It’s not that Ziwei’s Dark Spiritual Power limit is too low. In fact, Ziwei’s limit of three hundred thousand is already the average level of the Upper Control Level, and even far exceeds most people.

However, within the group of Dark Spirits, although Dark Spiritual Power is foundational, it is not the standard for judging one’s realm. The main criterion for judgment is the Dark Spirit Technique one can release.

Ziwei, due to the imprint of the Fourth Star Pattern, inherently has a very high limit of Dark Spiritual Power, far exceeding the ordinary Upper Control Level.

But at the same time, because she has cultivated for a short time, she lacks in communicating with Dark Spiritual Power, which needs to be continuously broken through over time and cannot be rushed.

However, Zhang Xiaoman doesn’t have this concern.

He himself is already in a state of full Spiritual Power Sequence, and once the energy is sufficient, he can directly release the corresponding skill without other restrictions.

In other words, Zhang Xiaoman’s cultivation doesn’t have the concept of a bottleneck, which is why he is confident that after imprinting the Fourth Star Pattern, he can directly reach the Upper Control Level Peak.

Thinking of the woman Ziwei who once, when imprinting the Fourth Star Pattern, exhausted all her family’s accumulated assets over hundreds of years to gather the materials, Zhang Xiaoman can’t help but feel a bit bitter.

Ziwei’s constitution is special. The materials she needs seem far less difficult to gather than his, yet she still spent all her savings, no wonder she’s so poor.

Actually, the materials needed for everyone when imprinting the Fourth Star Pattern are different, based on personal constitution and fluctuations of Dark Spiritual Power, needing to be informed by the Star Pattern Master in advance.

Zhang Xiaoman, through Ziwei’s connection, contacted the Star Pattern Master who could imprint the Fourth Star Pattern, and only after being informed by him did he prepare the list of materials, leading to the previous extensive collection efforts.

What surprised him was that the Star Pattern Master did not ask for any compensation in Star Coins but agreed directly to help him with the imprinting request.

The only requirement from the other party was hoping Zhang Xiaoman could assist the councilor he supports with an all-out effort once when needed after the successful imprinting.

This requirement seems rather insignificant, as one all-out effort can exchange for a precious Fourth Star Pattern imprinting opportunity.

It is known that the difficulty of imprinting the Fourth Star Pattern is far beyond comparisons with the previous three; even the Star Pattern Master himself could not complete it without three to five years.

But Zhang Xiaoman didn’t consider this cost to be easy to repay, as both he and the other party know that once the imprinting is successful, his strength will surely rise to the Upper Control Level, reaching that stage where any all-out effort will not be a trivial matter but a grand battle that may involve casualties. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Moreover, this is a turbulent time, with two universes merging and the Dark Star Alliance’s lord competition fiercely fought, and if he intervenes, it won’t be straightforward to win, as the opponent would naturally be an equally strong expert.

Therefore, Zhang Xiaoman initially didn’t want to agree.

Faced with such a high level of uncertainty, he preferred the other party to offer a price, regardless of the Star Coin amount, as his Star Dust reserves should be enough to manage. At least such clear terms would allow him to prepare fully and not be abruptly dragged as cannon fodder.

However, after careful consideration, Zhang Xiaoman chose to agree to the other party’s request.

No choice, it is just too hard to find a Master who can imprint the Fourth Star Pattern. Though Pique from the Star Alliance could imprint the Third Star Pattern, the gap between the Three-star pattern and the Four-star pattern is indeed immense. Pique has stated he doesn’t know if he can reach that level in his lifetime, so Zhang Xiaoman can’t rely on him.

To quickly enhance his strength, he could only agree to the request.

Yet, Zhang Xiaoman is not without a backup plan.

Although, as the Star Pattern Master stated, signing such a contract mediated with an Extraordinary Level’s ancient essence blood would be highly binding, and if Zhang Xiaoman doesn’t fulfill the contract’s demands, he will be cursed terribly by the Extraordinary Level practitioner, suffering a worse-than-death condition.

Certainly, the contract’s efficacy is reciprocal, and the Star Pattern Master must abide by the agreement and successfully imprint the Fourth Star Pattern for Zhang Xiaoman.

However, what the Star Pattern Master never expected was that this alleged contract actually has almost zero binding on Zhang Xiaoman.

Although the curse from the Extraordinary Level practitioner is extremely terrifying, Zhang Xiaoman, possessing the Dark Star Ring, can be immune to any form of curse attack.

This means if Zhang Xiaoman completes the Fourth Star Pattern imprinting and directly ignores the opponent’s request, he will suffer no loss, as this contract cannot bind him at all.

Of course, then he would inevitably make an enemy of a powerful lord within the Dark Star Alliance.

With Zhang Xiaoman’s disposition, he is unwilling to go back on his word, so he won’t evade battle, but the premise is it won’t be a real cannon fodder suicidal fight.

If he is at a disadvantage, and even an all-out effort won’t defeat the opponent, thus risking his life, he won’t be blamed for withdrawing; after all, preserving his life is paramount.

Thus, Zhang Xiaoman successfully reached an agreement with the Star Pattern Master and simultaneously connected with a Star Spirit Council councilor, becoming an honorary elder within the other party’s faction.

With Zhang Xiaoman’s current strength, even if not yet at the Upper Control Level, he is among the top in the opposite faction, so the position of honorary elder fits well.

"Extreme Star Elder, the honored councilor and Master Lan Yue have arrived."

A steward respectfully bowed to Zhang Xiaoman.

He is the steward of this Cultivation Planet, also a Dark Spirit within the Lan Family faction, possessing Middle-level Enlightenment power similar to most Star Alliance members, yet here only serving as a steward equivalent to a Tianyuan Sect Cultivation Room guard disciple.

Zhang Xiaoman nodded to the steward and then looked towards the sky, where a dazzling starlike brilliance was swiftly approaching from the cosmos, soon descending upon this planet.

"The application of Dark Speed, afraid it has reached the Fifth Stage..."

Watching the exaggerated speed of the approaching form, Zhang Xiaoman couldn’t help but marvel. At a glance, it was still in the horizon, deep within the cosmos, far from him, but in an instant, it appeared before him. Such speed was at least above Dark Speed Fifth Stage, those councilors truly were formidable, solely this application of Dark Speed isn’t something Zhang Xiaoman could rival.

As the radiance dissipated, a man and a woman floating appeared before Zhang Xiaoman.

"Extreme Star, how are you cultivating in our Lan Family Holy Land, any breakthrough?"

The slightly ahead man beamed.

He wore a deep blue robe, adorned with swirling spiritual power, flickering with golden light, clearly no ordinary garment.

The man’s face resembled a majestic jade, eyes like a starry sky, with every move radiating waves of strong Dark Spiritual Power, creating an unfathomable impression.

Beside the man, a woman in grey robes followed closely. Although not possessing the man’s formidable strength, her status and position were equally prominent, evidenced by her accompanying him, showing she achieved some cultivation success, otherwise unable to withstand the pressure of high-speed movement under Dark Speed.

Zhang Xiaoman knew the two before him were the most powerful figures in this faction, the Lan Family Head, current councilor Lan Gu, and the Star Pattern Master capable of imprinting the Fourth Star Pattern, Lan Yue.