Chapter 590: First
Instantly, thousands of eyes shifted toward her screen.
The audience collectively gasped.
"What kind of Teleportation Talisman did she use?"
"She crossed that distance in barely fifteen minutes!"
Even the broadcasting drone following her had been forced to activate its own teleportation technology just to keep up.
Despite that, it was still slightly behind.
By the time the drone caught up, Lana had already begun exorcising the ghost.
At that moment, the audience unknowingly leaned forward. Even those who had disliked her earlier couldn’t help becoming interested.
After all, watching a wealthy young lady casually spend expensive talismans as though they were scraps of paper was strangely entertaining.
On the screen, Lana calmly raised one hand.
The ghost immediately became visible through the competition’s specialised spiritual cameras.
At the same time, the system instantly began analysing its spiritual age.
Several numbers rapidly flashed across the screen.
Everyone held their breath.
Logically speaking, an early-stage Heaven Rank mystical cultivator should struggle immensely against a two-hundred-year-old ghost.
Only those who had reached the later stages of the Heaven Rank would have an easier time exorcising one.
That was common knowledge. Then, Lana casually formed a small sphere of condensed mystical energy.
Without any unnecessary movements, she flicked it forward. Boom!
The blue sphere struck the ghost directly.
Before anyone could even react... the ghost let out a miserable shriek.
Its body instantly shattered into countless particles before disappearing completely.
The battlefield analysis system immediately scanned the surrounding area.
After several seconds, a mechanical voice echoed throughout the arena.
"No external interference detected. Exorcism completed solely through contestant Lana’s mystical power. The ghost was successfully eliminated. Completion time: Five minutes. Current First Place."
The audience became speechless. Even the judges stared at the giant screen.
Mason frowned deeply before letting out a cold snort. "That ghost must have been unusually weak."
However, before anyone could agree with him, the analysis system continued displaying additional information.
Target Age Analysis: Not exactly two hundred years old.
Seeing that sentence, many people subconsciously let out sighs of relief.
Several spectators even began laughing.
"I knew it! She’s definitely going to be penalized."
"Looks like she broke the competition rules."
Another person smirked.
"So much for all that arrogance. She bragged about becoming champion, and now she’s already getting disqualified."
Before anyone could celebrate, a second line slowly appeared beneath the first.
Confirmed Spiritual Age: More than Two Hundred Fifty Years.
The smiles instantly froze. The entire arena fell into complete silence once again.
Not a single person spoke.
Meanwhile, the remaining nine contestants were still struggling to locate or exorcise their assigned ghosts.
By the time Lana calmly returned to the arena, she had already secured first place.
She casually sat back down in the same chair as before. This time, nobody dared mock her.
Lana leisurely sipped the milk tea she had bought on the way back.
She looked as though she had merely gone for a relaxing walk rather than completing a competition.
In the audience, Axel’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
He genuinely couldn’t understand this woman anymore.
’Where in the world did she even learn all of this? She’s leaving everyone else so far behind...’
Time continued passing.
Eventually... Shelly, Veronica, Matt, Janet, and the remaining contestants all returned one after another.
Most of them looked exhausted. Some had dirt on their robes.
Others were still panting from the intense battle.
The moment Janet noticed Lana comfortably lounging in her chair with a cup of milk tea in her hand, she couldn’t help walking over.
A teasing smile spread across her face. "Hey, Lana."
She laughed lightly. "Don’t tell me you never even left the arena."
She expected everyone around her to laugh along.
Instead, the audience looked at her with strangely sympathetic expressions.
Their eyes almost seemed to say, ’Poor thing... She has absolutely no idea what just happened.’
Janet blinked in confusion. Before she could ask anything else, Lana smiled pleasantly. "Oh."
She took another sip of her milk tea. "Sorry. I finished my task a long time ago."
She tilted her head slightly before adding with a playful smile,
"Anyway, congratulations to me. I’m the first-place ranker of the first round."
Janet’s smile completely disappeared. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
"How...? How is that even possible?"
Lana simply chuckled.
"If you want to know..."
She pointed toward the enormous broadcast screen behind them.
"You’ll have to watch the replay."
With that, she nonchalantly waved her hand before turning away as though the outcome had never been in doubt.
Seeing her carefree attitude, someone in the audience couldn’t help but mutter, "This girl is way too arrogant."
Another person immediately replied, "But honestly, she really is that good, you know."
Everyone around them instinctively fell silent.
After all, every one of the other nine candidates had received assistance from their respective universities.
Long before the competition had even begun, the universities had already located suitable ghosts from miles away and sealed them in locations close to their candidates, saving them an enormous amount of time.
Yet despite all that preparation, none of them could compare to Lana.
She had simply sent her crow straight toward the suburbs, allowed it to locate a ghost on its own, exorcised it there, and returned without relying on anyone else’s arrangements.
Hearing those words, the audience gradually quieted down.
Someone still refused to accept it and couldn’t help but grumble,
"It’s all because of her talismans. Talismans should honestly be banned. This competition is supposed to test one’s own abilities. If someone keeps using talismans, then what’s even the point?"
The man sitting beside him immediately frowned before replying,
"Isn’t that a little hypocritical? The other candidates literally accepted external help from their universities. What’s wrong with using something that’s at least the result of her own efforts instead of depending on someone else?"
Those words instantly shut up several people nearby.
The man continued calmly,
"Even if she possesses an enormous number of talismans, those are still things she earned through her own capabilities. She wasn’t handed those for free."
He folded his arms before continuing.
"Besides, the competition has never prohibited universities from helping their own candidates. Do you know why? Because that assistance itself is considered a reflection of the candidate’s capability."
He glanced toward the stage before adding,
"The only reason those universities are willing to take such risks and prepare everything in advance is because those candidates have already proven themselves worthy. Doesn’t that alone speak volumes about how the competition maintains absolute fairness?"
The surrounding crowd slowly became quiet. No matter how much they wanted to argue, they couldn’t find a flaw in that reasoning.
Meanwhile, Mason quietly looked toward Lana before writing down his score.
Out of everyone present, he gave her a 9 out of 10.
Considering he was someone who clearly disliked her, that score was already incredibly high.
Still, once the results were announced, Lana walked over without the slightest hesitation.
"Why did I receive a nine?"
Unlike Mason, both Jessica and Kylie had awarded her a perfect 10 out of 10.
Her speed, flawless accuracy, calm judgment, and overwhelming personal capability had completely changed their impression of her.
Mason calmly met her gaze.
"You could’ve simply used a ghost-capturing talisman and instructed your crow to bring the ghost back."
He paused for a brief moment before continuing. "That would’ve eliminated the return trip entirely."
His expression remained perfectly indifferent.
"You still wasted precious time. You could’ve done even better."
Hearing those words, Lana’s eyes widened ever so slightly. ’...He’s right.’
For the first time since the competition had begun, genuine surprise appeared on her face.
Meanwhile, the audience erupted into whispers once more.
"He’s definitely doing this on purpose."
"He has to be jealous."
Someone nodded vigorously before adding, "Exactly. He’s obviously targeting her."
However, another group thought differently.
"No, he did the right thing."
"She has been acting far too arrogantly."
"It’s about time someone brought her down a notch."
As countless discussions filled the stadium like buzzing bees, Lana simply nodded. "I understand."
Her answer was short, calm, and completely free of resentment.
Hearing that response, Mason quietly relaxed. Although he would never openly admit it, his impression of Lana rose dramatically.
At the very least, it had become significantly better. Soon, the final scores were revealed.
In the end, Veronica and Matt were eliminated. Matt stood frozen in place.
He still couldn’t believe that the woman he had constantly looked down upon, the very same woman he had confidently assumed wouldn’t even survive the first round, not only advanced to the next stage but had actually ranked first.
Meanwhile, he himself had been eliminated right at the beginning of the second round.
The bitterness in his chest felt like poison. Without another word, Matt and Veronica were escorted off the stage.
Once they had left, the judges quietly discussed the next challenge among themselves.
Since the first round ended too quickly, they decided to do the second round too.