The Daoist sect had two kinds of things: "talismans" and "registers."
Talismans needed no further explanation, while treasure registers were something like identification documents.
The conferral of Daoist Talismans generally served two purposes.
First, they recorded a cultivator's name, Daoist title, lineage, and Daoist rank.
Only after undergoing a certain process of entering the Dao could a cultivator become a Daoist, have his name entered into the Daoist register, and gain the qualifications to study inherited knowledge such as Daoist scriptures and precepts.
Cultivation methods were all protected. Without a treasure register of the corresponding rank, one simply could not memorize or cultivate orthodox Daoist methods. A register was a Daoist's roster.
Second, they recorded the names and titles of deities. Only through a treasure register could one make the Daoist arts performed during fasting and ritual ceremonies display spiritual might—summoning whichever gods were needed, dispatching them wherever required, thereby bringing favorable winds and rains or suppressing demons and evils.
A wild Daoist without a treasure register would find it difficult to perform fasting and ritual ceremonies even if he knew Daoist arts, let alone issue edicts to deities.
According to the hierarchy, those newly entering the Dao were granted the Alliance Might Talisman.
The Alliance Might Talisman conferred 120 volumes of the Scripture of Dharma, 360 Great Chapters, 1,200 Lesser Chapters, 300 volumes of the Rite of Ascension, 10 volumes of Essentials of Cultivation, 3 volumes of the Jade Scripture, 3 volumes of Essentials of Guidance, 60 volumes of the Grand Spirit Yin-Yang Calendar, 5 volumes of "Forbidden Incantations," 3 volumes of the Essence Communication Text, one piece of the True Text of Cultivating Origin and Destiny, and 1 volume of Steps of Yu and Star Charts.
Only after cultivating all these cultivation methods and arts could one advance