You might remember the meaning of the character 煞 with this easy mnemonic:
I brought my car to a sudden stop when I saw magnets (⺈) attached to the snouts (彐) of these little pigs. I slashed (丿) the magnets open and kindled (灬) a fire to keep them warm.
Using mnemonics to remember the meaning of Chinese characters like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.