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

A few days later, deep within the Wind and Thunder Canyon.

This is the true core of the entire Thunder World, the central area, and also the most dangerous place!

The canyon is perpetually swept by terrifying gales containing primordial cosmic energy. These gales not only cut into the flesh like sharp blades, but also have a great inhibitory effect on mental power.

Even with Zhou Mu's current mental strength, he would be completely shattered and blown away by the cosmic energy contained in the gale just over ten meters away from his body, turning him into a "blind man".

Above the canyon, the dense, inky lightning clouds held suppressed thunder. If struck by lightning from above, not only would a star-level being have no chance of survival, but even a weaker domain lord would be instantly reduced to ashes.

Zhou Mu unleashed his lightning domain and struggled forward through the canyon. Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to several round stones on the rock wall beside him, shimmering with a deep blue halo.

"They're wind stones! And three at once!"

Zhou Mu's eyes lit up, and without hesitation, he leaped forward, heading towards the rock wall against the wind, just as he reached out to pick it.

"BOOM!!"

The moment he touched the rock wall, the thick, inky lightning clouds above the canyon seemed to be enraged by Zhou Mu's actions!

A blinding white light suddenly shone brightly across the sky, followed by a deafening roar that ripped the heavens apart!

A bolt of dark purple lightning, as thick as a bucket and containing enough power to easily annihilate a universe-level expert, crashed down on Zhou Mu like a roaring, angry dragon!

Faced with this almost certain death, Zhou Mu felt a chill run down his spine, and an immense sense of life-or-death crisis instantly overwhelmed him.

His body twisted violently in mid-air, attempting to blast backward.

But the Thunder Domain had already locked onto his aura, leaving him with no way to avoid it!

"Since you can't dodge it, then break through!"

Zhou Mu roared inwardly, not only refusing to close his eyes and await death, but also pushing the primal force within his body to its absolute limit. At this moment, the lightning domain erupted with unprecedented brilliance, like a star operating at overload.

What's terrifying is that his understanding of the laws, which was recognized by the fundamental laws of the universe's lightning source and reached as high as 80%, was now spinning wildly like boiling magma in order to survive!

On Zhou Mu's brow, a faint mark of lightning origin was faintly visible, emanating the aura of the laws of lightning.

"Hiss..."

A miracle happened!

The violent lightning bolt, powerful enough to instantly kill a universe-level expert, lost all its ferocity and destructive aura the moment it touched Zhou Mu's domain.

It was like a thunder serpent encountering a true dragon, merging into the domain with utmost gentleness, circling around Zhou Mu, and even emitting bursts of cheerful buzzing.

"I see......"

Zhou Mu's fingertips touched the leaping, deadly lightning, his eyes flashing with a terrifying light. "Although the lightning in this Wind and Thunder Canyon is incredibly violent, it is ultimately a manifestation of the laws of lightning. With my level of understanding and control over these laws, comparable to a peak Realm Lord, this deadly calamity, which could threaten even a Domain Lord, is actually under my complete control!"

With a casual wave of his hand, Zhou Mu unleashed a burst of dark purple lightning from his arm, instantly obliterating a small hill in the distance.

With the blessing of the thunder and lightning filling the Wind and Thunder Canyon, he was practically an invincible god here!

After collecting the three Windstones, Zhou Mu then immersed his consciousness into his spatial ring.

Inside the ring, the slumbering giant, over three hundred meters tall, suddenly opened its amber eyes, leaped out of the spatial ring, and arrived in the Thunder World.

The wildly popular online novel, "Swallowing the Stars: Only in My Later Years Did I Start Paying for My Life," is a heartfelt work by author Le Enbuleng. All of it is available here.

The violent and chaotic winds and thunderous energy here gradually receded under the perception of the Azure Giant's avatar, and were replaced by clear spatial patterns.

"Found it!"

The Cangyin Giant Zhou Mu's gaze was fixed on a void several hundred meters ahead. Although the space there appeared to be normal on the surface, the Cangyin Giant's spatial perception revealed an extremely hidden folded fault.

The giant clone of Cangyin held Zhou Mu's true form in its palm and used the secret technique "Shrinking the Earth to an Inch".

"Buzz!!!"

The figure of the Azure Giant blurred in place, like a drop of water merging into the ocean, passing through the boundary wall that even the Realm Lord could not detect without any hindrance, and disappearing into the Wind and Thunder Canyon.

Just seconds after Zhou Mu's figure completely disappeared into the spatial rift, in a leeward rock wall pit about 10,000 meters away.

An elite squad of ten level-nine martial artists of the Hengxing rank were hiding inside, struggling to withstand the fierce wind.

In the group, a thin martial artist in charge of reconnaissance was staring intently at the holographic projection screen of a sophisticated miniature detector in his hand.

"This...how is this possible?!"

The skinny martial artist gasped, his voice shrill with shock, "Captain! The life signal from that person who just forced their way into the core area... vanished instantly!"

"Disappeared? Turned to ashes by lightning?" The squad leader frowned as he looked at the thin martial artist.

"No! It's definitely not death!"

The slender martial artist's hands flew across the detector, quickly amplifying a set of waveband data. "The detector detected that at the very instant the life signal disappeared, that coordinate point emitted an extremely subtle but pure spatial fluctuation! It's highly likely that there's a hidden space there!"

"Hidden space?!" The squad leader rushed over and snatched the detector.

Looking at the spatial ripples on the holographic screen that hadn't completely subsided, the captain's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and his breathing instantly became heavy as a bull's.

"Such well-hidden spatial fluctuations! The core of this Wind and Thunder Canyon actually conceals an unknown, hidden space!"

The captain, suppressing his wild joy, roared, "For the Thunder Realm Lord to have placed it in the core area, it must contain an extremely rare and special opportunity, possibly even the Realm Lord's legacy!"

"Captain, what do we do? Should we rush in following the coordinates?"

The team members' eyes were bloodshot, and their greedy desires were almost consuming their reason.

"What the hell are you talking about!"

The captain slapped the subordinate who had spoken on the head. "If it weren't for that kid, we wouldn't have been able to find that spatial rift at all. He must have used an extremely valuable spatial artifact to sneak in! Ordinary celestial beings like us would have been torn to shreds by wind and thunder if we had gone there!"

A venomous glint flashed in the captain's eyes. "No matter what kind of opportunity lies in that hidden space, even if that kid goes in, he'll have to return through this single entrance if he wants to bring the treasure out!"

"Immediately activate the large-scale local area communication network! Send the coordinates to all our allies on the periphery!"

The captain paused, his gaze sweeping coldly over everyone: "Spread the word that a fortuitous opportunity may be emerging from the depths of Wind and Thunder Canyon."

"Lure all the martial artists and major forces participating in the trainee mercenary assessment in this Thunder World here! Lay a tight net here, with tens of thousands of star-level troops lying in wait!"

The captain sneered, "The muddier the water, the better we can fish in troubled waters. Once that kid comes out, even if he has extraordinary abilities, under the coercion of so many Star-level martial artists, he'll have to obediently spit out the opportunity he's swallowed!"

As soon as the captain issued the order, carefully crafted intelligence began to spread wildly among the assessment team on the outskirts of Thunder World.