After the gray-robed monk left the Hall of the Great Hero.
The hall remained calm.
He personally investigated the matter, going to Eagle Sorrow Ravine and the Heavenly Court to gather evidence. Once he learned the results, his expression darkened, and he hurried back to Spirit Mountain.
He crossed the threshold, walked to the center of the hall, and pressed his palms together in salute toward Tathagata Buddha Patriarch.
The gods and Buddhas in the hall all watched him. The wind inside seemed to have stopped; even the light streaming through the high windows appeared frozen in midair, while dust stood motionless within the beams.
The gray-robed monk spoke.
His voice was neither loud nor soft, his pace neither hurried nor slow. "Reporting to Buddha Patriarch, the scripture seeker truly died in the maw of that wicked dragon."
The instant those words landed, the great hall fell silent for the briefest moment.
Then, as though something had been pierced by those words, the silence shattered, and a low commotion rose throughout the hall.
The first to speak was Ratnasambhava Tathagata.
Seated upon his lotus throne, he leaned forward slightly. The lines between his brows deepened. "The scripture seeker is dead?"
The prayer beads in Venerable Ananda's hand had stopped at some point.
His fingertips pressed against one bead as he turned to glance at Venerable Kasyapa. Kasyapa happened to be looking back as well. Their eyes met briefly before each looked away.
That glance was very short.
Yet everyone could see the gravity in the other's expression.
No one in the hall raised their voice, yet fragmented whispers rose and fell without end.
They passed from the left side of the hall to the right, then from right to left again, like wind shuttling back and forth through an empty