Chapter 403: Woman in Black, Terracotta Puppet

ears to be an HTML tag, so I'm just returning the text you provided enclosed in the correct tags:```html``` Let me know if you have any other text you'd like me to translate!“Let me see, how well hav...Just as Lu Xiaoteng and his group entered the cave, the bearded man arrived outside. However, soon after the bearded man arrived, there was another fluctuation of spiritual energy behind him. A transparent white light shield enveloped a black-clothed girl with a black veil covering her face. The fluctuations of spiritual energy emanating from the black-clothed girl were not strong.

The bearded man hid in the shadows, looking at the arrival of the black-clad girl with some surprise. The black-clad girl before him was only at the peak of Qi Refining cultivation, yet she dared to enter this heavy water domain. The defensive treasure on her body was good, but things that are unusual must have demons. The bearded man did not startle the black-clad girl.

The girl in black seemed very familiar with the situation here, and she quickly entered the stone cave. The bearded man hesitated for a moment before following her.

The young girl in black entered the cave and looked around. Then, at an inconspicuous rock, she used her hand to dig away the silt on top, revealing a rough stone slab. An ordinary cultivator, even if they accidentally knocked off some silt, wouldn't find anything unusual about this slab. It looked just like any other ordinary stone hidden in the silt.

Just seeing this stone tablet, the girl in black couldn't help but smile. She reached out and tapped the stone tablet rhythmically a few times. With a crackle, the stone tablet split open on both sides, revealing a shallow groove about a foot deep. Inside was a mechanism with an intricate pattern engraved on it.

"This must be the mechanism of the formation control, what a clever girl," The black-clad girl was about to open the mechanism when, at this moment, the bearded man quietly emerged from behind and said in a low voice.

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"Of course not, this mechanism is only used to deal with intruders from the outside. Those who have already entered the cave naturally have other mechanisms." The girl in black turned back and smiled sweetly.

“Not good!” The bearded man didn't expect the other party to have discovered him so early. He reached out and slapped a palm directly at the black-clad girl, regardless of anything else. After all, this black-clad girl only had the cultivation base of Great Perfection of Qi Refining. With her own cultivation base, he could kill her with just a slap. It's just that if the other party still controlled other mechanisms, once they were activated, it would be very detrimental to him.

The bearded man made his move, revealing a cultivation base of the late Qi Refining stage. Facing a cultivator of the early Qi Refining stage, he could crush him to death with a single hand. However, what happened next left the bearded man dumbfounded. Patches of starlight suddenly appeared on the girl's body, and within the starlight, several shadows resembling the girl emerged. Even with his cultivation level, he couldn't tell which was real and which was an illusion.

The burly man with a beard slightly opened his mouth, and at that moment, the mechanism outside had been activated. At the entrance of the cave, several mountain stones seemed to ripple like water waves. As the ripples spread, several stone gates appeared.

"What a formidable illusionary enchantment!" The bearded man exclaimed. "That which appeared to be moss-covered rocks was merely an illusion. Even a cultivator at the late Qi Refining stage couldn't see through it, not even a hint of abnormality."

The stone gate roared open, and ten terracotta warriors poured out. They were neither gold nor stone, shimmering with an otherworldly light. Standing seven feet tall, they resembled ordinary humans in size. Each warrior held a long spear and wore armor, appearing like soldiers from the mortal world. However, these terracotta warriors clearly belonged to the realm of cultivators.

These terracotta warriors were not slow, in the blink of an eye they blocked the entrance to the cave. At the same time, their long spears danced in their hands, and several terracotta warriors who rushed out first had already charged at the bearded man from several directions.

The burly man, Hu Zi, was taken aback. He was a cultivator at the late stage of foundation establishment, that much was true. Individually, these terracotta warriors might not have been stronger than him, but there were ten sixth-rank puppets before him.

The bearded man reached out and drew a pair of yin-yang double halberds, one white and one black. With a wide swing from side to side, he struck with great force, shattering the long spears of two clay puppet soldiers. However, the others continued to wave their weapons unchecked.

The burly man quickly retaliated, knocking aside two of the long spears. However, another one came at him with a tricky angle, striking his ribs directly.

The burly man hastily brandished a talisman, and a golden armor emerged, encasing him completely.

With a clang, the long spear struck the golden armor and was blocked. Before the bearded man could breathe a sigh of relief, several more terracotta warrior puppets rushed over.

The burly man with a beard was flustered, and two long spears struck him in succession. One after another, the blows shattered the golden armor that had been transformed from the talismans. The burly man was sent flying, blood gushing from his mouth.

When he came to his senses, the ten terracotta soldier puppets had already formed a triangular formation. There was one in the front row, two in the second, and four in the third. It looked like a sharp arrowhead charging towards him.

The bearded man, Hu Zi, was taken aback. He had seen many puppets before, but never one that didn't need to be controlled by someone. These clay puppet soldiers seemed to have intelligence and could even form battle formations.

The Third Divine being possessed within Dikun was even more shocked by the sight before him. These ten clay figurine puppets were weaker individually compared to his earthman puppets, but after forming a simple battle formation, their power increased exponentially. Working together, they were capable of crushing his earthman puppets. Just now, this bearded man was lucky; the clay figurine puppets initially attacked in a scattered manner and had not yet formed a battle formation. Otherwise, this bearded man would have likely had no chance to escape.

The bearded man had obviously realized he was no match for his opponent. However, at this moment, the exit was blocked by the terracotta army puppets. Gritting his teeth, he knew there was a trap inside, but for the bearded man at this point, there were no better options. He could still think of other ways to escape, but staying meant walking straight into a dead end.

Lu Xia Tian's third Yuan Shen possessed the back of Di Kun, hiding in the shadows and carefully observing everything before him. The woman in black was clearly a bit strange. Although the bearded man saw her as just a Qi Refinement cultivator afterward and became somewhat careless, the woman in black was able to notice the bearded man promptly, clearly indicating that she wasn't simple herself. As for the protective light shield surrounding her body, Lu Xia Tian estimated that even if the bearded man launched a surprise attack, it would be difficult to kill her with a single strike.

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Looking at the ten terracotta puppet soldiers in front of him, Lu Xia Tian secretly made a plan. If he charged directly, with Di Kun's astonishing defense, he might not be afraid. However, with his eyesight, he could naturally see that the formation of the terracotta puppet soldiers was not simple. Once Di Kun was held back, more terracotta puppet soldiers emerged, and I'm afraid that even with Di Kun's abilities, he would only have to choose to retreat. Besides, it was unknown whether this black-clothed girl had other means. He should observe first before making a decision.

Lu Xia Tian's third yuan spirit condensed for a moment, deciding to still not startle the snake in the grass and see what the black-clad girl's final move was.

The girl in black saw the bearded man startled by the clay puppet and chuckled softly. She then took out a tiger talisman from her storage bag and placed it in a groove beneath the stone slab. With a hum, something seemed to activate. Lu Xia Tian's face changed. His previous feeling was right; there was indeed an array formation in this cave.

This is a placeholder for text that would go here.rom between his eyebrows. 。Floating before him, the sword shadow was still far from the Soul Origin Sword. It was not yet powerful enough to be used against an enemy. However, Lu Xia Tian had only be...