After the ten phantoms appeared, they surrounded Li Yan in the middle. Then, between every pair of phantoms, they suddenly stretched out their arms.
This quickly brought their hands into contact with the hands of the phantoms to their left and right.
Yet after their hands connected, they did not clasp each other's hands, nor did their fingertips touch. Instead, their arms continued extending endlessly.
In the blink of an eye, their arms passed through one another as though they had merged, then those arms passed through their bodies as well...
Very soon, the arms of the ten phantoms had passed through their translucent bodies, making the ten phantoms seem as though two black iron hoops had pierced through them.
The hoops then encircled them, locking them firmly in place.
And at the very instant the two arms fully pierced through the ten phantoms, beneath the illumination of purple light, the ten phantoms suddenly floated upward.
Black-red radiance abruptly appeared upon their bodies, flickering ceaselessly across their surfaces. Everything occurred in utter silence.
As the light upon the phantoms' bodies flashed alternately, the ten phantoms began circling around Li Yan's body.
Li Yan sat cross-legged in the center, his long hair drifting without wind. Amid the purple radiance, he looked incomparably eerie...
Before long, the ten phantoms could no longer be distinguished as human figures. Instead, they formed a black-red ring of light around Li Yan.
The ring of light shrank and expanded unpredictably as it began spinning at high speed. It first rose above Li Yan's head, then descended from the crown of his head.
Though the black-red ring spun with incredible speed, it fell exceedingly slowly. It first encircled his head.
When it reached his neck, it contracted again, as though it intended to lock his neck tight.