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

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 moment you pass through that spatial rift, the stars shift and the world changes.

The scenery before Zhou Mu suddenly opened up. This was no longer the raging, stormy Fenglei Mountains, but a vast, boundless land under a hazy sun.

At the heart of the earth stands an extremely ancient, majestic, deep blue castle.

Inside this castle is a core control room constructed entirely of high-tech equipment.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

A piercing alarm suddenly blared in the silent control room.

Above the control panel, a phantom of light and shadow slowly coalesced, eventually transforming into the phantom of a chubby old man with a white beard. He emanated a faint white light, and his eyes were filled with anthropomorphic shock and confusion.

"What's going on?!"

This illusory old man is none other than the controller of this realm within a realm, the intelligent life form—Lord Mist!

"The master set an opening time of several decades, and the world power of the entrance to the realm within a realm has been under the highest level of lockdown. How could a life form suddenly intrude?!"

Lord Mist immediately mobilized the entire detection network within the realm to try to pinpoint the intruder's identity and strength.

However, the data returned was a jumbled mess of random data.

"What a bizarre spatial penetration technique! The residual fluctuations are so strong that even my long-range detector can't pinpoint the location and appearance of this petty thief!"

The Mist Lord, furious, puffed out his beard and glared, "I don't care who you are! I've been sleeping here for over ten million years, I have plenty of patience. I'll see what you, you little thief, are up to!"

After saying that, he snorted coldly and turned the detection power of the boundary within a boundary to the maximum without hesitation.

Meanwhile, on a desolate plain within a realm within a realm.

Zhou Mu's main body leaped down from the palm of the Cangyin Giant clone, landing steadily on the ground, and then returned the clone to his spatial ring.

He took a deep breath, his gaze sweeping across his surroundings as he felt the terrifyingly dense cosmic energy in this world, his eyes blazing with unprecedented fervor.

"In the original story, the subterranean realm contained buried cosmic crystals! Now, with the help of the Azure Giant's avatar, I've entered this realm ahead of time, and all these cosmic crystals... are mine!"

One Cosmic Crystal is equivalent to one thousand Cosmic Coins, which is more than three million Black Dragon Coins!

boom!

Zhou Mu unleashed his full power in the lightning domain, and the deep purple, violent lightning spread outwards from him in all directions. Wherever it passed, the distribution of rock strata, soil, and mineral veins was clearly reflected in his perception.

The ninefold perfect lightning domain is not only a deadly weapon, but also grants him a vast range of detection in this world where spiritual power is greatly suppressed.

The power of the domain penetrated deep into the earth with overwhelming force, piercing through layers of hard rock and soil. Finally, thousands of meters deep, a vast, ocean-like energy reaction entered Zhou Mu's perception.

"Found it!"

Zhou Mu's eyes lit up.

"Moyun, time to get to work!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

With a sharp whooshing sound, thick, crimson vines, as thick as writhing dragons, instantly sprouted from Zhou Mu's arm.

This plant life, which was captured on Earth, has evolved to the cosmic level after Zhou Mu invested a large amount of Green Wood Crystal Essence!

Although it has only just entered the cosmic level, as a plant life form, its strength and resilience far surpass those of human martial artists of the same level.

"Moyun, dig down!"

Upon receiving its master's command, the Moyun Vine excitedly began to dance.

Dozens of thick vine tentacles, like dozens of frenzied, bloodthirsty pythons, instantly pierced the ground and began to dig frantically into the earth with overwhelming force!

The hard rock was as fragile as tofu in the face of the cosmic-level Cloud Vine and the power of the domain. Wherever the tentacles passed, the rock layers were torn apart and crushed, and the rubble was squeezed to both sides to form a passage several meters wide.

Finally, nearly 20,000 meters underground, Zhou Mu's vision was filled with a dazzling light.

Those were countless crystals, sparkling and translucent, radiating an intoxicating aura of primordial energy—cosmic crystals!

Zhou Mu's eyes were bloodshot with excitement. The massive root system of the Moyun Vine instantly spread out, like countless greedy giant pythons, uprooting large chunks of cosmic crystal ore and sending them into Zhou Mu's spatial ring.

One million square meters! Three million square meters! Five million square meters!

Just as Zhou Mu was about to have Mo Yun Teng move to another area to continue this "massive project", a sudden change occurred!

Rumbling--

Small pebbles began to fall from the dome, the ground trembled noticeably, and the cosmic energy in the air became disordered.

"Master, signs of extreme instability and collapse have been detected in the spatial structure of this area!"

Babata 7 issued a warning.

Zhou Mu's expression changed slightly. He looked up at the dome, where visible spatial cracks spread slowly like a spider web on the dark rock wall.

He glanced at the mountain of cosmic crystals already piled up in his spatial ring and finally decided to stop.

Ten million cubic meters.

A full ten million cubic meters of cosmic crystals.

According to market rates, that's a full 10 billion Cosmic Coins!

For Zhou Mu at this stage, it is already a considerable asset.

"We can't dig anymore. If we keep digging, this place will really collapse."

Zhou Mu made a decisive move, put away the Moyun Vine, and his figure shot up the passage like lightning, landing steadily back on the wasteland.

He raised his head, his deep gaze piercing the vast distance, locking onto the majestic, ancient, deep blue castle at the center of the world. The next instant, his figure transformed into a purple streak of light tearing through the sky, hurtling towards the central castle with unstoppable momentum!

……

Meanwhile, the intelligent life form, Lord Mist, inside the castle was so angry that he was almost going berserk!

Through the castle's detection system, he finally saw the "culprit" that had almost caused the collapse of the boundary within a boundary.

"Bastard! Utter bastard!!!"

Lord Mist's originally illusory white beard stood on end in anger, and he flew into a rage in front of the control panel.

"That damned thief! Robber! He's not here to find his master's inheritance; he's here to steal my man!!"

In just a few days, that unknown thief has already dug up nearly ten million cubic meters of cosmic crystals!

"Unforgivable! How dare you steal your master's wealth! I will blast you into cosmic dust!"

As Zhou Mu's figure drew nearer to the castle, Lord Mist unleashed its full killing intent. It abruptly activated the castle's ultimate defense system.

"boom!"

The world changed color. A terrifying dark purple lightning pillar, over ten meters in diameter, descended from the heavens like a cataclysmic punishment, carrying an aura of destruction capable of tearing apart all space, and crashed down from the top of the castle! The power of the lightning was incredibly precise and locked onto Zhou Mu, who was speeding through the air!

Sensing the terrifying destructive wave that suddenly descended from above, Zhou Mu abruptly stopped in mid-air.

However, facing this deadly blow that could obliterate even a cosmic-level powerhouse, Zhou Mu showed no sign of panic. Instead, a strange smile appeared on his lips.