Chapter 691: Spiritual Body Realm
After True Lord Taiyin was recruited by the Daoist Order, she ascended from the mortal world. If not for this, Zhang Wuhen would not have obtained the legacy that True Lord Taiyin left behind.
Though Qi Xuansu uttered the incantation of summoning True Lord Taiyin, he was not invoking divine power from her divine kingdom. He was using his own divine power.
When the moonlight faded, Qi Xuansu had already changed in appearance. He remained the size of an ordinary person and resembled the Spiritual Statue of True Lord Taiyin that he had manifested before—a star crown, flowing robes, and ribbons coiled around the arms. However, Qi Xuansu’s face was blurred, shrouded in a misty veil. It bore a resemblance to when Madam Qi had assumed her identity as Mogul Yao.
This was Qi Xuansu’s first time entering the Spiritual Body Realm. Compared to the Cicada Shedding Realm of a Rogue Cultivator, the Shaman’s Spiritual Body Realm was astonishingly powerful, even stronger than the Martial Arts Practitioner’s Divinity Realm. It was close to the Five Elements Origin Realm of Banished Immortals.
The Cicada Shedding Realm was also known as a minor rebirth, mainly compensating for a Rogue Cultivator’s innate deficiencies. It lacked any unique mystical abilities and thus ranked lowest among the Six Lineages.
By contrast, the Shaman’s Spiritual Body Realm allowed one to temporarily transform into another form and gain numerous divine abilities tied to that form. It did not significantly enhance innate talent but could dramatically boost short-term combat power. The specific form and powers depended on the Spiritual Statue one conjured.
In the Daoist Order, the Primordial Daoist Ancestor had no Spiritual Statue. The highest form was the Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Statue. However, the Daoist Order was not fond of cultivating Shamans, preferring to devote incense power to the more cost-effective Spirit Guards. As such, the Heavenly Emperor Spiritual Statue had not been seen for many years. On rare occasions, a few Shamans managed to manifest it.
Outside the Daoist Order, the Amitabha Spiritual Statue of the Buddhist Sect held supreme.
Among the myriad of deities and buddhas, the Heavenly Emperor and Amitabha Spiritual Statues were first-tier, while there were only four second-tier Spiritual Statues.
The Green Emperor and True Lord Siming governed life and death; one ruled the Southern Dipper, while the other ruled the Northern Dipper. They were the last two remaining Star Lords. However, the Green Emperor cultivated the mind and ultimately merged with Heaven and Earth, losing the self entirely. True Lord Siming seized the chance to usurp the governance of life, proclaiming himself the master of both life and death.
The Vairocana and True Lord Taiyin symbolized the sun and the moon, respectively. One ruled the sun, the other the moon. The original True Lord Taiyang was defeated by Vairocana and had gone through the third death, completely forgotten and replaced. Although True Lord Taiyin had ascended from the mortal realm, her divine kingdom, the Palace of Cold Light, remained and still held dominion over lunar power. It would continue to exist until the end of the era. Zhang Wuhen’s Taiyin legacy came from this source. Her goal upon returning was also to take over the Palace of Cold Light and seize the residual authority left behind.