In the end, the man died from the sheer agony.
Only after Yun Huanling saw that the man had breathed his last did he slowly stand up.
By then, the sun had fully set, though a little of its afterglow still lingered on the horizon. The sky was darkening, but night had yet to fall completely.
Just then, a streak of golden light descended from the sky and landed beside Yun Huanling.
At the sight of the corpses strewn across the ground, the newcomer first murmured, "Amitabha." Only then did he turn his gaze toward Yun Huanling, who stood a short distance away.
"As expected of someone who has been to the Ghost Domain..."
Seeing the monk before him, Yun Huanling raised his eyebrows. "Did you grace me with your presence just to tell me that, Buddha Child?"
The Buddha Child gently rolled the Buddhist Prayer Beads in his hand. The serene smile on his face seemed utterly out of place amid the blood and corpses littering the ground.
"Our meeting here was merely a coincidence." At this, the Buddha Child's fingers paused on the prayer beads. "Judging by your condition, the fusion seems to have gone quite well."
Yun Huanling froze for a moment, wondering how this bald fellow knew about his affairs. But then he smiled, allowing none of his earlier surprise to show.
On reflection, it made sense. Few secrets in this world could ever be hidden completely, and he had never deliberately concealed what had happened to him. There was nothing particularly strange about this bald fellow knowing.
Yet this Buddha Child of Buddhism did not seem quite as compassionate as the legends claimed. He had been standing here for some time, but apart from that initial "Amitabha," he had not spared the corpses another glance.