Cultivation required, first, diligent and arduous practice, and second, the convergence of causes and conditions. Enlightenment gained through a particular opportunity could break the shackles of cultivation and bring one to an entirely new realm.
Qu Zan sat in meditation, abiding in the Third Abode Stage of the Patience Practice.
He visualized his central channel as a hollow glass tube, with Tummo slowly rising from his Navel Chakra.
In the past, whenever his Tummo reached his throat, it struck that hard channel knot. The warm fire scattered into the surrounding fine channels, losing most of its strength and barely illuminating fifty or sixty percent of his Throat Chakra.
This time, his mind neither grasped nor rejected. He neither yearned for perfection nor feared obstruction, his patience as steadfast as a boulder.
The first layer of the channel knot loosened.
Countless tiny branching channels unfurled with it. A tingling first rose in his throat, then turned into a gentle warmth.
The turbid energy accumulated in the channels along his neck, clogged for years, dispersed outward through the fine channels.
A faint bloody taste rose in Qu Zan's throat, then vanished moments later.
He spat out a mouthful of foul, pus-tainted phlegm laden with impurities.
When he breathed, he felt cool and refreshed.
Now his Tummo no longer leaked outward, and most of the warm fire remained in his Throat Chakra.
A faint nectar began to form in his throat, and his saliva became clear.
He tried silently reciting the vajra mantra. The internal vibrations of its syllables were far steadier than before.
But one final clasp remained in the channel knot. Whenever his Tummo fluctuated, it would still tighten again.
Rather than hastily driving his Tummo into a headlong charge, he relied on the concentration of patience and continued abiding in