James said nothing more, merely gesturing for Yuko Ogura to approach. The Japanese woman, Yuko Ogura, drifted gracefully to the center of the great hall, then offered a radiant smile to the assembled company. "I wonder which of our Chinese friends would care to demonstrate some Chinese Kung Fu for this humble woman?" Before anyone could answer, she pointed directly at Young Master Liu. "I greatly admire the skill of Tianyun Jun from your esteemed sect, but somehow, you angered him into leaving us and wandering off alone. Perhaps now, you might allow me to experience the legendary power of a Daoist Master."

Young Master Liu’s lips curled into a cold sneer. "The Japanese are always the lackeys of American hegemony. Since you come to Chinese soil to engage in petty thievery, allow me to teach you a lesson."

Yuko Ogura showed no sign of anger, merely offering an alluring, coquettish smile. "The Daoist Master has quite a temper!"

Young Master Liu snorted, cutting her off, and glared at her with undisguised disgust. "Enough nonsense. Show me the despicable, base art of Dongying Ninjutsu."

With that, he slowly walked into the center of the area, stopping before Yuko Ogura.

At that moment, Scholar Jia noticed a subtle, strange smile twitching at the corner of Yuko Ogura’s mouth. A thought struck him suddenly: Young Master Liu’s supernatural abilities had been suppressed the moment they entered the range of the Wuji Daozang scripture. Why, then, could this Japanese female ninja still perform her supernatural transformation just moments ago?

Seeing that Young Master Liu was about to engage Yuko Ogura, Scholar Jia felt a surge of unease. If it were merely a contest of genuine martial arts, Jia was confident Young Master Liu would not lose to her. But if the Japanese ninja employed her anomalous arts, Young Master Liu would be in grave danger. Observing Ogura's eerie smile, Jia felt she was utterly confident in her success. He then quickly glanced at James and his group across the hall; every one of them watched Young Master Liu and Yuko Ogura with calm, composed smiles.

Seeing this, Scholar Jia’s heart leaped, and he shouted, "Hold it! Boy Liu, don't strike yet!" Young Master Liu turned back to him, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.

Scholar Jia stared steadily at James. "Yankee, you've played a nasty game!"

James’s mouth twitched slightly, before he resumed his false smile. "Mr. Jia, what are you implying? What game am I playing?"

Scholar Jia enunciated every word. "If I'm not mistaken, near the secret river where those white Zhong insects lurked, you must have seen us hidden somewhere. Then you deliberately dropped the detector. This deliberate abandonment of the device must have served two purposes. First, you were already terrified by the Zhong insects of ancient China's Nanzhao, and you deliberately stayed behind us, using us as scouts. Any danger encountered would certainly be handled by us, and only when the treasure was found would you emerge to claim it without risk. Second, you experienced our supernatural abilities before and were soundly defeated. When the true treasure appears and you show yourselves to seize it, what is your biggest worry? It must be the abilities of people like us. So, what did you do? You devised a scheme to control our powers. Am I correct, dear Doctor?"

James’s expression shifted slightly. He unnaturally adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, then asked with a touch of slyness, "Has your Chinese Daoist magic truly vanished? What does that have to do with us?" As he spoke, he spread his hands, indicating complete innocence regarding the situation.

Scholar Jia gave a cold laugh. "You old fox, are you still acting? Your lackey, Yuko Ogura, just performed an ability transformation. What does that tell us? It tells us that your people's anomalous powers have not disappeared."

James suddenly threw back his head and roared with laughter. "Boy, when we first appeared, I was indeed worried whether your Daoist arts had truly vanished. Now, after your speech, I can finally rest easy."

At this, the people beside him erupted in synchronized laughter, following James’s booming mirth. The way they looked at the others had turned vicious, like wolves gazing at a flock of sheep awaiting slaughter.

Meanwhile, on Scholar Jia's side, everyone looked at him with confusion, wondering why he would reveal the supposed disappearance of Young Master Liu’s Daoist powers to the Americans.

Scholar Jia stared coldly as James’s group laughed wildly. When their laughter began to subside, he walked over to the 'cabbage worm' (cai qing chong) and took the supposed high-tech detector from its hand. He then stood silently, observing the ugly face of James.

James abruptly stopped laughing, his eyes quickly darting toward the detector in Scholar Jia's hand. Jia keenly registered that fleeting, unconscious glance. A mix of joy and tension surged through him. Jia took a deep breath, calculated quickly, and decided to take a gamble.

He looked at James with an expression of mockery, lightly tossed the detector in his hand, and said, "Doctor, if I smash this detector to pieces, do you think our anomalous powers will immediately return?"

James’s face changed abruptly; disbelief seemed to flicker in his eyes. He managed a strained smile toward Jia and said, "What are you talking about? I don't understand what you mean."

Seeing his expression and his eyes, Scholar Jia’s internal guess became certainty. He said calmly to James, "You know exactly what I mean." With that, he raised the detector and smashed it violently onto the ground with a loud CRASH. The device broke into several pieces. Amidst the internal wreckage of circuit boards, chips, and coils, a small sphere rolled out—a metal ball the size of a thumb, glowing with a distinct luster.

Scholar Jia bent down and picked up the sphere. He noticed several tiny holes dotted across its surface, from which broken filament wires seemed to protrude.

He looked up at James. "Doctor, this thing is what suppresses the anomalous powers, isn't it? Now, do you think it’s still useful?"

At this point, James’s face darkened completely. He glared fiercely at Scholar Jia. "Hmph. Even if you recover your supernatural abilities, so what? We will still be the ones to win the treasure in the end."

Scholar Jia laughed heartily. "Is that so, Doctor? Then let's settle this with action." Turning to Young Master Liu, he said, "Boy, now you can use pure Chinese Daoist arts to properly educate that Japanese Ninjutsu."

Young Master Liu smiled at Scholar Jia. With a slight exertion of inner energy, a wave of invisible gang qi instantly enveloped his entire body. The gang qi stirred his clothes, causing them to ripple faintly. The talisman in his hand immediately seemed to come alive; with a simple shake, it emitted a sharp, tearing sound as it cut through the air.

Across from him, the face of the Japanese ninja, Yuko Ogura, which had been overtly seductive, showed a brief flicker of alarm, though she immediately regained her composure. Slowly, she untied a purple sash from her waist, emitting a delicate giggle. "Little handsome one, you must go easy on me."