At this moment, the members of the Second Group also slammed on their brakes, and upon seeing the scene before them, they felt somewhat desperate.
What is going on here!
They had been running wildly, and many had died due to trap mechanisms, initially thinking they were gradually increasing their distance from the chasing Puppets. However, were they now getting wrapped up like dumplings?
They knew that if they moved a few steps further, they would activate those Puppets. Having time was one thing, but those behind them were already catching up fast!
Was the difficulty now a bit too high?
Time was becoming increasingly pressing.
Tang Yu furrowed his brows, pondering whether he needed to activate his "Unparalleled" ability.
Suddenly, the process of these Puppets reviving flashed through his mind.
It seemed that he could still hold on for a bit longer...
"Charge straight ahead!"
The distance between each sculpture was about five or six meters, quite spacious, and Tang Yu just dashed straight through the middle.
Wherever he passed, the sound of cracking continued nonstop, and the stone layers fell off in masses.
He suddenly realized that these "stone sculptures" were not originally sculptures. The tomb wasn't designed with the Terracotta Army in mind. After all, Puppets were meant to move. Adding a layer of stony epidermis actually made the Puppets' revival somewhat sluggish.
Perhaps, there was some preservation method for these Puppets, allowing them to endure through the years without damage. However, they had ultimately been displayed too long. Once things are left for a long duration, they naturally gather dust, and in this Secret Realm, who knows how long it has existed for. The accumulated dust over time gradually formed a stony layer. It seemed... not so strange after all.
Tang Yu, the "Great Detective," felt this made a lot of sense.
The surrounding Puppets were gradually starting to revive, and he was right in the middle of this Puppet formation. Once the Puppets revived, there would be no escape, but the Awakeners of the Second Group suddenly came to a realization, "Quick, let's also rush through!"
It took the Puppets a few seconds to completely revive once activated.
Activation occurred because Awakeners ran past them, and by the time the Puppets fully revived, with the speed of the Awakeners, they would have already run far away.
This method was actually simple; those Awakeners were just too nervous and hadn't thought of this immediately. They now sprinted wildly, and even though they were two to three seconds slower, they could still make it on time.
Their faces showed hopeful joy.
The Lion's Mouth Raceway Team, after a halftime break, continued the race in the second half.
At this moment, at the edge of a cliff.
A significant number of Awakeners gathered.
Beyond the cliff was a mountain wall, with several beast heads that had their mouths wide open.
A group of Awakeners came running one after another through the passage shaped like a lion's open mouth.
Some wondered why so many Awakeners were gathered ahead, and upon running over, they found it to be a cliff. Far across, one could see a broad platform. However, the distance between the cliff and the platform was at least a few hundred meters, and about the same in height, which was too far for the current abilities of the Awakeners to jump across.
Looking further down, the cliff dropped into pitch darkness, with only the sound of rushing water faintly audible, yet it was unknown how deep it was or whether there might be dangers below.
This was rather desperate.
With countless pursuers behind and no discernible path ahead!
"Damn, what do we do? Those Puppets will catch up to us soon!"
"Darn, if it weren't for those guys startling so many Puppets at once, we wouldn't be in such a mess!"
Thinking of the first grand hall, where a group of Awakeners accidentally activated a statue and foolishly decided to destroy the remaining statues before they could awaken.
Among these people was a Fire Series Ability User master who conjured a huge fireball intending to smash the statue into dust, however, only the stone layer shattered, leaving the Heavy Armor Puppet inside unscathed. Only the very central puppet was damaged beyond repair, while the activation of the others ensued.
At this thought, they gritted their teeth in frustration.
If Tang Yu had been there, he would have realized that it wasn't a matter of bad luck for any group in particular, but rather that the probability of encountering troublemakers was far too high.
An Awakener glanced around at the groups that had arrived before them, "There are more of us here, why don't we just take on the puppets!"
The others hesitated briefly before nodding in agreement.
After passing through several grand halls and drawing the ire of quite a few puppets, they were well aware that, should a real battle break out, they might win, but at a potentially high cost in lives.
But at the moment, instead of trying to reach the platform on the other side, it seemed better to stand their ground against the puppets. Who knew what dangers lay beyond the platform? Given the nature of this tomb, they felt the likelihood of danger was all too great.
"Let's just hold our position at the entrance of the passage and snipe those Heavy Armor Puppets," they proposed.
Nearby, the Awakeners who had arrived at the cliff earlier were puzzled.
"Puppets? What puppets?"
After exchanging information, the Awakeners who had rushed out from the Lion's Mouth passage were shocked to discover that those who had arrived earlier via the Tiger's Mouth passage encountered no dangers whatsoever!
Neither puppets nor the myriad traps along the way were encountered.
According to these individuals, the Tiger's Mouth passage was a straight line and it took them just about ten minutes to reach this cliffside.
"That self-proclaimed Thief King Zuofo had said only the bravest adventurers would obtain the final treasure, yet we encountered nothing on our way here. How does that even select the bravest adventurers?"
The dozens of Awakeners who had emerged from the Lion's Mouth passage, after numerous hardships, twitched at the corners of their mouths, nearly wishing they could smash the speaker.
No wonder they thought there were a lot of people here—it turned out the other passage had not only been safe but also shorter. Even if those people walked slowly, they would have arrived sooner.
God knows how many detours they had taken within the Lion's Mouth passage.
Tang Yu, who was rushing out from the Bear's Mouth passage, heard the conversation from afar.
His face was even darker than those from the Lion's Mouth.
The route they had taken was not merely detours—it was akin to the winding mountain roads!
They had crossed mountains, seas, throngs of people, and endured untold hardships to get here, not knowing how many followers they had lost along the way!
Yet those who took the Tiger's Mouth route arrived with ease.
Was this not a lesson in the importance of choices?
The others looked somewhat grim, especially Peng Bo, who was now panting heavily.
Shaking his head, he saw the Second Group of Awakeners also nearing the endpoint. "Prepare yourselves, let's snipe those puppets at this exit as well."
The Awakeners from the Tiger's Mouth passage realized they could not remain indifferent. They gathered at the exits of the Lion's and Bear's Mouth passages, with some dispatched elsewhere, to guard against the possibility of puppets emerging from other passages.
Everyone stared wide-eyed…