‘Ixtlan’ turns out to be a metaphorical hometown ( or Place / Position of Being ) to which the “sorcerer” or warrior or man of knowledge without reason or thoughts is drawn to return.
This is because his elevated perspective leaves him little in common with ordinary people, who now seem no more substantial to him than “phantoms.” The point of the story is that a man of knowledge, or sorcerer, is a changed being, or a Human closer to his true state of Being, and for that reason he can never truly go ‘home’ to his old lifestyle again.