Cultivation: Starting with Sterilizing My Own Father

"Everyone be careful. There are toxins here, and the fog can cause hallucinations. Remember to protect your body with spiritual energy."

As soon as Hua Rong spoke, everyone used their spiritual power to form a protective layer around themselves.

Along the way, Hua Rong chattered away, explaining things like, "Don't be nervous. Those ancient secret realms are still some time away from opening. You can think of these secret realms that open according to time as picking mushrooms or fruits once a year when they ripen. Here, there will be at most fifth-tier demonic beasts; it's impossible for any higher-tier ones to appear..."

As soon as he finished speaking, several stiff figures suddenly appeared in the thick fog ahead, slowly walking towards them.

Hua Yan immediately opened the folding fan in her hand. The fan ribs were made of ice jade, but the fan surface was painted with flowers and plants. Hua Rong also noticed something was wrong and immediately drew the curved swords with flame and lightning patterns on them from her waist: "No way."

Seeing this, Wei Zhiying and the other three immediately drew their weapons. Wei Zhiying had originally drawn her sword, but after thinking for a moment, she put it away and replaced it with the hammer she had chosen during her time in the outer sect. At this point, it didn't matter whether it looked good or not; as long as it was of medium quality, the one that suited her element was the best.

Wei Lanyin asked, "Are those fellow disciples from the same team that came with us? But the way they walk is so strange."

Wei Zhiying released her divine sense to investigate: "It seems so. It feels like the other side is at the Foundation Establishment stage or Qi Refining stage."

Hua Yan tossed the fan in her hand into the air, then used her spiritual power to leap into the air. The fan instantly grew to ten times its original size. With a forceful wave, the mist dissipated, and everyone could see the figures clearly. They were indeed human-like, but their clothes were tattered and their movements were stiff, just like the zombies Wei Zhiying had seen in movies in her previous life.

"Where did this come from? Is this still a cultivation world?" Wei Zhiying was completely dumbfounded. Are zombies something that can exist at any time?

Hua Yan lowered the fan in her hand, which returned to its normal size. But as she opened and closed the fan, a row of sharp ice spikes suddenly emerged from it: "It's a Water Soul Puppet."

Hua Rong explained, "These are water ghosts who died here. Cultivators who came here in the past unfortunately died here. Their souls lingered, and since they already possessed cultivation, over time their bodies decayed, and their ghosts formed puppets, possessing their former cultivation and magic. Everyone must be careful. Once caught, you'll be disturbed by their remnant souls, giving rise to impure thoughts. That's the least of your worries; if you become their scapegoat on their journey to the afterlife, that would be terrible."

Sensing someone ahead, the group of water spirit puppets launched an attack, using various elements. Hua Yan shouted, "Find your opponent according to the five elements' mutual restraint!" After saying that, he disregarded the five elements' mutual restraint and chose the strongest one to fight first.

Metal overcomes Wood, Wood overcomes Earth, Earth overcomes Water, Water overcomes Fire, and Fire overcomes Metal.

Since these guys were collectively known as Water Soul Puppets, Wei Zhiying and Wei Lanyin didn't bother to pick them out carefully. They grabbed their weapons and went forward to attack, but as they fought, they realized something was wrong.

It's not surprising that these water spirit puppets can use wood elemental spells, since water nourishes wood. But why would a water spirit puppet use fire elemental spells?

Wei Lanyin's flying knife formation was burned away by a fireball from the opponent.

Seeing this, Hua Rong reminded them, "Didn't I just say that? Although these water spirit puppets have the word 'water' in their names, they retain their cultivation and spells from their previous lives. Whatever kind of spiritual root they had in life, that's the kind of spells they'll have. They're not necessarily all water-based."

Wei Zhiying and her sister quickly switched positions. Wei Zhiying focused on attacking puppets that used elemental and fire elements, while Wei Lanyin skillfully used her metal and earth elements to deal with puppets that used water, fire, and wood elements.

The others also performed their duties. Fortunately, most of these puppets were at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages. If they relied solely on strength, they could indeed be driven back. However, these guys were already dead, and their bodies were made of water. A cut could cause cracks, but they would automatically revert to their original state the next second. Even if they were scattered, they could reassemble.

Wei Zhiying had a sudden inspiration. He casually put the hammer away, then formed a hand seal and pulled upwards with the force of lifting a heavy object: "Kun!"

The earthen wall that rose from the ground surrounded the water spirit puppets, leaving no gaps even at the top. The stones manipulated by Wei Zhiying said, "How long will the fight last? Even if they don't have other elements, their bodies are made of water. My earthen wall can trap them for a while. Let's take this opportunity to leave quickly."

Hua Yan only hesitated for a moment before replying, "Okay!"

The group quickly met and left, taking advantage of the fact that the fog they had dispersed before the battle had gathered back together.

Wei Lanyin asked worriedly, "Senior Sister, now that a water spirit puppet has appeared in this secret realm, what will become of it in the future?"

Hua Rong waved her hand: "Don't worry, those who die here are basically at the Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining stages. It's just a bit difficult to fight. Maybe the cultivation level of the disciples participating in the secret realm will be raised later."

When Wei Lanyin was a child, the village elders told her that after a person dies, their soul goes to the underworld to drink Meng Po soup and be reincarnated. But those water spirit puppets she just saw, supposedly their souls remained here after death, like water ghosts, didn't that mean they couldn't reincarnate?

"Are they... just going to stay in this secret realm like this? Is there any way to let them reincarnate and be reborn? Can they? I remember that the Heavenly Saint Kingdom should have Buddhist disciples."

The two sisters, Hua Rong and Hua Yan, remained silent for a moment. Instead, one of the other two members of the group, a senior brother, explained, "These water spirit puppets are indeed afraid of soul fire and vertical spells like paintings. Only these things can completely destroy them. But once destroyed, they can't be reincarnated. After all, they're not the water ghosts of the mortal world. When cultivators die, their souls become water spirit puppets here. Killing two people doesn't guarantee reincarnation. Remember their names—the word 'puppet' at the end. They will only keep killing any living thing that comes their way. No matter how many you kill, they won't reincarnate. Completely killing them is actually a kind of liberation for them."

Wei Lanyin was shocked. The small, immature girl clearly couldn't accept it: "So... if we encounter water spirit puppets again, it might not be water spirit puppets, but if we do encounter people who have been turned into puppets, the only way is to kill them?"

Although the senior students didn't speak, all four nodded silently, tacitly agreeing with this statement.

Wei Zhiying could accept it, but Wei Lanyin couldn't, and barely spoke the whole way.

As they flew further, the fog began to thicken, so Hua Yan instructed everyone to land and walk. Just as they were about to touch the ground and step onto the green grass, Hua Yan suddenly stopped them.

Hua Rong understood immediately, grabbed a piece of candy from her clothes, and tossed it down. If it weren't for the thud, everyone would have thought that the green grass under their feet was a lawn.

"Everyone be careful, this is all swamp below. Don't land yet, just keep moving forward."

Wei Zhiying asked Hua Yan curiously, "Senior Sister, why can't you use your fan again?"

Hua Yan glanced at Wei Zhiying, then said calmly, "We'll disperse the mist fan and let the spirit beasts here know that someone is here. Besides, this secret realm isn't a very urgent mission, so we'll just let things take their course and not take any shortcuts."

"Yes."

Just then, Wei Zhiying suddenly noticed something unusual on her left. Looking over, she could only see a hazy fog, with the white in the center suddenly intensifying. Wei Zhiyin seemed to understand why traffic regulations require drivers to use fog lights instead of high beams in the afternoon. Using high beams in foggy weather would only exacerbate the whiteness of the fog due to light refraction.

Wei Zhiying guessed in just 0.01 seconds that the group over there must be Tianci's, since Tianci was the only disciple who came here, and his spiritual root contained the element of light.

Suddenly, Wei Zhiying had a thought: didn't this light element contain purifying power? If she remembered correctly, Tianci had learned purification spells before, which meant...

Wei Zhiying turned her head to look, and the white color over there continued to deepen. It seemed that the water spirit puppets over there were very lucky to have encountered someone who could free them.

Because she turned her head to look elsewhere, Wei Zhiying didn't notice what was in front of her and bumped into her senior brother in front of her with a thud. The two of them lost their balance for a moment and were about to fall straight into the swamp...