truly the same parasitic Junior Brother he had witnessed running a protection racket?

Zhou Qingyu pondered for a moment before answering, “His practical comprehension is rudimentary, though he grasps the theory.”

“And you still dared to let him treat your meridians?!”

“His practical experience is lacking, yes, but he has devoured an ocean of ancient texts. Whenever an unprecedented bottleneck arises, he inevitably unearths the perfect solution from his vast literary reserves!”

Ye Tianyi found this incredibly hard to swallow.

Moments later, Lu Changsheng returned, casually waving a thin, bound tome.

“Eldest Senior Brother, I found the exact case study in this manual. The symptoms perfectly match your localized Qi deviation!”

Before Zhou Qingyu could even extend a hand, Ye Tianyi snatched the book. Scanning the text with hawkish eyes, he realized it was indeed flawless.

Exactly as Eldest Senior Brother had claimed, the recorded method offered an utterly immaculate countermeasure to the deviation.

“How did you know this specific text contained the answer?” Ye Tianyi interrogated.

Lu Changsheng shrugged lazily. “I read during my downtime. I happened to skim this manual a while back, and when Eldest Senior Brother described his symptoms, it pinged my memory.”

Zhou Qingyu didn’t question it. Taking back the manual, he flipped through the pages, nodding deeply as he absorbed the profound logic. The text provided a flawless theoretical framework for his exact problem.

However, as he eagerly turned to the next page, he was met with stark blankness.

“Where is the rest of the manuscript?”

“I couldn’t tell you. It was a fragmented copy when I found it,” Lu Changsheng replied smoothly.

At that precise moment, Ye Tianyi noticed his fingertips had turned black. He rubbed them together-it was fresh ink!

“This…”

“The ambient humidity has been terrible lately. It’s likely just condensation causing the ink to bleed!”

Lu Changsheng offered a seamless, deadpan excuse. The others paid the ink no mind, though Ye Tianyi felt a lingering, nagging suspicion he couldn’t quite articulate.

Soon, their collective focus returned to Zhou Qingyu.

As the Eldest Senior Brother of Qingyun Peak, his talent was universally recognized as monstrous. Not yet thirty years old, he had already reached the ninth layer of Essence Condensation, standing on the very precipice of Core Formation.

The Sect invested astronomical resources into his future.

Looking across all the sects within Cangzhou, he was a true apex predator among the younger generation.

More terrifyingly, he was a dedicated sword cultivator who had already awakened his sixth layer of sword intent. The world hailed him as a once-in-a-century genius of the blade.

He even bore the illustrious title of Cangyun’s Little Sword Immortal.

The Dao of the Sword was notoriously punishing. Ordinary cultivators often failed to even cross the Novice threshold. Reaching the second layer was a lifelong ceiling for the vast majority.

If a cultivator could somehow grasp the ninth layer of sword intent, they would earn the right to touch the mythical realm of Sword Heart Transparency.

It was the ultimate, unattainable dream that countless sword cultivators chased to their graves.

In the entire history of the Yue Kingdom, no such heaven-defying monster had ever emerged!

Zhou Qingyu was a fanatic. Aside from basic Qi cultivation, he devoted every waking second to comprehending the sword, never allowing himself a moment of respite.

Because of this maniacal, day-and-night work ethic, even Lu Changsheng-who never left the peak-rarely saw the man more than twice a month.

And every single time Zhou Qingyu sought him out, asking if he had read any books regarding some hyper-specific sword bottleneck, Lu Changsheng had to frantically draft a new manual from scratch. This time had been an absolute rush job, and he had nearly blown his cover.

Seeing that the crisis had been averted, Lu Changsheng turned to leave the room.

Zhou Qingyu suddenly called out, “Little Junior Brother!”

“Yeah?”

“Representatives from the Ning family have arrived. Go to the city and handle the negotiations.”

“Understood. Consider it done!” Lu Changsheng acknowledged, stepping over the threshold.

Yet, as he glanced back and saw Zhou Qingyu already diving back into fanatical, obsessive meditation over the damp manual, he couldn’t help but shake his head.

Isn’t the Dao of the Sword just swinging your arm really fast? Is it genuinely that hard? What is wrong with these people’s learning curves?

He truly could not compute their struggles.

Ye Tianyi opted to stay behind. He needed a very long, very serious conversation with Eldest Senior Brother regarding the ‘Little Junior Brother’ situation.

After all, even if the boy had swallowed a library and possessed theoretical insight, a cultivator’s absolute foundation was their cultivation base! If he didn’t actively cultivate, where would his power come from?

Luo Xianling, meanwhile, bolted out the door, chasing Lu Changsheng down the path.

“Senior Brother Changsheng, where are you going? Wait for me!”

Glancing at the girl rapidly closing the distance, Lu Changsheng sighed. “Is there something you need, Junior Sister Luo?”

“No, I just… wanted to speak with you for a moment!”

As Luo Xianling spoke, a delicate, maidenly blush dusted her cheeks.

Lu Changsheng gave a noncommittal “Oh” and said, “Let’s schedule a one-on-one for later. I have pressing business right now.”

“What kind of business?”

“Eldest Senior Brother just forwarded me an assignment. I need to make a trip down to Cangyun City.”

“To do what?”

Lu Changsheng replied casually, “There’s a lot on the itinerary. Ning Yuxin has arrived in Cangyun City; I need to conduct a face-to-face meeting with her.”

“Ning Yuxin? The daughter of Cangzhou’s wealthiest merchant?!”

“Correct!”

Lu Changsheng affirmed.

Luo Xianling’s willow-like brows shot up into her hairline. Visiting the local courtesans was one thing; she was painfully aware that Lu Changsheng frequented those establishments for leisure.

But Ning Yuxin was the sole heir to Cangzhou’s richest magnate. She had heard her father mention that the Peak Master of Qingyun Peak was incredibly close friends with this tycoon, and had actually arranged a marriage between one of his disciples and Ning Yuxin!

“Why is she here? Could it be… to finalize the marriage contract?!”

An intense, blaring sense of crisis erupted in Luo Xianling’s chest. She opened her mouth to interrogate him further, but Lu Changsheng had already vanished from sight.

Even though it had never been specified which disciple the marriage was arranged for, she was terrified. What if that wealthy heiress set her sights on Lu Changsheng?!

“No! Senior Brother Changsheng, you can’t go! Let…”

Before she could even finish her desperate plea, the man was long gone. Lu Changsheng had already crossed the borders of the Cangyun Sect, a blur streaking toward Cangyun City.

…