Chapter 365: The Edge of the Universe - 365
It took nearly 100,000 years of Zhou Fan flying at his fastest speed before he finally began to sense something.
When he looked ahead, he saw a continuing expanse of endless space, but his divine sense, which he had fully extended, had acted as if it had hit a wall.
As he got closer and closer, his divine sense still did not go any further. Eventually, he was just a foot away from where his divine sense had stopped.
In front of him was an endless expanse of space, but when Zhou Fan put his hand out, it was stopped by what seemed to be a wall.
"This is simply some sort of advanced wallpaper." Zhou Fan said to himself.
The cosmic sect had designed itself with similar wallpaper, but Zhou Fan could see through that in an instant.
This wallpaper, however, was not removable, and if Zhou Fan hadn't touched the wall, then he never would have suspected it was a wallpaper.
"This is the end of the universe." Zhou Fan said softly.
He wasn't sure how to feel. He had finally reached the end of everything, but he now felt like he was trapped in a cage.
He had no proof, but instinctually, he felt that there was nothing beyond the universe. This was the end of all things.
It was a hard concept to think about. Nothing was a concept that even Zhou Fan could not truly comprehend.
There was no empty space, but nothing. In fact, there was not even nothing.
One could not go beyond the universe, because there was nothing beyond it.
He felt like, behind the wall that was the edge of the universe, there should be something, even if that something was nothing.
But there was nothing, not even nothing. Perhaps English simply needed a few new words to describe it.
Zhou Fan pushed his hand out and light Qi dispersed along the wall. He had not put any strength into it, he just wanted to be able to estimate the size of the universe by the curvature.
The light Qi only stopped moving when it went farther away than a supercluster in size. Despite seeing nearly nothing, Zhou Fan was able to tell a lot from it.
The universe was a sphere. It was huge, but not huge to the point where there was no hope in exploring it all. Zhou Fan made a mental map and divided the universe into 8 universal sectors.
Within them were filaments, within filaments were superclusters or large areas, within them were galaxy clusters or other objects, within galaxy clusters were galaxies, and within them were planets and stars.
The only mysteries were what was within the universal sectors, but the universal sectors themselves had already been mapped out.
Zhou Fan put his hand back on the wall and used some strength. He could see the wall visibly crack, but it was soon repaired.
The wall was another form of space, and he had cracked the final layer of space.
He could understand that what was behind the final layer of space was nothingness, or blankness. It really did not matter what one called it, but it marked the end of all things.
Zhou Fan hoped to be able to increase his power to the point where he could go beyond the edge of the universe, even if nothing existed beyond it. That simply meant that he would have to create something.
However, that was far, far beyond him in every way imaginable. Even the almighty cosmic dao could not compare to the nothingness.
Zhou Fan turned around and began to fly away from the edge of space. There was nothing more to see, and the feeling within him was gone.
He would usually have the urge to explore what still remained unexplored, but knowing the size of the universe had ended that urge.
He would eventually see it, there would be nothing new added.
As Zhou Fan flew back to the Zhou supercluster, he was feeling a bit down. He wanted to do nothing more than lock himself in a room and cultivate.
For the first time in forever, he was actually feeling a bit of sadness.
Luckily, it was only temporary, and by the time he reached the Zhou supercluster again, he was as good as new.
"If I can't go beyond the edge of the universe now, then I will when I get stronger. After all, it is only a matter of time, and nothing could possibly stop me." Zhou Fan said, his vigor renewed.
Zhou Fan did not go back to the cosmic sect, but sat down above one of the branches that made up the new and improved tree-like galaxy.
He needed to think of his future goals, since exploring was now crossed out.
First, he could focus his efforts on empowering civilization and continuing to upgrade cultivation 1.1.
If he chose to prioritize that, he would need to go into seclusion and increase his realm a bit. Otherwise, he would be very limited.
He could also choose to prioritize pure cultivation. That would mean cultivating until he broke through many realms.
He wanted to get used to every realm as he felt like he was simply ignoring the strength that came with it, but there was no place in the universe that he could safely use his full strength.
Sometimes, he wished he was more like the greatest attractor. It resonated with the universe, so the space around it would only break if it were to attack or something similar.
Otherwise, it could float in space while radiating immense power, and not even the first layer of space would break. It would not even tremble.
Zhou Fan could also choose to go down into the mortal world and experience it. He could choose to "reincarnate", though not actually, and experience life from the perspective of a modern cultivator.
Zhou Fan sat in space and thought of the endless possibilities.
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One year of writing and 365 chapters have passed. I look forward to another. I appreciate everyone who has read this far.
For anyone interested, I will put a very rough sketch of the universe in the chapter comments.
Chapter 366: Practicing the Arts - 366
After thinking for a long time, Zhou Fan decided to first upgrade his mastery over the arts.
All of them were still at the 10th rank, and his cultivation was now at the 12th rank. Not only did he feel the need to increase his mastery over the arts simply for the sake of increasing his mastery, but it would also help him with any future projects.
He had still not forgotten about his idea of creating a universal consciousness. It had seemed very far-fetched before, but now that he was aware of the full size of the universe, it was only a matter of time.
Zhou Fan went to the cosmic sect and picked up Hei Ren without meeting anyone, before settling above the Zhou supercluster.
Hei Ren did not ask any questions and cultivated within the bubble that Zhou Fan had made for him.
Since he was already in the outer world realm, reaching the true god realm in formations was a very easy task.
Once he focused on outer world realm formations, however, the required time extended by a large amount.
He spent a full billion years mastering 12th rank formations.
A similar amount of time was spent mastering 12th rank arrays. Although there weren't many new arrays with different effects, many previous arrays had upgraded versions. The same was true for formations, and it would be the same for talismans, alchemy, and forging as well.
In total, Zhou Fan spent 5 billion years mastering all 5 of the major arts to the 12th rank.
As expected, all of his ideas just became a lot more feasible.
Next, Zhou Fan needed to reach a new cultivation realm. He felt it was a pity that he would not be able to fully experience the outer world realm, but such was the reality of being the first cultivator. There was simply no being who could possibly match him and no place where he could freely use his power
The first step was to cultivate to the peak of the outer world realm. The only issue with that was the fact that he would likely spend more than 100 billion years cultivating.
That was longer than the lifespan of even a lesser dao creation realm cultivator.
There were many things he wanted to do before going into seclusion for such an extended amount of time.
The first would be to start lowering the importance that he held within the cosmic sect.
As of now, he was the main supplier of all the talents that went there. Ying Xiong could sense the birth of a talent if he was exceptionally close and not too focused on other things, but he would require a lot of luck to find even ten new disciples in 100 billion years.
He could either put a system in place that automatically detected new talents and alerted Ying Xiong, or he could create an alternate system that wasn't so…. forceful.
Upon remembering Ying Xiong's actions and expression when dealing with talents, Zhou Fan decided that it would be better for the entire universe if he simply created an alternate system that would grant those with talent the choice to join the cosmic sect.
Otherwise, Ying Xiong would surely pick the entire Zhou supercluster dry.
Zhou Fan made his way to the cosmic sect with Hei Ren and quickly arrived. His arrival was met with greetings from an entire group of people, including now grown up disciples from Zhou Fan's last delivery.
It took him a while, but Zhou Fan eventually got to talk with Ying Xiong alone.
They sat in one of the few rooms in the entire cosmic sect. In front of them was a table and tea.
"I've decided, for the sake of the universe, to not give you a way to track all the talented people born in the Zhou supercluster." Zhou Fan said to Ying Xiong.
"What! This is ridiculous. You know that I'm good for it!" Ying Xiong said in a pleading tone.
"No means no. You are a scourge that needs to be stopped." Zhou Fan said.
"Then how is my cosmic sect supposed to function? You're basically ending any future lineage." Ying Xiong said.
Zhou Fan shook his head.
"I didn't say I was going to stop you from getting new disciples, and I even plan on continuing to help you. The only difference will be that the talents will have to be willing." Zhou Fan said.
"Alright then." Ying Xiong said begrudgingly. "So what exactly do you have planned?"
"I have a way to automatically detect talents, and upon them reaching the age of ten, a letter will be sent to them. When they open it, a display of power will be shown, and they will have the choice to join the cosmic sect. If they refuse, they will be sent one more letter, this time when they reach the peak of the space shattering realm." Zhou Fan explained.
"So they'll come here by teleportation array?" Ying Xiong asked.
"Indeed." Zhou Fan responded.
"Since you'll be setting up a teleportation array, I have a request." Ying Xiong said.
"Feel free to ask."
"Can you create teleportation arrays to the Zhou Galaxy and the other two galaxy clusters?" Ying Xiong asked.
"You can go there yourself now." Zhou Fan said.
"I know, but it would take me a long time, and I am asking for the sake of the students now and future students. We will even put a plaque of your name and contribution on the teleportation hub." Ying Xiong said.
"The teleportation hub?" Zhou Fan asked with confusion.
"I forgot that I never mentioned that. I plan on creating a hub of teleportation usable by the entire supercluster. It would connect the entire Zhou supercluster." Ying Xiong explained. "We've even just finished the initial construction. Do you want to come see it?"
"Sure." Zhou Fan responded.
Ying Xiong and Zhou Fan left the room, before going to the other side of the galaxy. Even from far away, Zhou Fan was able to see the structure floating in space.
It had a circular platform, with curving pillars and a roof. There were no walls, indicating that it was a place meant for those at the void traversing realm or higher.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
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