The Insect Granny's actions completely dumbfounded Feng Yang.
This old woman was merely performing an exorcism, yet she had managed to kill herself? And what was the origin of that black aura? Not only could it kill, but it also seemed to be contagious.
In fact, not only Feng Yang but the villagers also recognized the danger of the black aura. In an instant, nearly all of them began to retreat, distancing themselves from the two children and fearing the aura's influence.
The villagers began to discuss amongst themselves.
"What's going on?"
"How did the Insect Granny die?"
"This is the first time I've seen an Insect Granny killed by an evil spirit."
From their conversation, Feng Yang gained a general understanding. The relationship between the Insect Granny and the evil spirit was like that of a hunter and prey. In other words, her death was equivalent to prey killing the hunter.
This was absurd. Either the old woman was incompetent, unable to exorcise even ordinary evil spirits, or the black energy within the two children was too powerful for her to handle.
It seemed to be the latter.
The black energy that had been lurking within the children didn't subside after killing her. It re-emerged from her body and quickly vanished into the nearby ground.
"Wait, that didn't seem to be black energy."
As the black energy burrowed into the ground, Feng Yang noticed something amiss. Strengthened by the village's resentment, his eyesight far surpassed that of ordinary people. Upon closer observation, he realized the so-called "black energy" wasn't gaseous at all. In fact, the "black energy" within the two children was composed of tiny black worms, smaller than grains of rice!
These minuscule black worms looked nearly identical to the worms in the pig-man's heart. The only difference was that those parasitizing the children were much smaller, which was why they resembled gas.
Feng Yang guessed that the two differently sized black worms were likely the same type of creature. But the question was, where did these strange black worms come from? What was their purpose in parasitizing humans and those monsters?
…
As Feng Yang pondered this, he noticed the ground where the black worms had burrowed seemed to be changing. The area's color was deepening. Although the change wasn't obvious at first, over time, some villagers began to take notice: "Look at the ground!"
"This area is turning black!"
"Could this be turning into a 'worm-infested area'?"
As if confirming the villagers' fears, the area where the worms had burrowed soon turned completely black.
The suspected emergence of a 'worm-infested area' in the village was no small matter. To confirm it, an old man stepped out from among the villagers. He observed the blackened ground resembling a 'worm-infested area' and remained silent.
This man was the village chief of Linjiang Village.
At that moment, the surrounding villagers grew tense. If the village chief confirmed the area as 'worm-infested area,' the villagers would have no choice but to relocate. 'worm-infested area' was extremely dangerous; once it appeared, it never disappeared, nor could it be removed or relocated, at least, not by the villagers of Linjiang Village.
After a long observation, the village chief frowned. He sighed helplessly and said, "This is indeed 'worm-infested area.' Go pack your things now; we need to move before dark."
Hearing this, the villagers hurried back to their houses to pack their belongings. Their movements were rushed and anxious.
This puzzled Feng Yang. Even if the 'worm-infested area' was dangerous and might spawn monsters like the pig-headed men, that would still take time. Was there really such a rush?
At that moment, Li Wei, who seemed to have read Feng Yang's thoughts, explained, "People are fine on 'worm-infested area' during the day, but it's a different story at night."
"What happens at night?" Feng Yang asked curiously.
Li Wei shook his head. "I don't know, but it's very dangerous to spend the night on the 'worm-infested area.'"
It was natural for Li Wei not to know. In fact, no one in the entire village would know, as no one who had spent the night on the 'worm-infested area' had ever survived.
After explaining this to Feng Yang, Li Wei said no more and hurried off to pack.
Watching the villagers hastily preparing to leave, Feng Yang found an open space at the village entrance and sat down quietly to wait. He wasn't foolish, if the villagers were moving, it would be safer to leave with them than to travel alone.
The sun began to set. As it dipped below the horizon, Feng Yang's shadow grew longer. Darkness was falling.
Unbeknownst to him, a large group of villagers had already gathered at the village entrance.
Seeing that everyone was present, the village chief stepped to the front of the group and called out, "Is anyone missing? If everyone's ready, let's go."
With that, he led the group out of the village. Hundreds of people marched out in a grand procession.
But the moment the village chief stepped beyond the village entrance, he shuddered violently as if struck by an electric shock. In the blink of an eye, he collapsed to the ground.
His reaction was identical to what Feng Yang had witnessed in Leek Village. Clearly, the village chief had been "electrocuted" by the white light barrier while forcibly passing through it, resulting in his sudden death.
But the problem was, for the villagers' convenience, there shouldn't have been such a barrier at the entrance of Linjiang Village. Could someone be secretly manipulating the village's light barrier?
Seeing the village chief collapse, panic instantly swept through the villagers.
"What happened? What's wrong with the village chief?"
"It seems the barrier outside the village is malfunctioning!"
"Barrier? Wasn't that area supposed to be barrier-free?"
A malfunctioning barrier wasn't usually a serious issue. Under normal circumstances, even if the village barrier failed, the villagers could contact the Immortal Sect City and request assistance.
But now was different. A 'worm-infested area' had emerged in the village. Moreover, Feng Yang noticed that the pitch-black 'worm field' seemed to be continuously expanding. In just a short time, it had grown to about three times its original size, and the blackness appeared to be still spreading.
Night was approaching. No one knew what dangers would emerge on the 'worm-infested area' after dark.