The Lesser Thousand Aspect Thought-Slaying Blade taught by Bai Yuxia was a method of righteous intent. This "cutting of the hair" did not literally mean cutting one's hair—Shopkeeper Bai was no monk... It drew instead on the meaning of "cutting away Trouble Silk."
Slay stray thoughts, cast off troubles, preserve the original truth.
Since ancient times, exploring the hidden treasures of the human body within the Five Palaces Sea had been a cultivator's retracing of the self. Divine Ability Seeds arose through chance and karmic convergence, each different from the next, and many cultivators went their entire lives without ever encountering one.
In theory, the Inner Palace realm was a solitary journey of inward exploration for cultivators, and Divine Abilities had to be sought for oneself. But cultivation itself was a process of constant exploration and breakthrough.
Over the long history of cultivation, there had inevitably been those who sought to exert influence over this process. Among them were no shortage of stunningly gifted figures, who had left behind, more or less, certain breakthroughs.
For example, Divine Abilities such as the Son of Heaven Sword and Wolf Totem, which required the destruction of a Divine Ability Seed to achieve; or Divine Abilities such as Chongxuan, Battle Golden Body, and Southern Bright Separation Fire, which could to a certain extent be passed down through bloodlines...
There were even killing arts that could only be cultivated by using Divine Ability Seeds as firewood, such as Divine Extinction.
Both Bai Yuxia and Lian Yuchan came from families with deep scholarly traditions, so naturally they knew how to help Chu Yao establish a direction for his exploration as much as possible, and, within the limits of circumstance, obtain a perfect Divine Ability—exploration in the direction of Divine Abilities had no guarantee of success, but