Chen Xia gained a preliminary understanding of the mana option.
It should be able to increase his comprehension of the universe and allow him to quickly master the Great Dao and divine abilities.
Simply put, it opened up his wisdom.
After adding some mana, Chen Xia saw a divine ability in the art of physiognomy, which represented the opening of wisdom and instant comprehension.
As his mana points increased, Chen Xia's comprehension of divine abilities would become faster. Abilities that normally took centuries for cultivators to learn, Chen Xia could grasp with a glance.
This was aptitude.
Between heaven and earth there were also such physiques, like the Great Emperor in the previous era, who had the inborn sage physique. He could instantly comprehend emperor and immortal techniques and abilities to form his own Great Dao, walking the emperor's path and achieving the emperor's throne.
Chen Xia was using the method of adding points to forcibly create an inborn sage physique for himself. As his points increased in the future, he would certainly surpass this so-called inborn sage physique, and even instantly comprehend emperor and immortal techniques.
But to reach this level, he estimated that he would need to add tens of thousands of points.
Chen Xia twisted his neck and imprinted this physiognomy technique in his mind, slowly trying to use his vital essence to cultivate an avatar that could carry 70% of his own strength.
He just didn't know how this strength was calculated. Normally, a common avatar could only carry 40% of the cultivator's own strength, and no other special abilities could be brought out.
Only cultivators who specialized in this art could allow their avatar to wield rare abilities.
For example, the 3 million flying swords in Chen Xia's body. According to 40% of his strength, that would be 1.2 million flying swords.
But to reach this level, one would at least need to be at the quasi-Saint level, and specialize in cultivating the avatar art.
The deepest, most powerful cultivator of the avatar art in history was also a famous Great Emperor, known as the Great Emperor of No Self.
The path he took to become a Great Emperor aligned with his name, emphasizing the two words "no self".
The Great Emperor of No Self relied on his innate talent to reach the pinnacle of Great Sage, but he could never obtain the title of emperor, not even quasi-emperor.
So he took an alternative path. When the second great era arrived, he split himself into 300,000 avatars, scattering throughout the myriad worlds, each cultivating on their own.
In the end, only 7 of the 300,000 avatars survived, but all 7 were Great Sages.
The 7 Great Sages eventually fused back together and achieved the emperor's throne, ascending above the myriad worlds.
Even Chen Xia, who was watching this historical record in the Heavenly Pavilion, couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
"It's like summoning the Great Emperor by gathering the 7 Dragon Balls."
It was truly abstract.
But this exemplified taking the avatar path to achieve the Dao, the strongest emperor in history in terms of researching the avatar art.
Just like the previous Great Emperor who took the tea ceremony to achieve the Dao, as long as you can stand unparalleled at the pinnacle of your own Great Dao, you have the chance to become a Great Emperor.
This chance wasn't very high, around 10%.
It depended on which path you took to become number one. Some paths had been worn out since ancient times, like the sword path and alchemy path.
But if you could become number one on the sword path with extraordinary insights that surpassed past precedents, then you would have a great chance of becoming a Great Emperor. The reason was simple - being number one on a popular path meant you were strong enough.
The ceaseless competition would produce cultivators stronger than those from leisurely minor paths.
As for the tea ceremony and avatar arts, they could be considered minor paths, with few people in history reaching the pinnacle.
Even more minor were the path of sleep, the path of dreams, etc. Each only had one Great Emperor, with no one else able to walk those paths.
Between heaven and earth there were many Great Daos, and everyone had the chance to walk their own path. But walking it was one thing, reaching the pinnacle was another.
If Chen Xia wanted to forge his own path and Great Dao, he had many options.
One was the path of endurance, another the path of laziness - unique minor paths belonging to him.
He also had popular paths, like the Great Way of Time he was constantly comprehending, and the nascent alchemy path. And there were the 3 million flying swords in his body, which could be considered a sword path too.
Other cultivators had trouble comprehending even one Great Dao, with only the greatest geniuses able to comprehend three or four.
Chen Xia was slightly more outstanding than these top geniuses, accidentally walking more paths than he should have.
But there was no helping it, he was probably the only such anomaly in the myriad worlds.
Chen Xia held up his ever-present teacup and gently swirled it, peering at his reflection in the tea.
Not bad, very handsome.
But that wasn't important.
After observing the tree and observing people, Chen Xia's comprehension of time had probably reached the level of entering the hall. He couldn't say it was very powerful, but below the Heaven Mending Realm, none could surpass him in comprehending the Great Dao of time.
If he brought out the Reincarnation Extremity, 3 million flying swords, and Great Dao of time together, cultivators below the 5th layer of the Sea Inversing Realm probably wouldn't be a match for him.
But he wasn't just facing cultivators at the 5th layer of the Sea Inversing Realm, the greatest threat was still the quasi-Saint level Old Fisherman.
Although Chen Xia diligently maintained the good habit of beheading the Old Fisherman's lifespan every 5 years, truly wearing down the Old Fisherman to death probably wouldn't be simple. Plus the Old Fisherman could still forcibly self destruct before dying and take Chen Xia with him.
He couldn't really expect to wear down the Old Fisherman to death through endurance.
He now had two choices - run, and run faster.
As for escape routes and plans, he already had ideas the moment he saw the avatar art of physiognomy.
If the avatar really could possess 70% of his own strength and wield all his abilities, who could distinguish it as just an avatar?
The youthful version of Chen Xia was more than just a joke.
His vital essence was like a boundless ocean, rolling endlessly. The sea water disappeared but was quickly replenished, inexhaustible no matter how much was used.
In the cave abode, without disturbing anyone, a brand new Chen Xia stood in place, stretching his limbs and flexing his joints.
With a wave of his hand, streaks of flying swords shot out, identical in every way.
Behind this Chen Xia was another Chen Xia sitting there with drooping head and muddled consciousness.
His divine sense could freely traverse these two bodies. When controlling one body, the other would fall into a state of mindless cultivation.
Chen Xia looked at his main body, then at his current body, a sudden idea coming to him.
Could this body, using the cultivation method, split out another avatar with 40% strength?
Once this idea emerged, he couldn't stop thinking about it and immediately tried it out.
A moment later, a youthful-upon-youthful version of Chen Xia appeared.