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.
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