# Chapter 2812: Three Years of Calm
After Heavenly Mother left, she never appeared again.
Zhang Ruochen ultimately could not remain patient, worried about the safety of Bore, Xiao Hei, and the others. He planned to leave this black desert.
Absolute physical dao transformation was certainly important, but it wasn't something that absolutely had to be cultivated. Throughout the ages, how many remarkable figures had there been? The Heavenly Venerables of each era, the Seven Buddha Ancestors, the Nine Witch Ancestors... Not a single one had reached that level, yet they could still laugh proudly at the world and remain undefeated in their generation.
Even the Heavenly Dao had flaws, let alone the human dao?
If cultivating absolute physical dao transformation meant losing one's most important friends and loved ones, what meaning would cultivation have? Wouldn't one fall into a lifetime of self-blame?
"Ooooh!"
In the black desert, a great wind arose.
Black sand swept up, transforming into a seven-armed fire demon fox. It stood upright, towering over seventy zhang tall, blocking Zhang Ruochen's path.
The seven-armed fire demon fox exhaled flames, its aura surging like a true god. All seven arms swung simultaneously, each punch more powerful than the last, sending Zhang Ruochen flying backward. His body heavily crashed into a demon god stone pillar.
Zhang Ruochen felt as if all his bones were about to fall apart, the pain excruciating. He slid down from the stone pillar, landing right in front of Gushe Jing.
Gushe Jing sat cross-legged on the ground, her breathing long and steady, eyes not even opening. "Don't disturb my meditation."
Zhang Ruochen stood up. His blood surged like rivers and seas, circulating once through his body, and his injuries healed completely.
He strode forward, his steps growing faster and faster. The source rules of heaven and earth continuously merged into his body, his aura growing stronger. Holding the supreme sacred artifact, the Black Gold War Heaven Pillar, he attacked the seven-armed fire demon fox.
"Bam! Bam!"
...
"Boom!"
Moments later, Zhang Ruochen flew back again, crashing into the stone pillar.
The stone pillar stood like a mountain, completely unmoving.
Zhang Ruochen's body, like a piece of paper, drifted lightly downward, once again falling before Gushe Jing. He was in a sorry state—his hairband broken, his sacred robe tattered, the bones in his legs seemingly broken. He slipped many times trying to stand.
Finally, supporting himself with the Black Gold War Heaven Pillar, he managed to stand up crookedly.
But...
"Pfft!"
He spat out a mouthful of blood.
With a bang, Zhang Ruochen fell to the ground again.
Blood sprayed all over Gushe Jing—on her face, body, and hands, like plum blossoms, spots of blood everywhere.
Gushe Jing was thoroughly enraged, feeling that Zhang Ruochen was deliberately causing trouble. She opened her cold eyes and said, "If you want to die, go somewhere farther away. Don't die in front of me."
She was about to wipe the blood from her face.
"Wait a moment."
Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath. Immediately, the blood he had just spat out transformed into wisps of blood qi, flowing back into his body through his nostrils. His blood contained White Cang Blood Soil, so he naturally didn't want to lose it easily.
"Disgusting."
Gushe Jing showed a look of disgust, stood up, and walked toward another demon god stone pillar.
Zhang Ruochen propped himself up and sat down. After resting for a moment, his injuries quickly healed.
This was the benefit of having refined the White Cang Blood Soil—no matter how severe the physical injuries, they could heal themselves. Of course, the more severe the injury, the more time it took.
Zhang Ruochen didn't rush to try crossing the black desert again.
With his current cultivation level, combined with the strangeness of this place—where demonic power was abundant, covering a vast area of heaven and earth, making it difficult to mobilize many source rules for his own use—leaving was nearly impossible.
Moreover, it made Zhang Ruochen understand one thing: esoterica was indeed just a means; cultivation was the foundation.
Even as a Source Envoy, if one's cultivation wasn't strong enough, once suppressed into the divine realm world of a powerful god, mobilizing source rules would be as difficult as reaching the heavens.
Just like now.
Just like being inside a god venerable's body.
Not only was esoterica like this, but time power and space power were the same—they all required sufficiently strong cultivation as support to overturn heaven and earth.
Thinking of this, Zhang Ruochen took out the sundial.
"If I truly cannot leave, then I can only increase my cultivation as quickly as possible."
Zhang Ruochen came to the side of the celestial well, activated the sundial, and began cultivating.
Martial dao was currently very difficult to improve.
However, beside the Udumbara Flower was an excellent place to cultivate spiritual power. Moreover, Zhang Ruochen still had the Buddha Emperor Relic inside his body.
In the blink of an eye, three years passed under the sundial.
Zhang Ruochen's spiritual power increased tenfold, a hundredfold, reaching the peak of the seventy-first rank.
During these three years, although Zhang Ruochen had shrunk the sundial's coverage area to the minimum, divine stones were still consumed like water. Unlike before, when three years of cultivation only consumed three divine stones.
After becoming a god in spiritual power, the sundial's consumption of divine stones increased more than tenfold.
After three years of cultivation, Zhang Ruochen's anxious, worried, and restless heart had completely calmed down.
If he couldn't leave this place, worrying was meaningless.
He stood up and walked toward the seventy-two demon god stone pillars. He saw that three days had passed, and Gushe Jing was still sitting motionless in the same spot, meditating and cultivating.
"Zhang Ruochen!"
Gushe Jing stood up and shouted coldly.
Zhang Ruochen looked back in confusion.
Gushe Jing seemed to feel that her attitude had been poor earlier, so she softened her tone. "Could you lend me the sundial?"
It was rare for Gushe Jing to be so humble. Zhang Ruochen said, "You want to borrow the sundial to have more time to comprehend the seventy-two demon god stone pillars?"
"Exactly. Would you be willing to lend it to me?" Gushe Jing asked.
Zhang Ruochen sighed. "Actually, I think that when Senior Heavenly Mother asked you to comprehend the seventy-two demon god stone pillars, there probably wasn't any deeper hidden meaning."
"What do you mean?" Gushe Jing asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Think about it. You and I are different. You are the Celestial Pavilion Eye of Luozu Cloud Mountain Realm, its future master. Heavenly Mother definitely genuinely wants to nurture you. She wouldn't play riddles with you, wouldn't test you, and wouldn't deliberately make you guess the meaning behind comprehending the seventy-two demon god stone pillars."
"So?" Gushe Jing asked.
Zhang Ruochen said, "So, Senior Heavenly Mother's purpose is only one: to have you comprehend the cultivation paths of the seventy-two demon gods. And mainly, to comprehend the Heavenly Demon Stone Pillar and those demon god stone pillars inherited from the Great Demon God. This way, you will gather the cultivation methods of the three great demon sources in one body, and your future achievements will be limitless."
After saying this, ignoring Gushe Jing who had fallen into thought, Zhang Ruochen continued walking in the direction Heavenly Mother had taken when she left. He walked to the end of the seventy-two demon god stone pillars, arriving beneath the Heavenly Demon Stone Pillar.
Turning his head, Zhang Ruochen's expression showed surprise, but he quickly calmed down. He bowed respectfully. "Greetings, Senior Heavenly Mother."
Dressed in red robes with white hair, Heavenly Mother was standing beneath the Heavenly Demon Stone Pillar, her back against the stone wall, as if she had been waiting for him for a long time.
Heavenly Mother said, "Aren't you curious why I'm standing here?"
"This junior boldly guesses that three days ago, Senior was already standing here. You have been here all along, waiting for this junior for three days. Unfortunately, this junior is dull-witted and only realized it today." Zhang Ruochen said respectfully.
Heavenly Mother said, "Actually, it was three years, wasn't it?"
Zhang Ruochen felt somewhat embarrassed. "That's correct."
Heavenly Mother said, "Do you know why it took you three years to realize that I had never left and was waiting for you here?"
"Because at that time, this junior's heart was not calm, and I lacked patience. So I never walked to the end of the seventy-two demon god stone pillars, and I never imagined that Senior would test this junior's state of mind in this way." Zhang Ruochen said.
"You only know one aspect, but not the second."
Heavenly Mother's red robes fluttered, stunningly beautiful. Riding the wind, she flew to the top of the Heavenly Demon Stone Pillar.
Zhang Ruochen also rose with the wind, standing atop the stone pillar.
From here, one could see the entire black desert. It was spectacular, yet also desolate—aside from the Udumbara Flower, no signs of life could be seen.
The top of the Heavenly Demon Stone Pillar was very spacious, with mist below like cloud bridges.
Heavenly Mother sat at the edge of the stone pillar, gazing into the distance. Her red robes danced in the wind, bright and beautiful.
Zhang Ruochen stood behind her and couldn't help asking, "Senior has been here for hundreds of thousands of years. Don't you feel lonely at all?"
"When the heart is strong enough, how could one know what loneliness is?"
Heavenly Mother crossed her ten fingers, resting them leisurely between her legs. "The second reason I want to tell you is related to the heart. The Demon Ancestor lineage not only emphasizes body refinement but also heart cultivation. When heart cultivation and body refinement are united as one, that is the strongest physical body."
"Three days ago, your heart was too chaotic and restless. At that time, even if I told you the method to impact absolute physical dao transformation, you wouldn't have been able to achieve it. So I could only wait for you to adjust your state of mind and calm yourself down first."
Zhang Ruochen said, "My heart is already calm enough."
Heavenly Mother said, "Do you know that before meeting you, I didn't believe anyone in the world could achieve absolute physical dao transformation. But your constitution is too special, and you have unprecedentedly cultivated a perfect first-rank sacred intent."
"Actually, with these conditions, you must be able to achieve absolute physical dao transformation."
"Why must I be able to achieve absolute physical dao transformation?" Zhang Ruochen asked in confusion.
Heavenly Mother said, "'Must be able to achieve' means that a normal person must be able to grow ten fingers. A flower must be able to bloom."
"Senior means that with my constitution and sacred intent, being able to cultivate to absolute physical dao transformation is a matter of course?" Zhang Ruochen said.
"This is only for you. It would be difficult to find a second person in the world."
Heavenly Mother looked at Zhang Ruochen and continued, "But it's not absolute either. Some people are born missing fingers, and some flowers wither before they bloom."
"Can Senior give me some guidance? How can this junior achieve absolute physical dao transformation?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
"I've already said it. I don't want to say it a second time."
Suddenly, Heavenly Mother said, "Stay here and cultivate well. Come down only after you've achieved absolute physical dao transformation."
"Swoosh!"
Heavenly Mother, graceful and elegant, flew downward.
Not straight down, but flying toward a certain position in the black desert.
"Already said it?"
Zhang Ruochen showed a puzzled expression. When figures like Heavenly Mother spoke, sometimes one didn't know whether to think shallowly or deeply. If one thought too deeply, they might end up like Gushe Jing—too clever for their own good.
If one thought too shallowly, would their cultivation deviate?
Zhang Ruochen looked down and saw that in the direction Heavenly Mother was flying, three figures were rushing through the black desert at great speed. His face showed joy, and he quickly called out, "Senior, please show mercy. They are my friends."