Etymology and Translation Issues[]
This is a section added primarily due to the difference between the English-fan translation of the Novel and the true Chinese meaning.
Original Chinese characters: 神体 or 不朽神体
- 神体 (Shén tǐ), literally means Divine/God/Spirit Body
- 不朽神体 (Bùxiǔ shéntǐ), by extension, literally means Eternal/Immortal Divine/God/Spirit Body
The author picks and chooses when to use these terms, and also uses 不朽身体 (Bùxiǔ shēntǐ, literally meaning Eternal/Immortal Body) at times where it is clear he meant to use 不朽神体. The fan translation groups have some trouble with this and the existence of the term Immortal Body (不死之身), and sometimes translate this as Immortal Body or Undying Body. The typos and different terms create some confusion, however, outside of discussion of the specific functionality of the Immortal Body's ability to reform from any damage (the true Immortal Body), the reader can treat Immortal Body, Undying Body, and Divine Body as the same concept.
Description[]
The Divine Body is the body of an Immortal. While the terms Divine Body and Immortal Body are used somewhat interchangeably in the fan-translated novel, technically the terms are different; Immortal Body is a class of Divine Body, generally reached by those at the Immortal Marquis level, whereas the Divine Body itself is literally any body of an Immortal, regardless of its strength or class. The Divine Body can be considered one of the 3 major aspects of a cultivator[1].
When a cultivator becomes Immortal, their body fundamentally changes. At that point, the cultivator's soul begins to meld with the body, with every bit of spirit imprint fusing with their cells[2]. This meant that it would be impossible to clearly see the cultivator's soul, so one would not be able to determine their original race. This also made it so that if an Immortal's body was destroyed once, they could reform their body[3].
This new body could be burned and converted to energy, allowing the user to exhibit much more power than their normal state; for example, a Low Immortal King could reach the level of a Pinnacle Immortal King by burning their body! However, the recovery cost is immense, making Immortals reluctant to use this ability; for example, it would take that Low Immortal King hundreds to thousands of years to recover[4]. It is stated[5] multiple[6] times[7] that burning one's Divine Body makes one 1,000 times stronger than if they did not burn their body[8].
When a cultivator beaks through to True God, their body once more fundamentally changes. Their body, which was a Divine Body formed with Immortal Energy, returns to its origin, i.e. becoming a flesh-and-blood body should that have been their original form. If the cultivator had multiple bodies, their other bodies completely disintegrate and transform into a core of formidable Divine Power, within which is the True God's Heart[9]. If the cultivator had only one body, they still have a core containing the True God's Heart. The soul of the cultivator is hidden within this heart. If their Miniature Universe Origin transformed and stored energy into a large amount of Divine Power, that could be transmitted directly to the heart. If the True God's Heart was destroyed, the True God would die. The strength of the heart corresponds to the strength of the Miniature Universe Origin, so the method of construction, as well as the power of the God Country are extremely important[9]. While this body could still be burned and converted to energy, it was indeed a flesh-and-blood body[10]. Since their body and soul are once again separated, when a True God burns their Divine Body, it does not impact their soul's strength (so they won't fall into Deep Sleep if they burn too much of it).
Strength[]
The Divine Body increases in strength as the user cultivates, and it reaches different levels along the way. The power of the body is typically described in relation to the strength of a Pinnacle World Master with a Life Gene Level of 1.
- Normal Immortals/Immortal Generals - Divine Body has strength equivalent to 100-1,000 Pinnacle World Masters[11]
- Immortal Marquis - Divine Body has strength equivalent to 1,000-10,000 Pinnacle World Masters[11]
- Immortal King - Divine Body has strength equivalent to 10,000-100,000 Pinnacle World Masters[11]
- Limit Immortal King - Divine Body has strength equivalent to 100,000-1,000,000 Pinnacle World Masters[12]
- Invincible Immortal King - Implied that Divine Body has strength equivalent to at least 1,000,000 Pinnacle World Masters[13]
- Universe Venerable - Divine Body has strength equivalent to at least 10,000,000 Pinnacle World Masters
- Universe Overlord - Not specified, but Venerable Pei Feng had strength equivalent to over 600,000,000 Pinnacle World Masters[14]
- Top Universe Overlord - Implied that Divine Body has strength equivalent to at least 1,000,000,000 Pinnacle World Masters
- Universe Master Level 1 - Divine Body has strength equivalent to at least 100,000,000,000 Pinnacle World Masters[15]
- Universe Master Level 2 - Divine Body has strength equivalent to at least 1,000,000,000,000 Pinnacle World Masters[16]
- Universe Master Level 3 - Divine Body can have strength equivalent to around 10,000,000,000,000 Pinnacle World Masters[16]
- Universe Master Level 4 through 6 - Divine Body has strength equivalent to around 10,000,000,000,000 Pinnacle World Masters[16]
- True God - Divine Body has strength equivalent to at least 10,000,000,000,000 Pinnacle World Masters[17]
Size of a Divine Body[]
When a World Master breaks through to Immortal, their body does not change in size, unless they have some special circumstances (for example, Luo Feng's Remote Ocean body had reached the Perfect Life Gene Level, which caused it to increase in size). This means that generally speaking, humans have smaller Divine Bodies than Space Beasts or those of the Demon Race.
The size of a Divine Body is incredibly important; not only are larger Divine Bodies able to house and absorb more Divine Power, they are also stronger and able to better defend against attacks. Many Special Lifeforms, Plant Lifeforms, and Mountain Lifeforms have very large bodies, helping them to become Top Universe Overlords if they reach the Universe Venerable level. Those with larger Divine Bodies could fight longer battles and exhibit incredible power if they chose to self-destruct or consume their body for its energy. However, having a larger Divine Body also meant that it was more difficult to evolve it than a smaller one, and if a body was too large (such as Nine Remoteness Master's body), it was incredibly difficult to move.
The advantages remained even as one reached the true pinnacles of strength; one of the primary advantages of following the Divine Power Path to become a True God is the increase in the size of the Divine Body and thus the increase in its Divine Power. Nine Remoteness Master, with his exceptionally large Divine Body, was considered as dangerous as a True God while within the Original Universe, despite being a Universe Master.
If one artificially changed their body's size (Immortals could shape their bodies using their Divine Power), it affects their strength. When King Heavy Arrow reduced his height from over 8 meters to about 1.7 meters at Luo Feng's request, he lost about 30% of his strength[18]!
In addition to the limits of organism type, Life Gene, and cultivation realm, an environment's space suppression can contribute to the size of a Divine Body[19].
Weakening a Divine Body[]
When an Immortal's Divine Body is weakened beyond a certain point, their strength is significantly impacted. The loss of strength is detailed as follows:
- Losing less than 10% of one's Divine Body has almost no effect on their strength.[20]
- Losing 30% would leave only 50% of their strength[20]
- Losing 50% would leave only 10% of their strength[20]
- Losing 70% would leave less than 1% of their strength[20]
- After losing 90%, Immortals below Universe Venerable would absolutely fall into a Deep Sleep; some Immortal Kings could maintain their consciousness at 15% or 16% of their Divine Body, but unless they were at least a Universe Venerable, they would without a doubt fall into a Deep Sleep at 10%[20]
- Universe Overlords could maintain a clear consciousness to self-destruct even if left with 3% of their Divine Body, due to their incomparably strong Willpower and purer Divine Power. To force a Universe Overlord into a Deep Sleep, they would have to be left with 1% of their Divine Body.[21]
- Universe Masters could even maintain consciousness with their Divine Body reduced to 1%, and would choose to self-destruct rather than be enslaved.[21]
Recovering a Divine Body[]
To recover a Divine Body is simple but requires either extensive time or extensive resources. When the cultivator is not comatose, they can slowly absorb Universe Energy or use treasures to recover their body; King Blood Beast, who lost 42% of his Divine Body when fighting with Luo Feng, required 100 million years to recover his body to the point where he would return to the Outer Region Wars, but this was in part because he did not wish to use the money necessary to obtain treasures to help him recover[22].
If the cultivator fell into a Deep Sleep, it was incredibly difficult for their body to recover, as they weren't awake and could not personally absorb treasures and energy. When recovering King Heavy Arrow, who was in a Deep Sleep after losing about 88% of his Divine Body, Luo Feng had to spend about 121 billion mixed yuan units, 63 billion of which helped to awaken Heavy Arrow, and 58 billion of which was used to recover his strength. It is implied that if Luo Feng had not assisted in his recovery, Heavy Arrow would have remained unconscious for countless years[18].
The stronger the Divine Body, the harder it was to recover it when damaged. For those below Universe Venerable, one could use lower-level treasures to help recover their bodies, but for those at Universe Overlord and above, Original Arcana were necessary. Original Arcana were used by Universe Overlords and Universe Masters to trigger the Law Ocean, increasing the speed of recovery by thousands or even a million times faster than if left to recover their bodes on their own[23]. Those cultivators who had multiple bodies could use one of their bodies to supply the other(s) with Divine Power; for example, Luo Feng's Remote Ocean body was often used to restore the Divine Power of his Golden Horned Beast and Earthling bodies, due to its size and thus massive amount of Divine Power.
Breaking through to True God[]
When a cultivator wishes to break through to True God, they can attempt to do so by following either the Law Path (法则路线) or the Divine Power Path (神力路线). While following the Law Path is easier and is more commonly chosen, following the Divine Power Path can result in an augmented Divine Body. In order to follow the Divine Power Path, the cultivator has to surpass the Perfect Life Gene Level of 10,081[24].
Following the Divine Power Path is broken into four levels. The first level is a Life Gene Level of 30,000-60,000; the second level is 60,000-90,000, the third level is 90,000 to almost 100,000, and the fourth level is the Ultimate Life Gene Level of 100,000. The change to the Divine Body for each level is as follows:
- At the first level, the Divine Body is 10 times taller (with a limit of 1 million kilometers), resulting in their Divine Power being multiplied by 1,000! (ten times ten times ten for volume)
- At the second level, the Divine Body is 1,000 times taller (with a limit of 100 million kilometers) and the Divine Power is multiplied by 1,000,000,000!
- At the third level, the Divine Body was theoretically unlimited, with unlimited Divine Power! This is limited by the ability to consume Divine Power to become larger; the Wu Kingdom got around this by preparing a large number of valuables to store Divine Power for those who reached this level, so they could form large Divine Bodies. Luo Feng got around this by having the Remote Ocean body, which could absorb insane amounts of Divine Power.
- At the fourth level, the Divine Body was theoretically unlimited, with unlimited Divine Power, with the same limitations as the third level, but with the new ability of Intangible and Formless, allowing the user to emit the energies of anything at their level or below. Luo Feng's Remote Ocean body had a diameter of 12 light-years after he finished absorbing energy[25]. Once he became a True God and only had his Earthling body, it could be transformed into an ocean with a diameter of slightly more than 2 light-years. To reach its former size, his Miniature Universe would have to swallow and transform enough Divine Power; the Original Universe would no longer provide any energy to a True God.
Despite the increase in the cultivator's Divine Body, due to surpassing the Perfect Life Gene Level, True Gods who reached these levels of Divine Body could move with more speed and agility, even with the larger body[26]!
On the Continent of Origin[]
If one has reincarnated and living on the Continent of Origin, Eternal True Gods with the Infinite Divine Body (3rd level) can reach a maximum height of 3.6 billion kilometers on the Continent of Origin[19]. Eternal True Gods with the Perfect Divine Body (4th level) can reach a maximum height of 18 billion kilometers on the Continent of Origin, giving them 125 times the Divine Power of one with an Infinite Divine Body[19]! These heights multiply by 100 with each increase in cultivation realm up to God King.
References
- ↑ SwS 2 - Volume 1, Chapter 42 - Chapter 42: One's Weak Point
- ↑ Volume 13, Chapter 31 - Chapter 745: Secret
- ↑ Volume 11, Chapter 34 - Chapter 640: Immortal Battle
- ↑ Volume 14, Chapter 35 - Chapter 788: Luo Feng's Dilemma
- ↑ Volume 16, Chapter 7 - Chapter 868: Human's Reputation
- ↑ Volume 15, Chapter 45 - Chapter 837: Firefight
- ↑ Volume 18, Chapter 13 - Chapter 956: Luo Feng's Strength
- ↑ Volume 19, Chapter 17 - Chapter 1010: Luo Feng's God Country
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Volume 28, Chapter 41 - Chapter 1441: Unity of Bodies, Universe Structure
- ↑ Volume 24, Chapter 32 - Chapter 1244: The Core Inheritance
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Volume 12, Chapter 25 - Chapter 693: 2 Years
- ↑ Volume 15, Chapter 40 - Chapter 832: Sacrificial Tower
- ↑ Volume 18, Chapter 41 - Chapter 984: Twigs and Leaves of World Trees
- ↑ Volume 19, Chapter 22 - Chapter 1015: Universe Overlord
- ↑ Volume 21, Chapter 15 - Chapter 1106: Disguise
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Volume 23, Chapter 7 - Chapter 1164: Divine Eye Race
- ↑ Volume 24, Chapter 35 - Chapter 1247: Preaching
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Volume 16, Chapter 2 - Chapter 863: Recovery of King Heavy Arrow
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 SwS 2 - Volume 1, Chapter 11 - Chapter 11: The First Secluded Cultivation
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 Volume 15, Chapter 67 - Chapter 859: Shock and Awe
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Volume 20, Chapter 55 - Chapter 1081: Wing Arcana
- ↑ Volume 15, Chapter 69 - Chapter 861: King Blade River
- ↑ Volume 18, Chapter 26 - Chapter 969: Origin Arcana
- ↑ Volume 26, Chapter 5 - Chapter 1317: Three Levels of Immortal Bodies
- ↑ Volume 28, Chapter 40 - Chapter 1440: Miniature Universe
- ↑ Volume 27, Chapter 45 - Chapter 1382: The Final Step