Zhang Yu also picked up his teacup, raised it in salute to Tao Dingfu, and drank.
Subduing the restless fire was a cultivation hurdle belonging to true cultivators, a sign that only appeared when certain cultivators with distinctive practices had cultivated to a particular realm.
Once it was overcome, one could attempt to condense the Primordial Spirit.
Yet this path was not easy to tread.
For once this hurdle opened, the restless fire surged forth. It could not be forcibly suppressed with cultivation or dharma power, but had to be subdued with one's heart.
One might read scriptures, hone one's skills, or enter seclusion to regulate one's breath. There was no fixed rule. Only the cultivator himself could seek out a suitable method. Sometimes, a single moment of enlightenment saw it pass; at other times, one carelessly fell into a barrier of the heart and could not pull free. Moreover, the restless fire came in repeated outbreaks, so it had to be subdued again and again.
The more times it was subdued, the greater the benefits in the future. It could be said that if one achieved the Nine Turns, not only would forming the Primordial Spirit be no difficult matter, but one's future path would be boundless.
Yet if one wished to complete the practice in full, the greatest obstacle was that this method consumed a great deal of time.
For instance, the first subduing of the restless fire might take only several years at the outset. But by the second time, because one's cultivation had accumulated deeply and one's temperament had also been tempered, the time required would very likely multiply. To complete the Nine Turns would take at least two thousand years.
The problem was that ordinary cultivators at the Primordial Spirit Shadow Reflection realm might not