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

The night was as dark as ink, and a silvery-white streak of light streaked across the sky, speeding toward Australia.

Inside the cockpit of the Qiankun-class intelligent fighter jet, Zhou Mu stood in front of the porthole, looking down at the boundless sea below.

The fighter jets cruised at fifteen times the speed of sound and were close to their destination in less than half an hour.

A thick fog appeared on the sea ahead.

The fog was eerily thick, unlike any ordinary sea fog. It glowed faintly in the moonlight, like a natural barrier isolating the entire sea area from the outside world.

At the edge of the fog, the waves surged and roared, and visibility plummeted to less than 100 meters.

Even with the most advanced detection system on Earth currently available, carried by the Qiankun-class fighter jet, it was unable to penetrate the dense fog and see what was inside.

"arrive."

Zhou Mu murmured as the fighter jet slowly decelerated under the control of the intelligent system, eventually hovering outside the fog.

With his planetary-level eyesight, Zhou Mu could vaguely see the outline of a huge island in the distance through the churning fog. It was dark and lay quietly on the sea, like a sleeping ancient sea beast.

The island exuded an indescribable aura—ancient, mysterious, and tinged with danger.

Zhou Mu closed his eyes, and his mental energy surged from between his eyebrows like an invisible tide, spreading towards the direction of Mist Island.

The mental power of a second-tier planetary-level mentalist is incredibly strong; in the blink of an eye, it pierced through layers of mist and began to explore this mysterious sea area.

Using mental energy, I detected an astonishingly high density of monsters in the waters surrounding Kirishima.

Centered on Kirishima Island, countless sea monsters roam within a radius of tens of kilometers.

Every monster in this sea area exudes an aura of at least Beast General level, with Lord-level beings being commonplace. There are even several hidden, powerful auras lurking in the deeper waters; Zhou Mu could vaguely sense that they were at least King-level.

They swam slowly in the waters surrounding Kirishima, but none of them dared to approach the island itself, as if they were waiting for something, or as if they were wary of some unseen presence.

"This density..." Zhou Mu frowned slightly, secretly surprised, "It's more than ten times higher than in the wilderness."

It is no coincidence that so many monsters have gathered here.

They were clearly attracted by some force, which most likely came from the energy emanating from the depths of Kirishima.

His telekinetic power continued to penetrate deeper into the sea, passing through layers of swimming monsters, traversing dark deep-sea canyons, and extending to about thirty kilometers southeast of Kirishima.

There is a bottomless trench there, like a wound that has split open in the earth, swallowing up all light.

Suddenly, a terrifying aura entered the range of perception.

It was a colossal creature, over a hundred meters long, lurking deep in the trench.

It was covered in a tortoise shell, its body gleaming with a cold, eerie light in the perception of telekinesis. Thirteen thick tentacles, each nearly a thousand meters long and tipped with sharp barbs, swayed slightly with the ocean current.

Tentacle Beast King?

And it has already broken through!

Zhou Mu's pupils suddenly contracted.

He rushed over overnight after receiving Hong's message. He was surprised to find that it had successfully broken through to the Beast King level in such a short time, which is equivalent to a sixth-order planetary level being in the human realm.

He observed the tentacle beast king, whose aura was still unstable, with its energy fluctuations fluctuating.

Clearly, it had only recently broken through and was in the consolidation phase. Its dozens of tentacles swayed slightly, each sway stirring up huge undercurrents. Within several kilometers of it, no monster dared to approach, forming an absolute no-go zone for ocean monsters.

"Luckily, I arrived in time," Zhou Mu thought to himself. "If I had a few more months to consolidate it, it would have taken a lot of effort to instantly transport me to the exciting world of Chapter 33, the Tentacle Beast King, with a flick of my finger. As for now... it's enough for me to warm up."

He did not act rashly, but instead withdrew his mental energy from the sea and continued to probe towards Kirishima itself.

The island has an irregular shape and an area of ​​approximately several hundred square kilometers.

The island was lush with vegetation, yet eerily silent, devoid of any insect chirps or bird calls. The leaves of the trees gleamed strangely in the moonlight.

His mental power continued to penetrate deeper, probing towards the center of the island.

Beyond the dense jungle and through layers of vines, nine towering trees stand silently in the center of the island.

Those are all willow trees. The thickest one has even reached three meters in height, requiring several people to encircle it. Its bark is dark brown, with cracks left by the passage of time.

The thickest willow tree is nearly a hundred meters tall, its canopy almost completely covering the center. Each of its drooping branches is as thick as an arm and gleams with a faint golden halo under the moonlight.

It is the willow king with the heartwood of ten thousand years that was born in the original work.

Below it, in that enormous void, lies the location of Babata and the Meteorite Starship.

His mental energy probed towards the roots of the willow king, penetrating layers of soil and overcoming the dense root system. Sure enough, he sensed a huge underground space below, but he could not feel the existence of anything under his mental energy.

"That's it."

Zhou Mu withdrew his mental power and opened his eyes.

Mist Island, the spirits of plants and trees, the Cloud-Piercing Vine, the Tentacle Beast King, and the legacy of the Meteorite Star underground...

This trip involved a huge amount of work, but the rewards were extremely generous.

"Beep beep beep beep!!"

Just then, the fighter jet's life detection system sounded an urgent alarm.

Zhou Mu frowned and looked at the control panel.

On the screen, a striking red dot is approaching Kirishima at an astonishing speed, ridiculously fast, at least twenty times the speed of sound.

The numerical value representing energy intensity fluctuated wildly before finally settling on an astonishing number.

"A high-energy reaction?"

Zhou Mu's gaze sharpened. "This strength... is at least at the fifth level of the planetary realm."

who is it?

There are not many strong humans at the fifth level or above. Hong and Thor are in seclusion. Who could be appearing in the Australian waters at this time?

His mental energy reached out again, spreading towards the uninvited guest. Crossing the surging waves, a massive figure entered his senses.

In the dark depths of the sea, a colossal figure nearly a thousand meters tall is breaking through the water.

That's a dragon!

The true Eastern dragon.

The deep purple scales were as cold and hard as ancient divine iron, and with each twist and stretch of the dragon's body, a violent undercurrent capable of tearing steel apart was stirred up.

The cool moonlight pierced through the sea, casting a dreamlike glow on the streamlined scales, making the behemoth appear even more like a world-destroying monster descended from mythology.

Its head resembles a camel's, its antlers a deer's, its eyes a rabbit's, its neck a snake's, its belly a clam's, its scales a carp's, its claws an eagle's, its paws a tiger's, and its ears a cow's—it is the most ancient mythical beast form in Chinese legend.

"Thunder Dragon Emperor..."

Zhou Mu muttered to himself, his brows furrowing slightly.

He recognized the giant beast as the Thunder Dragon King, one of the two great beast kings on Earth.

In the original work, Kirishima should only have one Tentacle Beast King and Moyun Vine. Thunder Dragon King did not appear. Under the influence of the butterfly effect, this ferocious monster king was also attracted to Kirishima!

A smile appeared on Zhou Mu's lips. "This trip to Kirishima is starting to get interesting."