The Immortal Ascension Episode 22 Recap
> The Immortal Ascension Recap
A cunning minor cultivator from the Prince's estate pledges his allegiance to Han Li, offering his Fire Control Technique. Han Li, observing the man's worldly nature, agrees to trade techniques and pills for it. The cultivator, recognizing Han Li as a senior from Spirit Beast Mountain, requests a pill to help break through a bottleneck, and Han Li provides two bottles of Yellow Dragon Pills.
In return, Han Li tasks him with monitoring the Young Prince and Steward Wang, whom he suspects of colluding with demonic sects. Meanwhile, Han Li and Cui'er visit Mo Caihuan. Cui'er initially dismisses Mo Caihuan as a mere mortal, but Han Li defends her capabilities. At Mo Caihuan's bustling apothecary, its success is credited to the popular Fragrance Pellets Han Li taught her to make, which have also proven invaluable for gathering information.
Han Li warns Mo Caihuan to cease contact with Steward Wang and erase any traces of her investigations, and she reassures him of her caution. Mo Caihuan later shows Han Li a map detailing several suspicious locations, which she deduced from logistics records indicating large supply shipments. Cui'er corroborates this, noting that two cultivators went missing near one of the suspected strongholds in the south of the city, and expresses her admiration for Mo Caihuan's intelligence.
Seeing their budding friendship, Han Li asks Mo Caihuan to look after the talented but naive Cui'er, subtly implying that Cui'er would also serve as a protector. Mo Caihuan understands and accepts. Before departing, Han Li gives her a protective talisman. Elsewhere, the Meng siblings, bound by a restrictive blood curse from the Black Fiend Cult, despair over their captive sister. They are being forced to lure and capture rogue cultivators for the cult.
Han Li discovers them and swiftly overwhelms them. They confess their coercion, admitting they only captured the rogue cultivators, who are still alive and imprisoned. Seeking atonement, the Five Meng agree to help Han Li by locating all Black Fiend Cult strongholds in the city. They soon report back with the locations, and Han Li leads a rescue mission. Inside one stronghold, Cui'er emotionally reunites with her grandfather, Wu Sanxing.
The Five Meng recognize Han Li from the Tainan Bazaar years ago, noting his vastly increased cultivation, but choose not to reveal his past identity, respecting the unspoken rules of the cultivation world. Meanwhile, Wang Chan of the Ghost Spirit Sect presents Dong Xuan'er to Grandmaster Yunlu, gaining an audience with a rare Violet Pearl. Grandmaster Yunlu, a man, notes Dong Xuan'er's striking resemblance to her mother.
When Dong Xuan'er expresses her aversion to the demonic path, Yunlu dismisses the distinction, revealing that the Seven Sects were once branches of the Six Demonic Sects. He identifies Dong Xuan'er's natural "gift of enchantment" as a perfect match for the Joyful Union Sect's techniques. Wang Chan then subtly mentions Li Feiyu to unsettle Dong Xuan'er. She is stunned to learn that Grandmaster Yunlu is her biological father and wonders if her master, Hongfu, is the mother he speaks of.
Elsewhere, a distraught Hongfu worries about Dong Xuan'er's disappearance, fearing she has met "that person," while Li Huayuan promises to widen the search. Han Li's group arrives at another Black Fiend Cult stronghold. He dismisses the defensive array as a simple earth-element formation and casually breaks through. Inside, a cultist identifies Han Li as the one who raided their branch outpost.
Han Li confronts Steward Wang, who reveals he is Prince Xin's son and tries to invoke the rule protecting royalty. Han Li brushes this off and asks about Mo Juren. Mistaking Han Li for an avenger, Steward Wang boasts of annihilating Mo Juren's clan simply because they were rivals in fame. Disgusted by his disregard for mortal life, Han Li rejects Wang's desperate offer of his demonic transformation technique and kills him.
