Heiress Unmasked: Shaking the World With Geomancy novel Chapter 1983

The exit was located at the main venue of the tournament. The list of participants who had successfully passed the first round was yet to be officially announced.

As the participants passed through the exit one by one, they entered through a door that resembled the ghost gate. Those who walked through would automatically return to the reality of the tournament venue.

Shannon's group was at the back because they were busy checking the items. Lexie and Heston walked through second to last, with Shannon being the last to enter.

However, after Lexie and Heston stepped through the ghost gate and appeared in the center of the venue, Shannon's figure was nowhere to be seen. Her footage from the surveillance talisman also went completely dark.

Meanwhile, the specially requested ghost gate began to disappear slowly.

The people inside the venue, as well as those watching the livestream, hadn't yet realized something was wrong, but the elders on the judges' panel were the first to react.

"Quick—stop the ghost gate from disappearing!"

As soon as those words sounded, Mike and Lexie, closest in proximity, reacted instantly.

One grabbed the singing bowl, while the other urgently called, "Heston, go get Shannon!"

As the sound of the singing bowl rang out, Heston's figure instantly vanished.

The next second, he appeared at the original location of the ghost gate. However, the gate, which had been there just moments before, disappeared.

The venue was in momentary chaos.

"Where's Shannon? Did she not come out?"

"What's going on? Don't tell me she can't get out!"

"No way!"

The venue erupted into noise, both onstage and offstage, and those closely related to Shannon, such as Lexie, were particularly tense and anxious.

The man was dressed in dark, regal clothing, exuding an imposing and cold demeanor. He looked at her and slowly spoke in a deep, cold voice, concise and direct.

"I'll buy the half-scroll painting you have in your hand. Name your price."

He pointed at the corner of the painting scroll that was poking out of Shannon's bag, which she had just taken from the old ghost.

Upon hearing that he was interested in the painting, Shannon felt an unexpected sense of understanding.

She didn't immediately agree but instead asked, "Is it the painting you want, or the person in it?"

The man didn't answer her question but coldly repeated, "Name your price."

Shannon was about to respond when she suddenly felt another presence in the ghost mist. Along with the familiar figure emerging from the fog, a voice, smooth and lazily charming, drifted toward her.

"Isn't it logical that an item should always be returned to its rightful owner? What makes you think you have the right to buy it from me, the owner?"