Just like Ao Lei, who had the power of a Totem before his failure to become Immortal, he owned the strength of a Totem Level very early on, but he was not the "Amori Clan's" Totem and symbol. In the eyes of outsiders, he was still regarded only as a pseudo-god, and to make matters worse, Ao Lei never even chose a divine name for himself; he didn't even qualify as a pseudo-god.
Ada said that the King Mo Xu before him possessed strength rivaling that of a Totem Level, but this King Mo Xu, having failed in his bid for the throne, was definitely no longer the "Moxu Clan's" Totem. Hence, he could only be said to possess strength paralleling a Totem's, but not actually be addressed directly as a Totem.
Totem is a term that can be called the most magical and the most unpredictable. A weaker Totem might only be slightly stronger than a Divine-level Expert at the peak of Golden Rank 7. Meanwhile, the strongest Totems could even exert fearsome power rivaling that of the Immortals.