Invitation ### In fact, methods of honing the mind like this were easy to find in many places, and most of them were much the same. The most common name for them was "asceticism."
Ascetics could be found in the East and the West, in ancient times and in the modern era. The practice had never been lost or disappeared.
A person's Spiritual Power was like countless fine threads, spreading and swaying wherever they pleased, running wild and giving rise to all kinds of distracting thoughts. Only by gathering all those threads together, like clenching a fist with the strength of all ten fingers, could one naturally obtain relatively pure Spiritual Power.
There was a Chinese saying: "Use the sword of wisdom to sever the threads of passion." Just as distracting thoughts were cut away from Spiritual Power, what remained was Spiritual Power that could work in unison. That was true wisdom.
But castrating oneself to show resolve was not advisable. One's body, hair, and skin were gifts from one's parents, and should not be harmed. If one's will was weak, cutting off the root of one's troubles would be no help at all.
"Emmm..."
The white teenager tried hard to concentrate, but the five-pointed star on the back of his hand remained dim, just as before. It still showed no reaction whatsoever.
He nearly strained himself to the point of shitting, but the five-pointed star didn't budge.
"This is way too hard!"
The black girl Amanda tried again, but failed once more.
Despite her IQ of 218 and her ability to breeze through exams and rack up points, none of that helped much when it came to gathering enough Spiritual Power to activate the five-pointed star.
"It's not that easy. Go back and practice some more. It'll take at