Just like that, another two years flew by, and Zhang Xiaoman had already been in this forbidden land for more than three years. During the past two years, he had been completely focused on imprinting the star pattern, barely noticing how quickly time had passed.

Outside the forbidden land, the void was peaceful, and even the glow emitted by countless runes within was concealed. Without sufficient power, one would not see anything unusual here.

However, beneath this tranquility, tens of thousands of warships were concealed by a stealth formation, ambushed all around. They were the armed forces of the Lan Family, guarding Zhang Xiaoman during his star pattern imprinting. These were top dark spirit technology warships within the Dark Spirit Star Domain, and should anyone invade, they would unleash the most furious strikes on those unwelcome.

"How’s it going, Lan Yue? Can you tell what stage he’s at?"

Outside the forbidden land, a man and a woman stood in the void, gazing towards the forbidden land and discussing something.

"Logically speaking, he should have almost finished by now, but this Ji Xing’s potential is astonishing. He has fused the power of the entire forbidden land. Now even I can’t discern the progress inside..."

Lan Yue frowned as she observed the situation inside.

Recently, she had been residing on a space battleship outside the forbidden land, constantly monitoring the developments inside.

Initially, everything was as expected, and Zhang Xiaoman’s imprinting process was very smooth.

But later on, she found that things were gradually moving in a direction that exceeded her control.

Normally, when imprinting the fourth star pattern, ordinary people can complete the refinement process with the infusion from the heavenly materials and earthly treasures and the aid of the Concentration Star Array. They would use the energy within the materials and absorb the spiritual power drawn by the surrounding formations.

However, the commotion caused by this Ji Xing was quite significant. The entire Lan Family forbidden land seemed to be occupied by him. The energy accumulated over hundreds of thousands of years within the forbidden land was being continuously extracted, making the entire forbidden land appear on the brink of collapse.

"Is he... draining the forbidden land completely...?"

Lan Gu released his perception to check, then showed an incredulous expression on his face.

Having cultivated until today, it was the first time he heard of such a situation.

Although this forbidden land of the Lan Family wasn’t the largest within the entire clan, it definitely ranked within the top three. It once housed an extraordinary-level ancestor, who eventually perished due to reaching the limit of their lifespan, leading to the neglect of the forbidden land. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Even so, the energy contained within this forbidden land was vast enough, and even if he exerted all his strength, he could not absorb it all without bursting from the energy.

But unexpectedly, during the imprinting of the fourth star pattern, this Ji Xing absorbed all this power. If not witnessed firsthand, Lan Gu would never believe someone at the fake upper control level could achieve this.

"How did he manage that? Could it be that this kid is stronger than me? Impossible. I’m already at the peak of the upper control level. If he’s stronger than me, wouldn’t he have directly broken through to the transcendent level?"

Lan Gu shook his head, dismissing the unrealistic speculation in his mind.

Breaking directly from the middle control level to the transcendent level is regarded as a joke no matter where you bring it up.

Reaching the transcendent level isn’t just about increasing the upper limit of dark spiritual power. Being able to communicate with the corresponding upper Dark Spirit Series is paramount.

The dark spirit sequence that Enlightenment and Control level Dark Spirits can communicate with is only the Middle Sequence, while communicating with the dark spirit particles of the Upper Sequence requires reaching the transcendent level.

In other words, being called a transcendent level is precisely because they can communicate with the upper Dark Spirit Series, which is indeed the domain of the divine.

Every upper Dark Spirit Series has its powerful characteristics, and the skills constructed using them can bestow them with unique attributes. This is a power akin to a law and is also the biggest reliance that transcendent levels have over control levels.

It’s rumored that, unlike lower and middle Dark Spirit Series, the communication qualification of upper Dark Spirit Series particles is not unlimited; there’s a numerical restriction within this universe.

For instance, if the communication limit of the 36th sequence is 1,000 people, then when this universe contains the corresponding number of transcendent levels, as long as none fall, no new transcendent powerhouses can be born, which is why transcendent levels are sometimes considered divine beings, for the number of "divine" is limited.

As for the exact number of transcendent levels, Lan Gu doesn’t know, for no one in this universe has the capability to tally the number of transcendent powerhouses, and probably not even that being could do so.

However, Lan Gu did hear a rumor that the number of upper Dark Spirit Series before the top ten is reduced to single digits, with only nine capable of communication starting from the ninth sequence and only one can communicate with the first sequence.

This means, if someone in this universe truly communicated with the first sequence, he would be the real Lord of this universe, and unless he falls, others can only look up at the unattainable throne.

Of course, such sayings are merely rumors spread among the interstellar folks, whose origins are long untraceable. Though they seem reasonable, they ultimately lack the opportunity for practical verification.

Yet, many rumors suggest that a certain existence of the Demon Clan opened the first sequence in this universe; otherwise, how could they possibly dominate the world?

With such fascinating topics about the transcendent level, Lan Gu’s thoughts gradually drifted away, lost in contemplation.

However, his reverie was soon interrupted by a loud rumble from the direction of the forbidden land.

It was a shockwave formed by pure dark spiritual power, an immense sensation even in the vacuum of space that dark spirits could "hear".

"What happened at the forbidden land!?"

Lan Gu and Lan Yue immediately fixed their gaze over there, projecting their divine sense to check. Unfortunately, due to the epic and chaotic spiritual power fluctuations, they couldn’t discern any useful information.

The surrounding dark spirits in the space battleships also showed astonished expressions, staring at the direction of the forbidden land in disbelief.

Even non-dark spirits, the other guards could sense the commotion over there with their dark spirit artifacts, all focusing on the happenings of the forbidden land.

"Boom...!"

Another series of loud noises followed as a hidden forbidden land suddenly revealed itself to their shock, with countless formation runes dancing in the sky. The space in the direction of the forbidden land appeared torn with terrifyingly long fissures reaching tens of thousands of kilometers, forming a black hole that seemed capable of swallowing everything.

"Careful! Everyone withdraw a hundred leagues outward and maintain a safe distance!"

At Lan Gu’s command, the fleet surrounding the Lan Family forbidden land instantly engaged their jump engines, rapidly vacating a large nearby area.

"Is he coming out... Haha, this kid surely gave us a big surprise; I really want to see what realm he has broken into, to stir up such a commotion..."

Lan Gu couldn’t help but lick his lips, a rare look of anticipation crossing his otherwise eternally calm face.