Chapter 972: The Zhang–Li Struggle
The divine golden body and the physical true body were two entirely different things. The divine golden body was formed of divine power. This power carried divine might, which was an aura of overwhelming spiritual pressure. It also possessed the miraculous ability to create, manifesting divine power into tangible things like turning stone to gold, giving life to painted dragons, transforming beans into soldiers, and so on. In this regard, divine power resembled magical power.
The golden body was an acquired form condensed from divine power. A Shaman would first start from the Golden Body Realm before proceeding to the Spiritual Body Realm, where they merged with the Spiritual Statue. Finally, at the Godly Immortal stage, they would perfect this Spiritual Body, thus attaining the Godly Immortal’s Golden Body.
The physical true body, by contrast, was one’s fleshly vessel, something everyone had. Manly Immortals focused on continuously refining their physique until they reached the transcendent state of shattering the void with sheer bodily strength.
Many Godly Immortals and Ghostly Immortals abandoned their original physical body under various circumstances, existing instead in the form of a golden body or a yang spirit. For example, Wu Luo’s physical body was long ago cut down by the Ancestral Heavenly Preceptor, so only her divine golden body remained.
However, this was inconvenient, especially for Godly Immortals. Using divine power to interfere with the real world came with many restrictions and taboos. In truth, it was far easier to conjure an independent small world with divine power than to directly alter the terrain of the mortal realm. Thus, when Godly Immortals struck, they often appeared more impressive, seeming to shatter heaven and earth. However, they were merely half illusion, half truth. If an opponent believed their might to be real, that belief could be used against them, turning illusion into true harm. However, such means were highly subjective. Non-sentient things like mountains and rivers had no will, so they could not “believe” in anything.
When it came to raw destructive force upon reality, Earthly Immortals were the champions. For them, there was no need for belief. The strength they exerted produced an equivalent effect on both living beings and inanimate objects, much like firearms.
Thus, the spells and illusions of Godly Immortals and Ghostly Immortals would not work against Earthly Immortals. The concept of an indestructible body mainly referred to the tangible realities of Earthly and Manly Immortals, yet it was also often undone by mind-based techniques.
For this reason, some Godly Immortals still preserved their physical bodies. Even if they could not descend into the mortal realm with their physical bodies, they remained more practical than their divine golden body.
Izanagi was such a Godly Immortal who retained his physical body. His physique was unimaginably strong, nearly indestructible.
The most direct advantage was that while some deities entered their first death once their golden body was broken, Izanagi could still move freely even after his golden body was shattered. With a physical body, he could do as he pleased.
Thus, after the Vairocana shattered Izanagi’s golden body, he still had to slice apart and separately seal Izanagi’s physical body. Since Izanagi’s true body had not perished, half of his divine kingdom remained, hidden somewhere in the unknown void.
Sage Qingwei had just completed inspecting the five temporary sealing grounds and was now in his final conversation with the Imperial Preceptor before the formal operation began.