Outside this black hole, Zong Shou remained in a state of suspended animation for about five days. Only when his magic power could no longer sustain him did he gradually awaken from his deep meditation.

The attractive force of that black hole increased almost every moment. Even from a distance of a hundred million li, Zong Shou was constantly in mortal peril.

One careless moment, losing control of his body, and being drawn into the vortex of devouring power here would make escape almost impossible.

Even during these five days, he meticulously contemplated for half a day, then retreated to a safe distance, using the remaining half-day to recover his strength.

The various force fields here, the laws, the power of space and time—everything shifted incessantly.

While he sought to comprehend the ultimate Way of Heaven and Earth, he also had to remain vigilant every second, forcefully suppressing the surroundings and balancing all opposing forces.

Yet, Zong Shou disregarded everything else, intent only on getting as close as possible to that immense void.

Spiritual consciousness simply could not spread here. The moment it extended even slightly, it would be snatched away by the devouring force, lost forever.

The only recourse was to observe it from extremely close range, using his eyes and his mind's eye for visualization.

And within these five days, he witnessed firsthand several stars, each billions of li across—identical to the Great Suns of the Cloud Realm—being permanently swallowed by this black hole, vanishing without a trace.

"Is this the might of a black hole? It is certainly not destruction, but the ultimate end, the finish of everything—"

Zong Shou’s eyes glittered, and he looked out toward the horizon a hundred million li away.

It might be coincidence, but not long before this, he had seen the process of an entirely new black hole forming countless distances away.

Across three or five vast stellar systems, a dim star collapsed and contracted, finally producing a tiny black speck, which then began to devour everything.

In reality, Zong Shou should not have been able to see this process. It was only because the formation of that black hole produced an infinitesimally small fluctuation in power that he ultimately detected it.

Zong Shou knew, however, that what he sensed now was actually a scene from hundreds of billions of years ago.

This new black hole was truly too distant. Even light would require countless eons to traverse the space to reach this location.

"All things decay, and when decay reaches its final limit, this is the result. In other worlds, an entire realm would have already been destroyed. Only here, because this universe is so impossibly vast and still expanding, it is relatively safe."

Thinking this, Zong Shou’s brow knitted slightly.

In truth, this place was still far from being the true end of the world. Only the peculiar environmental conditions here caused this extraordinary sight to manifest, embodying the laws of the apocalypse and merging with other principles.

It had essentially become a distinct Great Dao Law unto itself.

However, Zong Shou's current situation was somewhat different.

In his previous life, at most, he had only seen fragmented texts concerning the Black and White Voids, along with some surface-level imagery.

Much of it had to be filled in by his own imagination. When he visualized and coalesced the Black and White Dharma Forms, he had relied entirely on himself, adding and mending bits and pieces to complete them.

Later, he was fortunate enough to witness the scenery of the Primal Beginning, and based on the quasi-authentic Great Dao True Methods he had comprehended himself, he had presumptuously refined them further.

He was completely unaware that he had actually set foot upon a divergent path.

Looking at it now, the black vortex in his spiritual consciousness differed in many aspects from the massive void before him.

"Compared to this real black hole, my Dharma Form of Zong Shou is actually closer to the concept of ultimate termination. Boundless Beginning and End Buddha? It seems those several Buddha Venerables of the Buddhist Sect saw things more clearly than I did—"

Zong Shou pondered quietly, then broke into a silent laugh, shaking his head dismissively.

No matter how one looked at it, grasping the end and the beginning of the universe was far superior to dealing with the simple Black and White Voids alone.

Was this perhaps a blessing in disguise?

By stumbling upon this, he had unexpectedly broken free from that restriction.

With this realization, gathering his true form again in the near future would be significantly easier.

"They say that all substance and all energy in this world remain eternally unchanged. But where do these devoured objects go? They cannot simply return to the point of origin, otherwise this world would have long since perished—"

Zong Shou’s gaze swept around, then fixed upon a certain spot in the void. It was where numerous stars converged, the densest and most brilliant region of this galaxy cluster.

With that location as its core, this cluster, comprised of trillions upon trillions of stars, was expanding slowly.

It grew by a hundred million li every day, yet in this vast void, this growth was completely imperceptible.

"What a pity! Five days was far too short, insufficient by a long margin. If I had known, I should have thrown Lu Wushuang even farther behind. I wonder where that fellow has chased to now."

With a dry chuckle, Zong Shou used a portion of his Wish Power to slightly suppress the restlessness in his bloodline. Then, losing all further interest in this place, he continued his flight through the void.

Although seemingly separated by countless distances, calculated in trillions, flying even at the speed of light would require millions of years.

Zong Shou’s temporary mount, however, directly warped space, folding the distant fabric, and leaping forward step by step.

It still took only half a day to arrive in the heart of this sea of stars.

This area was filled with various halos and countless dense nebulae.

Zong Shou’s focus centered slightly to the right of the galactic core.

From the outside, this white hole appeared similar to those 'suns' radiating intense light and heat, showing nothing remarkable.

Only a cultivator like him, through observing the changes in the surrounding force fields and laws, could discern the difference.

Like the black hole, it influenced everything around it.

But it was even harder to approach. Zong Shou only managed to draw within two hundred and fifty million li before feeling as if his entire body was on the verge of combustion.

The Azure Flame Mystic Turtle beneath his feet was also sweating profusely. Layers of mystic ice formed all over its body, only to instantly melt away.

Compared to the pure and immense flame power here, both the True Solar Fire and his own Flame of Burning the Void were too minuscule, too impure.

Like a firefly compared to the brilliant moon—no, less than even a firefly—it should be called a speck of dust!

"Strange!"

After staying for only a moment, Zong Shou felt a slight, subtle movement within his body.

It was as if something was growing.

But when Zong Shou concentrated his divine sense to search carefully, he sensed nothing. Everything appeared as normal, without any anomaly.

After searching fruitlessly for a long time, Zong Shou could only shake his head and dismiss it.

Under any other circumstances, Zong Shou would cautiously withdraw to investigate thoroughly.

But at this moment, he absolutely refused to waste even a fraction of time.

However, he dared not approach any closer. The black hole was inward-bound, its power deep within its core.

The white hole, conversely, projected outward, incredibly violent, spewing out immeasurable energy, light, and matter.

This bore a four-tenths similarity to the vision of the Primal Beginning that Zong Shou had witnessed previously.

"Perhaps only in this world can such a scene of initial existence and final termination coexist—"

Musing to himself, Zong Shou dared not delay further. First, he brought forth several Dragon Tooth Swords and positioned them before him. (To be continued)RQ