Swallowing the Stars: Only in my later years did I come to the life-spending panel.

Just as the million geniuses in the entire square were sizing each other up and secretly competing,

"Buzz—"

A vast, gentle aura, yet seemingly containing the immense power of the universe's birth and death, descended unexpectedly over the entire continent.

The square, which had been bustling like a marketplace, suddenly fell into a deathly silence the moment this aura descended.

In mid-air, a man dressed in a simple blue battle robe and with mysterious purple scales on his head appeared silently.

He wore a gentle smile, like a god-king from ancient mythology. Although he did not deliberately exude any pressure, the impulse to worship him from the bottom of one's heart was deeply imprinted in the souls of a million peerless geniuses.

"Welcome, little ones from the 1008th Universe Kingdom."

The man in the green robe with purple scales spoke in a gentle and mellow voice, like a spring breeze caressing everyone's heart, yet resonating clearly in everyone's minds: "I am the head of the Virtual Universe Company. You one million eight thousand geniuses are the precious treasure of the human race in this era."

"However, the core resources of my Virtual Universe Company are limited. Therefore, from among your more than one million geniuses, we will ultimately only recruit the strongest 1000 into the core!"

These words caused silence in the square, but a mad flame ignited in the eyes of the millions of geniuses.

One million to one thousand! That elimination rate is absolutely brutal!

"Next, I will announce the rules for your competition for these last 1000 spots."

The man in the green robe with purple scales smiled and said, "Soon, all of you will be teleported into a separate trial space. In that space, there are seven trial towers! Each trial tower has seven levels."

"Your mission is simple. Start from the first level of the first trial tower, kill all the targets inside, and advance to the next level! Until you die and are kicked out of the trial space, or... destroy all seven trial towers!"

"The system will calculate your final trial score based on your kill count and the number of levels you clear in the Trial Tower."

"As for everyone ranked 7300th or lower..." the man in the green robe said calmly, "They're eliminated immediately! Go back to where you came from!"

boom!

This brutal elimination rule instantly turned over 99% of the geniuses in the square pale.

They don't even qualify for the arena battles; just a ranking of points in the Trial Tower will eliminate a million people!

After making a brief announcement, the man in the green robe left. The next morning, the geniuses in the dimensional space were teleported into their respective trial spaces.

……

When Zhou Mu opened his eyes again, he found himself standing on a huge meteorite drifting alone in the vast vacuum of the universe.

The surface of this meteorite is pitted and desolate, lifeless and barren. Only in the very center of the meteorite...

Seven towering trial towers, exuding an ancient and primordial aura, stand like seven pillars supporting the cosmos.

"drop!"

The screen on my wrist lit up automatically, and lines of detailed scoring rules for the Trial Tower finally appeared:

"【The First Trial Tower】You can earn up to 1 points for each floor you clear. If you clear all seven floors, you can earn up to 7 points."

"【Second Trial Tower】: You can earn up to 10 points for clearing each floor, and up to 70 points for clearing all seven floors."

"And so on..."

Zhou Mu's snow-white hair swayed gently in the faint energy flow of the cosmic vacuum. Looking at the scoring rules on the screen, a smile of interest appeared on his handsome face: "The points reward increases tenfold for each tower you advance?"

Not only Zhou Mu, but at this moment, countless immortal gods, high-ranking officials of various cosmic nations, and those geniuses who had already been eliminated, who were all watching this peak showdown, also saw this extremely abnormal scoring rule through the broadcast screen.

A collective gasp of astonishment erupted in the plaza outside!

"My God! Each tower awards ten times the points?! That means each floor of the fourth trial tower would be worth a whopping ten million points?! Clearing the fourth tower could net us a maximum of seventy million?!"

"What's this! Count the last one, the seventh Trial Tower!"

A four-eyed alien genius's voice trembled as he exclaimed, "The seventh tower, each floor is worth 10 billion points! Clearing the seventh tower could yield an astonishing 70 billion points!"

"What's the use of a high score? Look at the opponents you face on each level!"

Another genius, eliminated early on, pointed despairingly at the monster encyclopedia displayed on the screen, swallowing hard as he roared, "The first level is ten thousand ferocious beasts, the 'Blood-Haired Mammoths'; the second level is ten thousand demonic beasts, the 'Nine-Headed Pythons'; the third level is one thousand metallic lifeforms, the 'Thoraga Warriors'; the fourth level is one thousand strange cosmic creatures, the 'Flying Hou'; the fifth level is one hundred mechanical puppets; the sixth level... my god, it's actually ten colossal star beasts, the 'Azure'! And the most insane seventh level is actually a Zerg hive capable of nurturing countless Zerg warriors!"

"What's most terrifying is that the monsters in these seven trial towers are exactly the same type, but their strength increases exponentially! I've heard that by the seventh trial tower, every attack from each of the blood-haired mammoths contains the power of primordial laws! This is practically a death trap; this year's Genius Battle is pushing people to their deaths!"

While the outside world was reeling from the rules and the opponents, on the drifting meteorite in the trial space...

With his hands behind his back, Zhou Mu sent out a thought, and the purple-gold spear, its entire body shrouded in mysterious lightning patterns, disintegrated with a bang. 729 thin, cicada-wing-like purple-gold lightning blades swirled around him like gentle fish.

"No matter what, just break through."

A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips as he stepped out and directly entered the gate of the first trial tower.

The massacre began.

In the first trial tower, the weak blood-haired mammoths and nine-headed pythons couldn't even get within a hundred meters of Zhou Mu's purple-gold lightning blade imbued with the power of spacetime distortion. They fell down in droves like wheat being harvested.

First tower cleared! Extremely short time!

Second tower, level cleared!

The third tower, level cleared!

Explore the myriad treasures of the heavens; this is your haven for book hunting.

"What's the use of a high score? Look at the opponents you face on each level!"

Another genius, eliminated early on, pointed despairingly at the monster encyclopedia displayed on the screen, swallowing hard as he roared, "The first level is ten thousand ferocious beasts, the 'Blood-Haired Mammoths'; the second level is ten thousand demonic beasts, the 'Nine-Headed Pythons'; the third level is one thousand metallic lifeforms, the 'Thoraga Warriors'; the fourth level is one thousand strange cosmic creatures, the 'Flying Hou'; the fifth level is one hundred mechanical puppets; the sixth level... my god, it's actually ten colossal star beasts, the 'Azure'! And the most insane seventh level is actually a Zerg hive capable of nurturing countless Zerg warriors!"

"What's most terrifying is that the monsters in these seven trial towers are exactly the same type, but their strength increases exponentially! I've heard that by the seventh trial tower, every attack from each of the blood-haired mammoths contains the power of primordial laws! This is practically a death trap; this year's Genius Battle is pushing people to their deaths!"

While the outside world was reeling from the rules and the opponents, on the drifting meteorite in the trial space...

With his hands behind his back, Zhou Mu sent out a thought, and the purple-gold spear, its entire body shrouded in mysterious lightning patterns, disintegrated with a bang. 729 thin, cicada-wing-like purple-gold lightning blades swirled around him like gentle fish.

"No matter what, just break through."

A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips as he stepped out and directly entered the gate of the first trial tower.

The massacre began.

In the first trial tower, the weak blood-haired mammoths and nine-headed pythons couldn't even get within a hundred meters of Zhou Mu's purple-gold lightning blade imbued with the power of spacetime distortion. They fell down in droves like wheat being harvested.

First tower cleared! Extremely short time!

Second tower, level cleared!

The third tower, level cleared!

Another genius, eliminated early on, pointed despairingly at the monster encyclopedia displayed on the screen, swallowing hard as he roared, "The first level is ten thousand ferocious beasts, the 'Blood-Haired Mammoths'; the second level is ten thousand demonic beasts, the 'Nine-Headed Pythons'; the third level is one thousand metallic lifeforms, the 'Thoraga Warriors'; the fourth level is one thousand strange cosmic creatures, the 'Flying Hou'; the fifth level is one hundred mechanical puppets; the sixth level... my god, it's actually ten colossal star beasts, the 'Azure'! And the most insane seventh level is actually a Zerg hive capable of nurturing countless Zerg warriors!"

"What's most terrifying is that the monsters in these seven trial towers are exactly the same type, but their strength increases exponentially! I've heard that by the seventh trial tower, every attack from each of the blood-haired mammoths contains the power of primordial laws! This is practically a death trap; this year's Genius Battle is pushing people to their deaths!"

While the outside world was reeling from the rules and the opponents, on the drifting meteorite in the trial space...

With his hands behind his back, Zhou Mu sent out a thought, and the purple-gold spear, its entire body shrouded in mysterious lightning patterns, disintegrated with a bang. 729 thin, cicada-wing-like purple-gold lightning blades swirled around him like gentle fish.

"No matter what, just break through."

A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips as he stepped out and directly entered the gate of the first trial tower.

The massacre began.

In the first trial tower, the weak blood-haired mammoths and nine-headed pythons couldn't even get within a hundred meters of Zhou Mu's purple-gold lightning blade imbued with the power of spacetime distortion. They fell down in droves like wheat being harvested.

First tower cleared! Extremely short time!

Second tower, level cleared!

The third tower, level cleared!

"What's the use of a high score? Look at the opponents you face on each level!"

Another genius, eliminated early on, pointed despairingly at the monster encyclopedia displayed on the screen, swallowing hard as he roared, "The first level is ten thousand ferocious beasts, the 'Blood-Haired Mammoths'; the second level is ten thousand demonic beasts, the 'Nine-Headed Pythons'; the third level is one thousand metallic lifeforms, the 'Thoraga Warriors'; the fourth level is one thousand strange cosmic creatures, the 'Flying Hou'; the fifth level is one hundred mechanical puppets; the sixth level... my god, it's actually ten colossal star beasts, the 'Azure'! And the most insane seventh level is actually a Zerg hive capable of nurturing countless Zerg warriors!"

"What's most terrifying is that the monsters in these seven trial towers are exactly the same type, but their strength increases exponentially! I've heard that by the seventh trial tower, every attack from each of the blood-haired mammoths contains the power of primordial laws! This is practically a death trap; this year's Genius Battle is pushing people to their deaths!"

While the outside world was reeling from the rules and the opponents, on the drifting meteorite in the trial space...

With his hands behind his back, Zhou Mu sent out a thought, and the purple-gold spear, its entire body shrouded in mysterious lightning patterns, disintegrated with a bang. 729 thin, cicada-wing-like purple-gold lightning blades swirled around him like gentle fish.

"No matter what, just break through."

A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips as he stepped out and directly entered the gate of the first trial tower.

The massacre began.

In the first trial tower, the weak blood-haired mammoths and nine-headed pythons couldn't even get within a hundred meters of Zhou Mu's purple-gold lightning blade imbued with the power of spacetime distortion. They fell down in droves like wheat being harvested.

First tower cleared! Extremely short time!

Second tower, level cleared!

The third tower, level cleared!

Another genius, eliminated early on, pointed despairingly at the monster encyclopedia displayed on the screen, swallowing hard as he roared, "The first level is ten thousand ferocious beasts, the 'Blood-Haired Mammoths'; the second level is ten thousand demonic beasts, the 'Nine-Headed Pythons'; the third level is one thousand metallic lifeforms, the 'Thoraga Warriors'; the fourth level is one thousand strange cosmic creatures, the 'Flying Hou'; the fifth level is one hundred mechanical puppets; the sixth level... my god, it's actually ten colossal star beasts, the 'Azure'! And the most insane seventh level is actually a Zerg hive capable of nurturing countless Zerg warriors!"

"What's most terrifying is that the monsters in these seven trial towers are exactly the same type, but their strength increases exponentially! I've heard that by the seventh trial tower, every attack from each of the blood-haired mammoths contains the power of primordial laws! This is practically a death trap; this year's Genius Battle is pushing people to their deaths!"

While the outside world was reeling from the rules and the opponents, on the drifting meteorite in the trial space...

With his hands behind his back, Zhou Mu sent out a thought, and the purple-gold spear, its entire body shrouded in mysterious lightning patterns, disintegrated with a bang. 729 thin, cicada-wing-like purple-gold lightning blades swirled around him like gentle fish.

"No matter what, just break through."

A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips as he stepped out and directly entered the gate of the first trial tower.

The massacre began.

In the first trial tower, the weak blood-haired mammoths and nine-headed pythons couldn't even get within a hundred meters of Zhou Mu's purple-gold lightning blade imbued with the power of spacetime distortion. They fell down in droves like wheat being harvested.

First tower cleared! Extremely short time!

Second tower, level cleared!

The third tower, level cleared!

Read Le En's masterpiece, "Swallowing the Stars: Only in My Later Years Did I Start Paying for My Life," now!

Another genius, eliminated early on, pointed despairingly at the monster encyclopedia displayed on the screen, swallowing hard as he roared, "The first level is ten thousand ferocious beasts, the 'Blood-Haired Mammoths'; the second level is ten thousand demonic beasts, the 'Nine-Headed Pythons'; the third level is one thousand metallic lifeforms, the 'Thoraga Warriors'; the fourth level is one thousand strange cosmic creatures, the 'Flying Hou'; the fifth level is one hundred mechanical puppets; the sixth level... my god, it's actually ten colossal star beasts, the 'Azure'! And the most insane seventh level is actually a Zerg hive capable of nurturing countless Zerg warriors!"

"What's most terrifying is that the monsters in these seven trial towers are exactly the same type, but their strength increases exponentially! I've heard that by the seventh trial tower, every attack from each of the blood-haired mammoths contains the power of primordial laws! This is practically a death trap; this year's Genius Battle is pushing people to their deaths!"

While the outside world was reeling from the rules and the opponents, on the drifting meteorite in the trial space...

With his hands behind his back, Zhou Mu sent out a thought, and the purple-gold spear, its entire body shrouded in mysterious lightning patterns, disintegrated with a bang. 729 thin, cicada-wing-like purple-gold lightning blades swirled around him like gentle fish.

"No matter what, just break through."

A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips as he stepped out and directly entered the gate of the first trial tower.

The massacre began.

In the first trial tower, the weak blood-haired mammoths and nine-headed pythons couldn't even get within a hundred meters of Zhou Mu's purple-gold lightning blade imbued with the power of spacetime distortion. They fell down in droves like wheat being harvested.

First tower cleared! Extremely short time!

Second tower, level cleared!

The third tower, level cleared!