Gu Yanshu cut open Xon Leon's chest.
The micro-signals inside it vanished at once.
For a brief moment, the chest looked empty, almost dead in a way that felt wrong even for Xon Leon's strange state. Then the chest regenerated again. It came back clean, complete, and still there was nothing inside it that looked like those tiny signals from before.
Then Xon Leon moved.
Gu Yanshu tried to cut his head, but Xon Leon blocked the blade with his legs and countered immediately with a punch to Gu Yanshu's face.
Gu Yanshu's body flew back.
He slammed into the wall hard, and blood poured from him heavily.
Xon Leon jumped up after him.
He was about to land a final blow.
But Qin Jinzhe stepped in and blocked the attack.
Xon Leon's attention shifted at once.
He turned toward Qin Jinzhe and began fighting him instead.
Qin Jinzhe fought back, but the difference was obvious. He was getting bullied badly, every exchange pushing him back more and more. For a few minutes he kept fighting, but each second made the pressure worse. Blood started spilling from him heavily.
That was the opening.
Gu Yanshu moved in and cut Xon Leon's head off again.
Qin Jinzhe then began healing himself with the healing element he had gotten. The wounds on his body started closing little by little. After that, he even healed Gu Yanshu too.
By the end of it, everyone who had been injured was healed.
Gu Yanshu's face stayed expressionless.
He walked to the window and opened it.
They were at the ending of Area 908.
Qin Jinzhe came closer and looked out too. He saw it clearly as well. They really were at the ending of Area 908.
Then, after only seventeen seconds, they reached the starting of Area 909.
Gu Yanshu closed the window.
He walked back into the main area.
Qin Jinzhe followed behind him.
Gu Yanshu made the house go faster.
Qin Jinzhe stared at the button and watched it happen.
Only one button.
That was all it took.
He could not clearly understand it. This was happening with only one button. Nobody should be able to do that. Only his master could do this. Only his master had that power. If he pressed it, nothing should happen. He was completely sure of it. Only Gu Yanshu could connect his finger to it and make the house go even faster.
Gu Yanshu was about to turn back when Qin Jinzhe went to the training area.
Gu Yanshu felt it.
Something was off.
He started thinking that something was spying on him.
He did not know it was Qin Jinzhe.
Now the house was moving even faster.
Gu Yanshu looked around again and thought for a moment.
Did anyone come into the main area with me?
He waited.
No one answered.
After a while, there was still no answer.Gu Yanshu stood still for a moment after that.
Everyone stayed quiet.
Qin Jinzhe had already returned to the training area, and the silence that followed felt strangely thick, as if the room had remembered something but did not want to say it out loud. Gu Yanshu did not turn around at once. He only kept his eyes on the empty stretch of space ahead, then slowly glanced toward the side of the room where Qin Jinzhe had gone.
Too quiet.
That was the first thing.
Not the lack of sound itself.
The shape of it.
Qin Jinzhe had not spoken. He had not asked anything. He had not tried to explain himself. Yet the way he had moved back toward the training area had been too deliberate. It was not the movement of someone who had simply gone back to his place. It was the movement of someone who wanted to see something without looking like he wanted to see it.
Gu Yanshu's eyes lowered a little.
Qin Jinzhe had watched the button.
He had watched the speed change.
He had watched the house move faster with only one press.
And then he had gone away with that look in his eyes.
Gu Yanshu did not need to hear the thought to understand it.
Qin Jinzhe was already building a wall inside his own mind.
Only master can do this.
If I press it, nothing will happen.
I should not touch it.
That kind of thought was useful.
It made Qin Jinzhe keep distance.
But useful things still had to be shaped properly, or they would become obstacles later.
Gu Yanshu turned slightly and walked back toward the training area without saying anything.
Xon Leon was standing near Qin Jinzhe again, but now his posture had changed. Xon Leon still looked injured, still had blood drying on him in places, but his attention was no longer on his own wounds. It had shifted. His eyes were moving too quickly between Gu Yanshu and the button in the main area.
Gu Yanshu saw that and understood something else.
Xon Leon was not simply afraid of the button.
He was measuring himself against it.
That made him dangerous if left alone with it for too long.
Gu Yanshu stopped a few steps away.
Qin Jinzhe immediately straightened.
Gu Yanshu looked at him for a second, then at the wound that had already started healing, then at the hand that had been involved in blocking the blow earlier.
"Your reaction was late," Gu Yanshu said.
Qin Jinzhe lowered his head instantly. "I will correct it, Lord."
That answer was too fast.
Too eager.
Gu Yanshu noticed that too.
Not because Qin Jinzhe was insincere.
Because he was trying to protect himself by pleasing him too quickly.
That was different.
It meant Qin Jinzhe had already started thinking about how to survive this room, and survival always showed the real shape of a person.
Gu Yanshu walked one slow circle around him.
"Xon Leon was not aiming at you first," he said.
Qin Jinzhe's head lifted a little.
He did not interrupt.
Gu Yanshu went on, "He changed direction after I cut his chest. That means the body reacts when the signals change. Not before. After."
Qin Jinzhe listened carefully.
Gu Yanshu let the sentence settle.
Then he said, "You noticed the house speed."
Qin Jinzhe froze for half a breath.
Gu Yanshu's tone remained the same.
"You saw the button."
Qin Jinzhe did not answer immediately.
That was enough.
He had been caught in the exact place he had been trying to hide.
Gu Yanshu looked at him and said, "You were thinking about it."
Qin Jinzhe swallowed.
He still did not speak.
Gu Yanshu's voice stayed flat. "That is fine."
That made Qin Jinzhe look up again.
It was not what he expected.
Not a rebuke.
Not a warning.
Just a quiet acceptance.
That was more effective than anger.
Gu Yanshu continued, "If you saw something and did not think about it, then you would be useless. Thinking is not the problem. Thinking without understanding is."
Qin Jinzhe's eyes shifted.
Gu Yanshu had not scolded him for wondering about the button.
He had made the wondering feel legitimate.
That was enough to loosen Qin Jinzhe's guard.
Gu Yanshu saw it in the shoulders first.
Then the breathing.
Then the way his hand stopped being so tense.
Good.
He had opened the first layer.
Gu Yanshu glanced toward the main area and then back to him.
"You thought only I could use it."
Qin Jinzhe did not deny it.
That silence confirmed the thought better than words.
Gu Yanshu said, "You are right."
Qin Jinzhe's eyes moved slightly.
Gu Yanshu watched him.
He knew exactly what would happen now.
Qin Jinzhe would feel a little relief.
Then a little pride.
Then a little fear again, because if he had been right, then he had at least understood something. And if he had understood something, then maybe he was not as far behind as he thought.
That was the hook.
Gu Yanshu used the smallest words when he needed to pull someone forward.
"You are not wrong to notice that only the master can do certain things," Gu Yanshu said. "But you are wrong if you think that means you are not supposed to notice at all."
Qin Jinzhe's eyes sharpened.
That sentence moved exactly where it needed to.
Not on power.
On permission.
He had been quietly asking himself whether he should have looked at the button.
Gu Yanshu had just told him yes.
Look.
Notice.
Think.
As long as you do it in the right order.
The disciple's voice came out low. "I did not mean to be disrespectful."
Gu Yanshu gave him a faint look. "I did not say you were."
That made him pause again.
Then Gu Yanshu added, "If you had not watched, then I would have had to wonder whether you were blind."
Qin Jinzhe immediately straightened again, almost involuntarily.
That was another push.
Not enough to break him.
Enough to make him feel that being observant was not just allowed, it was expected.
Gu Yanshu turned his head slightly and looked toward the window.
The house was still accelerating.
The world outside moved faster now, and Area 909 was already passing underneath them with the same strange smoothness. Qin Jinzhe followed his gaze and looked out as well.
He saw it.
The speeding shift.
The moving sky.
The distance folding itself away with each second.
Gu Yanshu spoke without looking at him. "What do you think happens if the wrong person touches that button?"
Qin Jinzhe hesitated.
Then he answered carefully, "Nothing."
Gu Yanshu did not turn immediately.
"Why?"
The disciple thought for a moment longer.
Then he said, "Because the house obeys your hand, Lord."
Gu Yanshu's mouth did not change, but his eyes changed a little.
That answer was not perfect.
But it was close enough to be shaped.
Gu Yanshu turned back to him.
"That is one answer," he said. "Not the full one."
Qin Jinzhe looked down slightly.
Gu Yanshu continued, "The button is not the thing. The thing is the connection."
Qin Jinzhe did not answer.
Gu Yanshu said, "If you touch a thing without knowing how it is linked, you may activate it wrongly, or not at all. So the question is not whether you can press it. The question is whether you understand what the press means."
Qin Jinzhe stayed still.
Gu Yanshu walked past him and returned to the main area.
Qin Jinzhe followed, but his distance was different now. Not too close. Not too far. He was trying to stand inside Gu Yanshu's pace without interfering with it.
Gu Yanshu stopped at the control point and pressed the button again.
The house sped up once more.
Qin Jinzhe's eyes widened slightly again, despite himself.
The shift was immediate.
The movement outside became sharper.
The floor gave a faint vibration.
The windows trembled once, then steadied.
Qin Jinzhe stared at the button and then at Gu Yanshu.
Again.
Only one button.
Again.
The house was faster.
He could not keep his confusion hidden now.
Gu Yanshu noticed.
He also noticed something else.
Qin Jinzhe was no longer just amazed.
He was starting to compare.
Not compare the house.
Compare himself.
If I press it, nothing happens.
If master presses it, everything changes.
That was the thought growing inside him now.
But Gu Yanshu did not let it settle into helplessness.
"You are looking at it the wrong way," Gu Yanshu said.
Qin Jinzhe's eyes moved back to him.
"You are thinking of the button. Think of the control instead."
Qin Jinzhe frowned a little.
"Only the one who understands the room can move it," Gu Yanshu said. "Only the one who sees the whole path can set the speed."
That was enough to make Qin Jinzhe feel that the answer was not about mysterious strength alone.
It was about understanding.
Gu Yanshu turned his eyes toward him.
"You thought only I could do that."
Qin Jinzhe did not deny it.
Gu Yanshu said, "You are right."
Then continued, "But you are wrong if you think that means you are not supposed to notice at all."
Qin Jinzhe looked toward the main area button again.
Then he said, "No one else could do that."
Gu Yanshu did not answer immediately.
He let Qin Jinzhe finish the thought.
When a person spoke his own conclusion aloud, he trusted it more.
Only master.
Only Xon Leon.
Only he can do this.
Qin Jinzhe looked around once more, then said, "The house is moving faster now."
Gu Yanshu gave a small nod.
Then Qin Jinzhe's gaze moved away for a moment, back toward the training area.
Gu Yanshu saw it.
And made a note.
Qin Jinzhe still checked behind him after every shift.
He had not fully placed his trust.
Good.
Gu Yanshu turned slightly, then walked back toward the window.
He looked out.
The speed had increased again.
Area 909 was being crossed faster now, and the shape of the land below was sliding away almost before it could settle into sight.
Qin Jinzhe remained a step behind him.
After a few seconds, he asked carefully, "Lord… when you pressed it just now, did you change anything else?"
Gu Yanshu did not answer right away.
Then he said, "Because speed is only a result."
The disciple listened.
"The real thing is whether the path can keep holding the house. If the path can hold it, speed can increase. If it cannot, then speed only becomes damage."
Qin Jinzhe's expression changed slightly.
Gu Yanshu turned away from the window and walked back into the main area again.
Qin Jinzhe followed.
Then Gu Yanshu stopped.
No one else was there.
Gu Yanshu looked around slowly.
Something had changed.
Not in the room.
In the rhythm.
He turned his eyes toward Qin Jinzhe.
"You were here just now," Gu Yanshu said.
"Yes, Lord."
"And now?"
Qin Jinzhe looked around.
"I am still here."
Gu Yanshu said, "That is not the question."
"Did anyone else come with you?"
Qin Jinzhe's expression shifted slightly.
"No, Lord."
"Are you sure?"
Qin Jinzhe hesitated.
"I did not see anyone else."
Gu Yanshu nodded once.
Then he looked toward the training area.
He had felt something before.
A presence.
Not necessarily a body.
Maybe just a gaze.
He did not know yet.
But Qin Jinzhe's return had confirmed one thing.
Someone had been near enough to matter.
Then he said quietly, "If there was someone, you would not always notice at once."
Qin Jinzhe looked at him.
"Some things are not seen by strength. They are seen by habit. By timing. By whether the room feels wrong."
Qin Jinzhe stayed still.
Gu Yanshu reached for the control again.
Then stopped.
The next press came after a pause.
The house sped up.
Qin Jinzhe inhaled once, slow and controlled, and looked outside again.
He was no longer only amazed.
He was trying to understand the shape of the control.
That was enough.
And somewhere in the house, something had already started to watch more carefully.
Everyone stayed quiet.Gu Yanshu did not move at once.
He stood near the control point for a moment, eyes steady, while the house continued to speed forward through the sky. Area 909 was already sliding away beneath them. The air around the windows had begun to feel tighter, like the sect itself was pulling its own breath inward.
He did not look at the button again.
He looked at the second strongest disciple.
That was more important.
The disciple had already realized something. Gu Yanshu could see it in the way his eyes kept shifting, not wildly, but with restraint. He was watching the room now, not just the button. He was watching for a change he did not understand.
That was the right place to begin.
If he had only seen the button, then he would have stayed a spectator forever.
Now he was starting to ask what was behind it.
That was useful.
Gu Yanshu turned back toward the training area, then slowly walked in that direction.
The second strongest disciple followed without speaking.
The silence between them was not empty anymore. It had shape. The disciple had begun to fill it with his own thoughts, and that made him easier to move.
Gu Yanshu stopped near Xon Leon.
The senior brother was still in the afterstate of regeneration. Not fully stable. Not fully broken. His body had settled, but the feeling around him was still wrong, as if something had been cut out and then forced to pretend it remained.
Gu Yanshu looked at him once, then spoke without turning his head.
"Stay here."
The second strongest disciple stopped at once.
Gu Yanshu continued, "If something is watching, it will not watch the main area forever. It will watch the place where the movement matters."
The disciple looked up.
That sentence did not explain everything. It was not meant to. It was meant to narrow his attention. Make him think. Make him choose where the danger should be.
Gu Yanshu wanted him to start suspecting the right things.
Not the button.
Not the house.
The interest behind them.
The disciple's eyes moved once toward the window, then back to Gu Yanshu. "Someone is watching us?"
Gu Yanshu did not answer quickly.
He let the question breathe for a moment before touching it.
"If no one was watching," he said, "then the room would feel different."
The second strongest disciple's expression tightened a little.
He understood that much.
A person did not need proof to feel the shape of attention.
Gu Yanshu continued, "You felt that too. That is why you returned to the training area."
The disciple did not deny it.
That was enough.
Gu Yanshu looked at him more directly now.
"You did not go back because you were confused. You went back because you wanted to see whether anything changed when I pressed the button."
The disciple's jaw shifted.
He still stayed quiet.
Gu Yanshu said, "That is good."
The second strongest disciple looked at him again, surprised despite himself.
Gu Yanshu's voice remained calm. "It means you have a head that works."
The disciple's eyes moved slightly.
The compliment was not large, but it was exact. It landed in the right place. He had not been praised for being strong. He had been praised for noticing. For thinking. For trying to understand.
That mattered more.
Gu Yanshu watched the reaction spread through him.
The shoulders eased a little.
The breathing became less guarded.
The disciple had begun to believe his own observation was worth something.
That was the opening.
Gu Yanshu turned back to the room and said, "But now you will use that head properly."
The disciple straightened again.
Gu Yanshu went on, "If someone is spying, they will want a pattern. They will want to know who moves, when the house speeds up, and whether the main area changes when I leave it alone."
The second strongest disciple listened closely.
Gu Yanshu continued, "So we will not let them get the same answer twice."
The disciple frowned faintly.
He was thinking now.
Gu Yanshu liked that.
Thinking made people easier to lead if you knew where they were being led.
The disciple asked, "Lord… what do you want me to do?"
There it was.
The question he had been shaping him toward.
Gu Yanshu looked at him and said, "Watch the room. Not the whole room. The one place where a thing would hide if it wanted to be overlooked."
The disciple's eyes moved toward the corners.
Then the windows.
Then the edge of the main area.
Gu Yanshu did not correct him immediately.
He let him search.
Then he said, "Not there."
The disciple froze and looked back.
Gu Yanshu's gaze shifted slightly toward the space behind him, then to the side of the main area where the wall met the floor.
"Look at the movement," he said. "Not the body. The movement after the body."
The second strongest disciple followed the line of his eyes.
Then he understood.
He turned slowly, scanning the room in a more disciplined way now.
Gu Yanshu's lips did not change, but his mind was already moving.
The disciple had just been told to watch for a spy without being told where the spy was. That would keep him busy. It would keep him thinking. It would keep him from staring too long at the button with the wrong kind of curiosity.
It would also make him feel useful.
That was the point.
Gu Yanshu wanted him occupied.
A person who thought he was helping often stopped thinking about whether he was being moved.
The disciple was now watching the room more carefully than before, and that was exactly what Gu Yanshu wanted. If someone was listening or hiding nearby, then a disciple who had been given a task would be more likely to notice a disturbance. If no one was there, then the disciple would still be working for him, and he would trust that he had been useful.
Either way, Gu Yanshu gained.
That was a clean arrangement.
He moved a step toward the window and looked out again.
Area 909 was passing below.
The pace was steady now, but the house still felt too alive. He could sense the pressure of motion in the frame, in the walls, in the thin vibration of the glass. The speed had already changed the mood of the sect. A moving house could be controlled, but only if everyone inside knew where to place their mind.
That was why speed mattered.
Not just for travel.
For thought.
A person who stayed slow in a faster place became easy to read.
Gu Yanshu knew that.
He turned his head slightly.
The second strongest disciple was still scanning the room, but his attention kept circling back toward Gu Yanshu's hands. The button had already made a mark on his mind.
Good.
Let him wonder.
Gu Yanshu said, "You are still thinking about it."
The disciple looked up.
Gu Yanshu did not deny it. "The button."
The disciple lowered his eyes a little.
Gu Yanshu went on, "That is fine. If you saw it and did not think about it, I would have less use for you."
The disciple's fingers moved once.
A small reaction.
Gu Yanshu saw it.
The man had been waiting for permission without realizing it. Waiting to know whether his curiosity was acceptable.
That meant the next piece could be placed cleanly.
Gu Yanshu said, "You may think. But do not touch."
The disciple blinked.
It was a simple line, but it carried more than the words alone.
Think.
Do not touch.
That meant his mind was allowed near the mechanism, but his hand was not.
That was exactly the boundary Gu Yanshu wanted.
The second strongest disciple nodded slowly. "Understood."
Gu Yanshu's eyes turned slightly.
The disciple froze, remembering the earlier correction.
Gu Yanshu said, "Do not answer like that unless you know what you understand."
The disciple shut his mouth at once.
Gu Yanshu continued, "You are learning the shape of the room. That is enough. If you understand too quickly, you will become careless. If you understand too slowly, you will become useless."
The disciple listened with more attention than before.
That was good.
A person who had been corrected once listened harder the second time.
Gu Yanshu stepped back toward the main area and pressed the button again.
The house sped up immediately.
The movement outside sharpened.
The window frames vibrated lightly.
The second strongest disciple's eyes widened a fraction.
Gu Yanshu saw the change and did not comment on it.
Instead, he asked, "What did you notice?"
The disciple answered, "The house moved faster."
Gu Yanshu said nothing.
The disciple looked at him uncertainly, then added, "And the windows were not the first thing to shake this time."
Gu Yanshu's eyes moved slightly.
Better.
Much better.
He had started to observe in sequence.
The disciple continued to think aloud, slower now, more carefully. "The floor changed first, then the walls, then the air around the frame."
Gu Yanshu nodded once.
The disciple saw the nod and straightened a little.
Gu Yanshu said, "That is closer."
The disciple exhaled softly.
The approval was small, but it made the thought settle more firmly. He had been right enough to keep going. That would make him trust his own observation more next time.
That was good.
Gu Yanshu turned away and walked back toward the center of the room.
The second strongest disciple followed at a careful distance, still thinking about what he had just been shown. He was no longer just wondering whether the button could be pressed by anyone else. He was now trying to understand what happened before and after the press.
That was the path Gu Yanshu wanted.
He had not needed to say much.
Only enough to put the disciple onto the right track.
The house continued moving faster.
Gu Yanshu suddenly stopped.
The disciple behind him stopped too.
Gu Yanshu looked at the space in front of him.
He felt it again.
That odd sense.
Not loud. Not obvious.
Just a little pressure on the edge of the room, like someone had stepped close and then decided not to be seen.
His eyes moved toward the window.
Then the floor.
Then the far side of the main area.
Nothing.
But he knew the feeling was real.
The second strongest disciple noticed the change in Gu Yanshu's expression, slight though it was, and became still.
Gu Yanshu did not speak at once.
He waited.
That made the room feel even quieter.
Then he said, "You are still here."
The disciple answered at once, "Yes, Lord."
Gu Yanshu looked at him.
"Were you here just now?"
The disciple frowned slightly. "Yes."
"Did you leave the area?"
"No."
Gu Yanshu's eyes stayed on him.
The disciple began to understand where this was going and answered a little slower now. "I moved back to the training area."
Gu Yanshu nodded once.
Then he asked, "Before that?"
The disciple thought.
He had been watching the button. He had returned to the training area. He had looked at the house. He had not seen anyone else. That much he knew.
He said, "I did not see anyone come in."
Gu Yanshu continued to watch him.
That was enough.
He could already tell the disciple was being honest, but honesty was not the same as completeness. A person could tell the truth and still miss what mattered.
That was useful too.
Gu Yanshu said, "Then you missed something."
The disciple's face tightened.
Gu Yanshu continued, "That is not a fault yet. It becomes a fault only when you refuse to look again."
The disciple did not answer.
He was thinking hard now.
Good.
That kept his mind on the room and off the button.
Gu Yanshu walked toward the window and looked out.
The house was still speeding through Area 909.
It had already moved farther than before, and the change was becoming easier to measure. The distance under them kept folding away. The sky looked stable, but the motion inside the sect was still building. With each increase in speed, the inside of the house demanded more attention from those within it.
That was what he wanted.
Attention was a resource.
If the disciple spent it on the wrong thing, he would lose the ability to follow the real movement.
Gu Yanshu turned back.
"Tell me," he said.
The second strongest disciple raised his eyes.
"If there is a spy," Gu Yanshu asked, "what would he want to see first?"
The disciple thought fast now.
He had been given enough to form a useful answer.
"The main area," he said.
Gu Yanshu looked at him for a second.
Then he said, "Why?"
The disciple answered carefully, "Because that is where you control the house."
Gu Yanshu did not move.
The answer was right, but not complete.
He kept the silence long enough for the disciple to feel that.
Then he said, "And what else?"
The disciple paused.
His eyes shifted.
Then he spoke more slowly, "Because that is where the change becomes visible."
Gu Yanshu gave a faint nod.
That was the answer he wanted.
A spy would not only watch the hand on the button.
He would watch the place where the result appeared.
That meant the main area had become a point of interest whether anyone liked it or not.
Gu Yanshu had wanted the disciple to notice that himself.
Now he had.
That meant the disciple's thinking was moving in the right direction.
Gu Yanshu pressed the button again.
The house accelerated once more.
The second strongest disciple instinctively looked toward the outside and then back to the main area, as if now trying to compare the movement with the place where it had begun.
That was good.
Comparing was better than staring.
Gu Yanshu spoke softly. "What is the difference now?"
The disciple answered after a brief pause, "It is not only speed."
Gu Yanshu looked at him.
The disciple continued, more carefully now, "It feels tighter. Like the house is holding itself together more closely while moving."
Gu Yanshu's eyes shifted a little.
Interesting.
He had noticed the correct shape of the motion.
The house was not simply faster.
It was becoming more disciplined under speed.
That meant the disciple's observation was improving.
That also meant the disciple could be taught to read the house's reactions over time, which was useful if someone ever tried to interfere from inside the sect.
Gu Yanshu said, "Good."
The disciple stood a little straighter.
Then Gu Yanshu added, "Keep watching the changes. Not because I need you to obey. Because the one who sees the shift first decides whether it becomes a problem."
The second strongest disciple absorbed that line quietly.
It was another hook.
Not praise.
Not force.
Responsibility.
That was how Gu Yanshu kept control without seeming to.
The disciple's own mind would keep him close now, because he had been made responsible for the room itself.
Gu Yanshu turned his face slightly.
The feeling of being watched had not gone away.
In fact, it had gotten a little cleaner.
That was not good.
It meant the watcher was either getting bolder or better at hiding.
Gu Yanshu did not look alarmed.
He only thought more carefully.
If someone was inside the sect and watching, then he needed to know whether that person was looking at the button, the house speed, or the main area itself.
He could test that.
Not with force.
With pattern.
Gu Yanshu pressed the button again and let the house speed up another step.
Then he stopped.
He stood still and watched the room.
The second strongest disciple watched the window first, then the floor, then the main area, exactly as Gu Yanshu had been training him to do.
Nothing moved.
No one spoke.
But the pressure remained.
Gu Yanshu knew now that the room was not empty in the way it had been before.
Someone was paying attention.
He did not know where yet.
But he knew enough to plan the next move.
That was all he needed.
He turned slightly toward the second strongest disciple and said, "Stay where you are."
The disciple immediately stopped moving.
Gu Yanshu looked at him.
"You will not follow me with your eyes every time I turn," he said. "You will watch the room first."
The disciple's expression changed a little.
Gu Yanshu went on, "If something is truly spying, then it wants you to move after me. If you move too predictably, you will make it easier for me to be read."
That was the kind of sentence that forced the disciple to think from a different angle.
Not just "what am I seeing," but "what am I showing."
That was useful.
Gu Yanshu wanted him to understand that even his own attention could be a signal if it was repeated too often.
The second strongest disciple stood still now, trying to hold his attention in place.
Good.
That was the first part of the scheme.
The second part was simpler.
Gu Yanshu pressed the button one more time, then turned toward the training area without warning.
Not quickly.
Just enough.
He wanted to see whether the hidden gaze would follow the main area, the button, or the movement of his body away from it.
The second strongest disciple stayed where he was, because he had been told not to move.
That alone changed the room.
Gu Yanshu could feel it.
The pressure shifted.
The watcher, if there was one, had responded.
Good.
That was enough to confirm it.
He walked into the training area with the same unreadable face as before, and inside his mind the line had already become clear.
Someone was watching.
Someone had been watching the button.
Someone had been watching the speed.
And now someone had reacted to his movement.
That meant the spy was not outside the sect.
He was already close enough to care.
Gu Yanshu did not show it on his face.
He only looked at Xon Leon, then at the second strongest disciple, and quietly began planning the next step as the house sped on toward Area 910.