Han Li Chose Star City, and I Chose Chengdu

Before forming his core, Han Li spent a while in secluded cultivation on an island in the Outer Star Sea. But once he'd gathered the materials he needed for his Core Formation breakthrough, he didn't stay in the remote Outer Star Sea. He went to Star City, the capital of the Inner Star Sea.

According to Han Li, he chose Star City because breaking through to Core Formation sets off signs in heaven and earth, and that would draw too much attention. But at the root of it, it comes down to one word: safety.

Han Li is a careful man. A Core Formation breakthrough takes at least a few decades, and the whole time he needs to be secure and safe. If he went into seclusion on some remote island in the Outer Star Sea, the signs from his breakthrough could easily attract demon beasts or other rogue cultivators, and that would get in the way of his breakthrough.

Star City, on the other hand, is the megacity of the Inner Star Sea. Unlike Kuixing Island where he started, Star City is the central city under the rule of the Star Palace.¹ The Star Palace's Grand Elder is stationed there, and the Twin Saints of the Star Palace cultivate at the very top of the city.

Having powerful cultivators in residence is one part of it. That keeps Star City safe.

The other part is that the Inner Star Sea has grown under the Star Palace's rule for so many years that even if the Kuixing Island incident shook that rule a bit, it wouldn't reach Star City, the central city.

Star City's role and its geography keep it stable. A little shift in the political winds won't upend it.

Besides safety and stability, Star City has one more advantage: a thriving economy and trade.

The Chaotic Star Sea is really just an ocean, and the Inner Star Sea, at bottom, is a chain of islands under Star Palace rule. A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality is set in a traditional xianxia world, but the way the author designs and describes the Chaotic Star Sea means it was never going to be a place whose economy runs on traditional farming.

It's an ocean civilization.

And ocean civilizations grow mainly through sea trade and overseas expansion. In the anime, the whole Inner Star Sea is busy with sea trade. When Han Li first arrives in the Chaotic Star Sea, he gets to Kuixing Island on a merchant ship.

As the capital of the Inner Star Sea, Star City isn't just the Star Palace's military hub. It's the economic hub of the whole Chaotic Star Sea. Countless sects in the Inner Star Sea set up bases and open trading houses there.

Han Li goes to Star City for seclusion not only because it's far safer and more stable than anywhere else, but also because it's easy to trade there. Before he goes into seclusion, for instance, he asks Wen Siyue, the daughter of an old acquaintance, to buy materials for him whenever he needs them. And after he forms his core, Star City is the only place where he can sell off the demon beast materials he has left.

Going by Han Li's experience and choices, big cities have a lot going for them: safety, stability, a strong economy. If there's a downside, it's probably that they're expensive. Han Li isn't short on spirit stones, but renting a place to cultivate still stings.

That's how big cities work in A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality. What about the real world?

In the last few years I've been to about sixty cities in China. Before that, I'd never been anywhere except Chengdu and Chongqing.

Back then, my idea of a big city was Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. I didn't think of Chongqing or Chengdu as big cities at all.

Only now, years later, do I realize how different one city can be from another.

Take Chengdu. I live here now. I haven't spent as much time here as in Chongqing, but this is where my home is. My place isn't even in the city proper, but there's a metro station right outside my door.

The metro has become my yardstick for how big a city is. Before I ever left Sichuan and Chongqing, I honestly thought every place had a metro network as developed and convenient as Chengdu's. Later I learned that not every city has a metro at all. It depends on a city's geography, and even more on its economy.

And a city's economy comes down to people. It's simple: people are the workforce, and the more productive someone is, the more likely they are to move to a big city. A big part of what makes a big city big is that countless highly productive people cluster there.

In the Inner Star Sea, Star City not only has Nascent Soul old monsters in residence, it's also where countless Core Formation cultivators gather. In a xianxia world, a cultivator's fighting strength can be seen as a kind of productivity.

So what's good about living in a big city? As I said with Star City, a big city is really a gathering point for all kinds of resources. Not everyone will use them, but for the people who can, at least they're there.

First, transportation. Chengdu's rail transit is excellent. It can take you to almost any corner of the city, and the metro even reaches nearby cities like Jianyang and Ziyang.

Second, healthcare. Talk about healthcare in Chengdu and West China Hospital always comes up. I knew it was a powerhouse even when I was very small. I still haven't been there (and I hope I never need to), but there's no denying that having a nationally famous hospital says a lot about Chengdu's healthcare. And besides West China, Chengdu has the military general hospital, the Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, and others. They don't get the same spotlight as West China, but they have deep experience too.

Third, education. Chengdu has two nationally known universities, Sichuan University and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. That's enough said.

Fourth, Chengdu's geography. There's an old saying that the young shouldn't go to Sichuan, and I'd put half of that down to Chengdu's setting. Besides industry and resources, this is the thing that touches everyone's daily life. Chengdu sits on the Chengdu Plain, crisscrossed by waterways, with the Funan River and the Jin River flowing right through the city. That natural setting has shaped how well the city is built. Chengdu has a full network of city parks and more than five thousand kilometers of Tianfu Greenway. It's a city bursting with life.

And there's a lot more besides.

But to me, none of that is the most important part.

As I said earlier, the stronger a city's economy, the more talent and cutting-edge productivity it has.

The way I see it, when someone moves to a big city to work and look for opportunities, the money isn't the biggest thing they gain. What really matters is that in a big city, you can meet lots of creative, energetic people.

Those people can change your life. To me, the simplest way to change your life is to move to a different city.

My friend Liang Mouyin seems like a good example. He lives in Shenzhen now, and according to his own writing, moving to Shenzhen didn't turn his life upside down, but it changed the state of his life a lot.

Of course, Han Li didn't stay in the Chaotic Star Sea for the rest of his life either. Once he was strong enough, he left.

It's the same for us when we go somewhere. You can go just to "form your core." You don't have to spend the rest of your life there.

Once your cultivation reaches a certain level, you'll find there's nowhere under heaven you can't go.

Footnotes

1. The Star Palace is the ruling power of the Inner Star Sea in the Chaotic Star Sea. It's controlled by the Twin Saints of the Star Palace, two great cultivators at late Nascent Soul, and it's the most powerful organization in the Chaotic Star Sea. ↩