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

Although Thor was covered in wounds, his eyes burned with an almost tangible, fanatical fighting spirit.

He was surrounded by a raging field of lightning, and his battle blade moved with wide, sweeping strokes, each strike accompanied by a deafening roar of thunder.

"Damn natives! Die!"

The four-armed genius was enraged by Thor's reckless fighting style. He gripped four oddly shaped short swords in each of his four hands and, with some strange movement technique, attacked Thor's vital points like a storm.

The two were evenly matched in strength, both having comprehended their respective domains, making the battle extremely intense.

In fact, when Zhou Mu's purple-gold lightning storm swept across the entire city, it should have wiped out this area as well.

But when Zhou Mu's mental energy swept over it, he instantly caught Thor's aura.

Zhou Mu naturally wouldn't treat this little brother who followed him out of Earth as just another point to casually use up.

Therefore, during the clearing, he deliberately manipulated the lightning blade with extremely exquisite micro-management, perfectly avoiding the coordinates of the ruins where Thor was located, allowing him to continue his own honing.

"boom!"

Finally, after exchanging nearly a thousand blows, Thor keenly spotted a flaw in his opponent's movements.

"cut!"

Thor roared, and his Force surged wildly into his sword like a volcanic eruption.

A terrifying lightning blade, tens of meters long, instantly tore through the air, severing the two arms of the four-armed genius with an extremely domineering force, and then shattering his head with its remaining momentum!

The corpse of the four-armed alien genius instantly turned into white light and dissipated, and the score on Thor's wristband screen also flickered.

"Huff... huff..."

Thor collapsed onto the ruins, panting heavily, his chest heaving.

He wiped the blood from his face and grinned, "That was truly remarkable. This genius competition organized by the Virtual Universe Company is ridiculously high-level. Even a random martial artist I encountered has mastered a domain!"

After resting for a while, Thor stood up, gripped his sword, and cautiously surveyed his surroundings.

The commotion I just caused with that four-armed alien was bound to attract the attention of other contestants. In this brutal preliminary round, to survive, I must maintain the highest level of vigilance at all times.

However, when his gaze swept across the surrounding streets and buildings, he was completely stunned.

quiet!

Deathly silence!

The ruined city, which should have been teeming with countless dangers, was now completely silent.

There were no sounds of weapons clashing, no explosions of colliding forces, and not even the faintest breath of life could be detected.

A chilling wind, carrying a heavy stench of blood, swept through the metal streets, leaving only ruins and a deathly stillness that sent shivers down one's spine.

"What... what's going on?"

Thor swallowed hard, a few beads of cold sweat forming on his bald head. "Where are they? There were several faint presences around here just now, how come they all disappeared in the blink of an eye? This whole city... it feels like a tomb?"

Just as Thor was filled with doubt and uncertainty.

"Buzz—"

A slight ripple appeared in the void in mid-air, and a tall and slender figure quietly emerged.

Thor looked up sharply, as if facing a formidable enemy, and his sword instantly erupted with blinding lightning.

However, when he saw the face of the figure in mid-air, he froze instantly.

A head of wildly flowing, snow-white hair, a face so handsome it takes your breath away, and purple-gold lightning blades radiating a terrifying aura of destruction surrounding him...

Although his demeanor had undergone a complete transformation, how could Thor possibly mistake that face!

"Big...Big Brother?!" Thor's eyes widened, and his voice even stuttered due to extreme shock.

Zhou Mu slowly descended from mid-air, and the violent lightning blades around him automatically disappeared into the Divine Weapon behind him like docile fish.

He looked at Thor, who was covered in blood, and a faint smile appeared on his handsome face: "Not bad, your domain has improved quite a bit. The timing of that strike just now was very precise."

Upon hearing Zhou Mu's voice, Thor snapped out of his shock. He looked around at the empty city and then at the nonchalant Zhou Mu. An extremely crazy idea, one that even made his scalp tingle, surfaced in his mind.

"Brother...this...the people in this city...you didn't kill them all, did you?"

Thor pointed to the surrounding ruins and asked in a trembling voice.

Zhou Mu nodded noncommittally: "Not just this one. The previous six cities were also cleaned up in the process."

hiss--!

Thor gasped, feeling his worldview being violently shaken like never before.

Seven main cities in total! That's hundreds of millions of top geniuses at the ninth level of the Hengxing realm!

Just like that... you cleaned it up casually?!

Thor subconsciously glanced down at the screen on his wristband.

Points: 2026,0217

Ranking: 3152

These were the points he had painstakingly accumulated over the past five days, fighting day and night and teetering on the brink of death countless times, barely managing to squeeze into the top four thousand.

And his older brother...

Thor swallowed hard and glanced at the overall rankings of the Qianwu Universe Kingdom.

The name at the top of the list, followed by a long string of dizzying zeros, practically blinded him.

"Six...six hundred and fifty million points..." Thor's lips twitched wildly. "Dude, this is insane! Are we really in the same competition?"

"As expected of you, big brother. I, Thor, have never admired many people in my life, but you are definitely one of them!" Thor gave a thumbs up, his eyes filled with undisguised awe and admiration.

For martial artists, respect for the strong is ingrained in their bones, especially when that strong person is their elder brother.

Seeing Thor's stunned expression, Zhou Mu patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him, "Don't be discouraged. With your lightning domain, as long as you keep pushing your potential in the upcoming battles, breaking into the top 1,000 in this world zone and securing a spot in the finals won't be difficult."

"Don't worry, brother! I, Thor, am not one to give up easily!" Thor's fighting spirit was ignited by Zhou Mu's words. He patted his chest forcefully, "I will definitely break into the top one thousand!"

"Alright, then I'll be waiting for you on the final stage."

Zhou Mu smiled slightly, and his figure slowly rose into the air.

"Big brother, are you going to the next city?" Thor asked, looking up.

However, Zhou Mu, who was in mid-air, shook his head, a look of boredom appearing on his handsome face.

"I won't kill them."

Zhou Mu sighed softly, his deep gaze sweeping across the virtual world. "The opponents in these preliminary rounds are far too weak. The vast majority of them can't even touch the edge of my domain. Killing them won't serve any purpose in honing my understanding of the laws."