The battlefield was a wreck. The surrounding vegetation had been snapped and crushed by tremendous force, lying scattered across the ground. Soil had been churned up, rocks shattered, and several patches of ground were even pitted with craters of varying depths.
Lingering ripples of spiritual power and a faint scent of blood still hung in the air.
Most conspicuous of all were several broken white feathers scattered on the ground, along with fragments of shattered fan ribs-unmistakably He Feixu's magical implement, the Crane Feather Treasure Fan!
The treasure fan was destroyed. It seemed He Feixu had most likely lost, and lost badly.
Cui Jiuyang looked down at the earthenware bowl in his hands. He Feixu's figure had long since vanished from the image within, leaving only murky ripples reflecting the gloomy sky.
He quickly worked his fingers through another divination, spiritual power flowing through his fingertips as he rapidly recited an incantation. Holding his breath and focusing, he stared at the gradually settling water in the bowl.
Yet the water remained still and empty, revealing no trace of anything.
The result returned by the heavenly mechanism... shook Cui Jiuyang.
His lips dry and his voice grave, he said quietly to Master Tiger, "Master Tiger, He Feixu... has disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Master Tiger hurriedly asked.
"Just like that worker at the train station, Chang Shoujin," Cui Jiuyang said, choosing his words as he recalled the earlier strange events. "And just like the paper figure we used to probe them that night. He vanished without a trace, leaving nothing behind, as though... as though he had never existed in this world, completely erased."
Master Tiger asked gravely, "You mean He Feixu was also taken away by that Bone-Faced Figure we encountered at the train station that day?"
Cui Jiuyang slowly nodded. "Most likely.