Chapter 335 - The Silent Heart and the Returning Thought

Chapter 335: Chapter 335 - The Silent Heart and the Returning Thought

Shen Youran returned to Silent Orchid Peak earlier than she had intended.

A short while ago, she had still been overseeing the sect’s access restrictions and the Sect-Scale Suppression Formation. The number of visitors outside Radiant Sky Sect had not decreased, while many disciples and elders inside were still consolidating the benefits they had received from the previous day’s heavenly phenomena.

Normally, Shen Youran would not have left until the situation had completely stabilized.

This time, she had.

Before departing, she had transferred control of the relevant arrays to Huo Yan.

The Peak Master had only recently finished dealing with the urgent repairs around the Main Peak and looked as though he would rather spend the next several hours lying beside his forge without moving.

Even so, he accepted the authority token without complaint.

He had only looked at Shen Youran once.

Her expression was no different from usual, but Huo Yan had known her long enough to recognize the speed with which she had arrived and left.

Shen Youran rarely abandoned a responsibility without reason.

Whatever had pulled her back to Silent Orchid Peak was clearly more important.

By the time Shen Youran descended into a secluded courtyard, her attention had already settled entirely on the figure below.

Ji Ruyue was practicing her sword.

Her movements were graceful and precise.

Every step remained measured. Every turn of the wrist was controlled, and each sword stroke followed the familiar cold rhythm of the Heartless Sutra.

At first glance, nothing seemed wrong.

Shen Youran watched three exchanges.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

Ji Ruyue’s sword remained steady, but her breathing did not match it.

A strand of spiritual energy circulated too quickly through one meridian before slowing in the next. Her rhythm corrected itself almost immediately, only to falter again several breaths later.

The mistakes were tiny.

Most people would never have noticed them.

Shen Youran had taught her personally.

She knew exactly how rarely Ji Ruyue made mistakes this small.

More troubling was the reason behind them.

Her disciple was distracted.

For someone else, that would hardly deserve concern.

For a practitioner of the Heartless Sutra, repeatedly losing control of one’s thoughts while circulating the method was another matter entirely.

If Ji Ruyue continued trying to suppress whatever was disturbing her without understanding its source, the conflict could eventually turn inward.

A Heart Demon was only one possibility.

Shen Youran descended without making a sound.

Ji Ruyue completed another sword movement.

Only when Shen Youran landed a few steps away did her blade stop.

Ji Ruyue turned.

For the first time in many years, she looked faintly surprised to find her master already standing beside her.

That alone confirmed Shen Youran’s suspicion.

Ji Ruyue lowered her sword.

"Master."

Shen Youran studied her for a moment.

"Something is troubling you."

Ji Ruyue did not answer.

Her face remained as calm as ever, and nothing obvious appeared in her eyes.

Silence stretched between them.

Ji Ruyue had expected a correction.

Perhaps even a reprimand for allowing her concentration to wander while circulating the Heartless Sutra.

Instead, Shen Youran walked toward the stone table beneath the nearby orchid tree and sat down.

"Tell me about it."

Ji Ruyue looked at her.

Neither woman’s expression changed.

For anyone unfamiliar with them, the scene might have appeared almost absurd. Two women with equally cold faces were apparently having what passed for a serious ’heart-to-heart’ conversation.

Ji Ruyue sheathed her sword and sat across from her master.

She remained silent for several breaths before finally speaking.

"Since yesterday, there has been a question I cannot remove."

Shen Youran waited.

Ji Ruyue lowered her gaze slightly.

"When the Heavenly Law descended, everyone saw the same thing."

The pale-gold hand appeared again in her memory.

Its authority had covered the entire sect.

Formations had been meaningless before it. Attempts to interfere had failed. The Heavenly Law had imposed its will upon everything within its influence so completely that resistance itself had seemed irrelevant.

Ji Ruyue had comprehended only a fragment.

Yet that fragment had remained with her.

"It imposed order upon everything beneath it," she continued. "Nothing within its influence was allowed to move outside that order."

Shen Youran’s eyes changed almost imperceptibly.

Ji Ruyue continued.

"Afterward, I thought about the Heartless Sutra."

The courtyard became quieter.

"Every disturbance within the heart is suppressed. Attachment is cut away. Desire is silenced. Anger, grief, fear and longing are prevented from affecting the mind."

Her fingers rested lightly against the sheath beside her.

"For years, I believed that meant I had mastered them."

She finally looked directly at Shen Youran.

"But if my heart is quiet only because every disturbance is suppressed, have I truly mastered it?"

Shen Youran said nothing.

It was the first time Ji Ruyue had openly questioned the path she had practiced since childhood.

More importantly, there was no rebellion in her question.

There was only uncertainty.

That made it far more serious.

Ji Ruyue lowered her eyes again.

"Everyone was happy."

She paused as though testing the word.

"I know they were happy because they smiled. Their voices changed. Their expressions changed. Their spiritual fluctuations changed."

Her brow moved faintly.

"But I no longer remember what happiness feels like."

Shen Youran remained silent.

Ji Ruyue continued, quieter than before.

"When Junior Brother Su was beneath the Heavenly Palm, I knew there was nothing I could do."

She remembered the pale-gold hand descending.

She remembered Su Bai’s life aura disappeared.

Something had appeared inside her then.

She had suppressed it instinctively.

It had returned.

She had cut at it again, but it had still remained.

"I do not know what that feeling was."

Her voice remained level.

"Perhaps helplessness. Perhaps powerlessness."

Shen Youran finally spoke.

"And that troubles you?"

"Yes."

Ji Ruyue looked toward the orchids beside them.

"I have always been taught to remain impartial."

Her gaze returned to her master.

"But how can I judge another person’s actions impartially if I cannot understand what moved them?"

Shen Youran listened.

Ji Ruyue’s words came slowly now, as though she were examining each one before allowing it to leave her mouth.

"If someone acts from grief and another acts from malice, treating them exactly the same may appear impartial."

She paused.

"But if I cannot understand grief, how would I know the difference?"

For the first time, Shen Youran’s expression softened by an amount almost no one else would have noticed.

Ji Ruyue had finally reached the question that Shen Youran herself had confronted many years ago.

"Do you remember the principle of the Heartless Sutra?" she asked.

Ji Ruyue nodded.

She had recited it countless times.

"To enter the Heartless Path, first sever the heart from attachment. To complete the Heartless Path, return all things to the heart and remain bound by none."

Shen Youran nodded.

"Impartiality does not require you to understand less. It requires you to understand everything you can and still refuse to let preference decide for you."

Ji Ruyue listened closely.

Shen Youran looked at her for several breaths before slowly shaking her head.

"You are not wrong to question these things."

Ji Ruyue’s eyes shifted.

"Because this path of ours is wrong."

For the first time, Ji Ruyue’s calm expression genuinely changed.

Shen Youran shook her head again.

"No. That was poorly said."

Her gaze settled on Ji Ruyue.

"Our path is incomplete."