"Little Fu, no, you're a fellow cultivator now! Haha, it's only been a few decades, not even a full century, and you're nearly catching up with me!"
"Senior, manager Si, you're joking. I'm just a minor figure, not notable. Today I'm here to register again as a resident…"
Although Fu Xian owned a plot of land and paid taxes, he was still on a working visa. Only after he completed all the steps would he get the title of Formal Resident. Now that it was time, how could he not be extremely excited and nervous?
"Haha, fellow daoist Fu, no need to be anxious! Naturally I will follow the procedure. Please give me your identity badge."
Fu Xian handed over the badge with a fast hand, which caused manager Si to chuckle. This reaction was normal, after all, the immortal city was so grand and everyone wanted to join, but joining didn't depend on your power, instead, it depended on your potential.
Your potential had to be at least that of a fourth stage to get a residence – anything lower wouldn't meet the requirements. The fifth and sixth stages are an in-between. Some could join directly if they had some unique ability, while others could only give up this chance and hope to join once they are at the seventh stage, upon which directly joining was open to everyone.
This combination of various requirements ensured the immortal cities' stable and loyal mid-range strength and vast high-rank strength. The lower strength relied on the internal members and residents of the city (low is stage 3-4, mid is 5-6 and high is 7-8! 1-2 are just ants and even a thousand ants can't eat an elephant!).
Manager Si put Fu Xian's peal badge in a wooden box, then started casting spells and reciting a few inaudible words. A minute later, the process was over, and Fu Xian got his pearl back.
But this time, the reflection of the immortal islands inside gained a jade lustre!
"As per custom, this identity badge proves you're a formal member. Haha, I hope there will be a time where your badge is upgraded to purple or even gold level!"
"Manage Si, you're thinking too well of me!"
"Alright, let's continue the procedure. You're cultivating the Emerald Lake art, right? Well, it's good you switched your art to this when you came here. We have the whole inheritance of this art up to transcendence!
In fact, this art is called [Emerald Forest in the Boundless Lake], stemming from the idiom 'Moon in the Lake'. It's a combined art of wood and water, containing the vast vitality of wood and the boundless spiritual power of water.
Although compared to other special cultivation arts, this one is a bit meagre and mainly has supportive spells and techniques, in the right hands, it can become a supreme art.
This art costs a hundred high-grade spirit stones and a thousand contribution points. As usual, you need to pay us back in the span of a hundred years."
Fu Xian nodded and signed the contract that was offered, before he was given a jade slip.
He knew this was a one-time jade slip, upon use, it would shatter.
As for the contract, it was a different form of a heavenly oath, containing clauses such as that he would be hit by lighting if he gave this technique away.
Thinking of this, he suddenly wanted to try passing it to his clone. But he only awakened one, the other two hadn't yet responded, and this clone didn't require this art, so he had to test it another time.
"As for being introduced to the cultivation stage, you can decide whether to take the public class held once a year, or ask your neighbourhood leader."
"Thank you, manage Si! Senior Ruan has already told me about this and will be guiding me before the next neighbourhood gathering!"
The manager looked at Fu Xian in the eyes before he smiled "That's good! The public classes aren't as in-depth as a private lesson.
Alright, if you have nothing else to do, you can leave."
Fu Xian bowed once more before leaving the room.
Outside, he was in a reception. Passing through, he left the building and looked at the area around.
Jade stone roads, beautiful trees in each corner, and several similar reception buildings, mostly two-story pagodas.
This area was dedicated to guests and temporary staying residents. He had been assigned to this area ever since he entered the city.
The next time he had a matter, he would be assigned to the general affairs hall branch in his own neighbourhood, a privilege only those living in neighbourhoods could enjoy. After all, even as a formal resident, you wouldn't be guaranteed to join a neighbourhood – most were already full and even the new ones had high requirements. If the talisman craft at the third stage wasn't rare, then Fu Xian, no matter his talent, wouldn't have been able to join.
After all this work, the stress and anxiety passed away, making Fu Xian sigh in relief "Finally, I'm a formal resident!"
From now on, he didn't need to take missions and there was no more requirement that forced him to work harder. Taking them would just give him rewards, and it was fine if he wanted to take a break or go into seclusion for a while. Naturally he wouldn't stop, but it was great to have room to truly develop and not draw talisman in a focused manner for the city.
Thinking of this, he wanted to look at the missions, but it wasn't a good time now, so he walked down the road.
Like in the neighbourhood, he reached an intersection at the end of the road. This time though, the side paths on the road were normal paths, and the end of the road was a designated area. It wasn't like the neighbourhood where every road was basically a teleportation array.
He took the path to the Azure Cloud Island, also called inheritance or library island.
Going down the path, he felt no warp or teleportation. At some point, the greenery around the road changed a bit, gradually taking on a different vibe, and some buildings could be seen.
There was no huge change.
If he wanted to see a grand view of walking between islands, he would have to walk on the immortal bridges… but the distance between the islands would take several months to cross.
"Well, the view on the bridges are said to have brought inspiration to many people, so I should try crossing them once I'm done with the matters at hand."
When he arrived on library island, what he saw was that at the end of the road, there was a huge pagoda, spanning across heaven and earth with no end in sight!
Some smaller ones could be seen spread around the area – smaller compared to the main pagoda, but still extremely tall!
The huge pagoda could is the main library, while those on the side were different libraries that contained specific knowledge. Although the main library contained every piece of knowledge, it's a lot easier to browse in the specific libraries, especially since the librarians there contain more specific knowledge and might help you find what you need.
Fu Xian's only looked for a cultivation art, so he went to the main library.
Several people, internal members of the city working as guides, stood at the entrance of the library, to aid the cultivators that didn't know the system here.
Having used and experienced it prior, he didn't need help, so he entered directly.
The space inside was even larger than it appeared outside – just the first floor covered an extremely vast area, with countless bookshelves around.
At the entrance, there was a small reception, and in the centre of the library, there were various futons and tables for people to read on.
He walked to a table a bit further in the back, where there were less people.
This place, like the general affairs hall, was brimming with people. But, they were all quiet and concentrated, even those that talked together had formations around them, insulating the sound inside.
He sat on the table and took the brush on the side, then looked at the scroll in front of him. Raising the brush, he started writing "Cultivation Art: Fire, Wood, Wind Root, Qi Refining".
The words gleamed with light for a moment before they disappeared. In their place, various titles and small illustrations appeared. Fu Xian could also scroll up and down.
This was the search function of the library, extremely convenient, a masterpiece of the formation arts.
He thought for a moment and added a few words on the search bar: "Profound and higher".
Cultivation arts were separated into stages and quality. The stage referred to the cultivation stage, and the quality referred to the power of that art. This quality was graded from low to high: Common, Refined, Profound, Perfect and Transcendent.
His Emerald Lake art was considered Transcendent because it was a whole inheritance leading directly to the immortal realm, other arts of lower quality couldn't compare in many ways, but the key was that people either had to improve the art to ascend, or switch their art. The later one switches their art, the more difficult and impure it would become.
Fortunately he switched his art in the foundation building stage, essentially eliminating all side effects, as if he had practiced this art from the start of his cultivation.