Li Yan's face darkened. He raised a hand, and a spiral of black energy shot out, turning into a chain that dragged the speaker from the crowd.
The speaker was a gaunt, sallow-faced middle-aged man.
Li Yan swept his gaze over the restless crowd below and said coldly, "I'll make an example of you today and show everyone how the Black Heaven Holy Church seizes souls and reaps lives!"
Of the two black-clad men guarding Qin Changsheng, one drew a long, narrow, ghostly sickle, while the other took out a string of bells.
The man with the sickle swung hard, bringing its ghostly blade down on the sallow-faced man.
Strangely, the blade passed through him without severing his head or drawing a drop of blood. It swept past like an illusion.
But the sallow-faced man jolted and began trembling as though possessed.
The other black-clad man immediately shook the bells.
Jingle, jingle...
Everyone present felt a wave of mental exhaustion, as though the bells were drawing their souls out of their bodies.
The martial artists grew alarmed. They hurried to steady their minds and resist the pull of the bells.
The pull was not strong. If they had still been able to use their Astral Qi to protect their minds, it would not even have affected their fighting ability. Even with their Astral Qi sealed, keeping their minds steady was enough to prevent their souls from being drawn away.
The sallow-faced man was another matter. After being struck by the ghostly sickle, he had no way to resist the bells' pull.
As the bells rang, one half of his body went rigid while the other shook violently.
No one could see his soul, but it was plain that he was suffering the agony of having it seized.
Li Yan burst