The old man with the cane was right.
Asking these people, who had never left the village, for directions had indeed put them in a difficult position.
Feng Yang decided to leave the village first.
In short, getting out of this area and ensuring his safety was paramount.
However, just as Feng Yang was about to leave, a ghost with a faint crimson glow and a semi-transparent appearance slowly floated down from the sky!
Upon seeing the monster, Feng Yang instinctively ran in the opposite direction.
But after only a few steps, he realized the ghost wasn't coming for him.
The red ghost completely ignored him and floated towards the village.
Seeing this, Feng Yang hid nearby to observe.
This ghost was almost identical to the villagers' description.
Judging from its appearance, this red ghost was likely the same type of creature as the blue ghost Feng Yang had seen in the city.
After the red phantom floated near the light barrier above the village, a long, thin, straw-like proboscis emerged from its head.
Like a mosquito sucking blood, the phantom pierced the light barrier with its proboscis and began to suck rapidly.
Feng Yang noticed that as the phantom continued to suck, countless pale red glimmers gradually appeared on the light barrier, converging towards its proboscis.
At the same time, the villagers at the entrance began to wail in agony.
Amidst these wails, their bodies aged at a visible rate.
Some of the very elderly villagers even collapsed to the ground, their fate unknown, under the red phantom's relentless sucking.
This scene horrified Feng Yang. Was the red phantom absorbing these people's lifespans?
As time passed, more and more villagers died from exhaustion.
Feng Yang also noticed that as the villagers died, black smoke gradually emerged from their corpses.
This smoke soon coalesced and drifted towards Feng Yang's location.
"That black smoke again?"
Seeing the inexplicable smoke, Feng Yang panicked. He turned and fled without hesitation.
But the black smoke was fast; it soon caught up with him and completely entered his body.
The moment the smoke entered, Feng Yang felt as if he had been electrocuted and collapsed to the ground.
The last time Feng Yang was invaded by this black smoke, he had been asleep, so he hadn't felt much discomfort.
But this time, he was awake, Instantly, a series of violent and angry thoughts surfaced in his mind.
These invading thoughts were not only numerous but also extremely chaotic.
However, they all had one thing in common, they were almost all generated by negative emotions.
Feng Yang could sense that these thoughts seemed to stem from the resentment, hatred, and sense of injustice felt by people before death.
Simply put, they were the resentment of the dying.
In modern terms, these thoughts were equivalent to 'negative energy' generated in one's heart.
The feeling of being invaded by negative thoughts was unpleasant.
Affected by this resentment, Feng Yang lay on the ground, trembling uncontrollably with his hands covering his head, looking utterly tormented.
Feng Yang's willpower wasn't very strong.
Among ordinary people, his willpower was relatively weak.
Therefore, in less than half a minute, Feng Yang could hold on no longer.
His vision went black, and he completely lost consciousness.
…
When Feng Yang woke again, it was already broad daylight.
He stood up and quickly scanned his surroundings.
After the ghost's attack the previous night, the area near the village entrance was now littered with hundreds of elderly corpses.
These people must have all died of old age after the ghost drained their lifespans.
And the culprit behind it all, the red ghost, was nowhere to be seen.
Feng Yang didn't care where it had gone. As long as it was gone, that was enough.
After confirming his safety, Feng Yang noticed something strange seemed to be happening within his body.
It felt as if his body was much lighter than before.
No, it wasn't that his body had become lighter, but he became stronger.
After assessing his condition, Feng Yang quickly understood the reason: the sensation of lightness was likely due to increased strength.
Realizing this, Feng Yang slightly bent his knees.
He used all his strength to leap into the air.
The next second, Feng Yang jumped nearly two meters high!
"Cool! That was quite a significant increase."
After a moment's thought, Feng Yang took out the long sword wrapped in cloth from his waist and casually swung it a few times.
Perhaps due to his increased strength, he found the long sword now felt much lighter than before.
A thoughtful look appeared in Feng Yang's eyes.
His current physical abilities were about two to three times that of an average person.
Clearly, some unknown factor had caused a qualitative leap in his strength.
These changes reminded Feng Yang of the black smoke from the previous night.
"Could these changes be related to that black smoke?"
To verify his conjecture, Feng Yang returned to the vicinity of the village entrance, scanning the dead villagers on the ground.
This time, however, he saw no trace of black smoke. Feng Yang speculated that the resentment-formed smoke, once dispersed in the air, probably wouldn't last long.
From the information he currently had, the black smoke that entered his body was likely generated by the dead villagers' resentment.
Death is like a lamp going out. Resentment, once separated from its physical form, naturally cannot be preserved for long.
"Oh well, I will verify that later when I have the chance."
Since all these villagers were dead, Feng Yang began to thoroughly search the village. However, apart from a potato-like crop, he found nothing of value.
Unlike normal potatoes, the ones Feng Yang found were red. He didn't know if they were edible.
Feng Yang stuffed his backpack full of the potatoes until it could hold no more, then contentedly walked out of the village.
But when Feng Yang reached the village entrance, he discovered that the light shield, which had originally glowed red, had inexplicably turned white.