Chapter 385: Different Daos, No Joint Schemes

Ah!

A heart‑rending howl suddenly echoed across the battlefield.

The few Martial Emperors suppressing Zi Ling in the distance immediately looked toward Yin Zhicheng, who had let out the miserable cry.

Immediately, they saw Yin Zhicheng's palm stained with that purplish‑black liquid.

Moreover, Yin Zhicheng's palm rapidly began to wither!

The flesh on his hand quickly turned black and then shriveled.

In just a few breaths, his hand was reduced to bare bone!

Moreover, the corrosion of the death poison was far from over, continuing to spread up Yin Zhicheng's arm.

Yin Zhicheng looked horrified, distancing himself from Zi Ling, unable to believe his own hand had become inhuman.

"What… what exactly are you, a monster?"

Even a Martial Emperor's self‑healing ability could not withstand this poison's corrosion!

Yin Zhicheng hastily took out the life‑preserving pill he had stored for years and swallowed it.

This was a precious pill he had once spent a fortune to have an eighth‑grade alchemist refine.

According to that alchemist, as long as the injury was not instantly fatal,

this pill could heal any injury!

Even if the injury was unimaginable, it could at least sustain his life, letting him hold out until he found that eighth‑grade alchemist for rescue!

After hastily swallowing the pill, Yin Zhicheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, in just an instant, he became terrified again.

In that eighth‑grade alchemist's words, it was practically a miraculous elixir that could raise the dead and restore flesh to bone.

Yet against this terrifying death poison it had not the slightest effect!

It couldn't even slow the withering trend!

Under everyone's gaze, the arm of Yin Zhicheng that had touched Zi Ling was already nothing but bone!

Moreover, dark cracks began to appear on that white‑bone arm!

"Damn it, you damned Han Feng, you tricked me!"

Yin Zhicheng immediately assumed that Han Feng had used a fake pill to deceive him.

After cursing, he could only pleadingly look at the other Martial Emperors.

"Fellow cultivators, save me—if you spare my life, I will offer the entire United Bliss Sect in exchange!"

According to the speed of the death poison's spread, Yin Zhicheng estimated he had at most about twenty breaths left.

He could only place his last hope of survival on the other Martial Emperors present.

Yin Zhicheng had already regarded his so‑called Dao partner and disciples as bargaining chips, solely to trade for his own survival.

However, when the few Martial Emperors met Yin Zhicheng's gaze, they all burst back, distancing themselves from him.

Leaving aside whether they possessed any life‑saving pills,

even if they did, they would not hand them over now to save Yin Zhicheng's life.

Even if Yin Zhicheng, after leaving, truly intended to honor his promise and hand over the United Bliss Sect he had run for a thousand years,

they could not guarantee that the upcoming battle would certainly avoid harming them!

By then they would have lost their means of self‑preservation; even if they gained the United Bliss Sect, what good would it do?

Moreover, if Yin Zhicheng died, the United Bliss Sect would lose its Martial Emperor‑level combat strength.

They could naturally divide the United Bliss Sect among themselves, with no one able to stop them.

Which choice yields greater benefit can be seen with a little thought.

And Yin Zhicheng quickly realized what they were thinking.

"What a fine case of 'one dies, the other lives'—I'll blow you all up!"

Yin Zhicheng roared, bursting forth with his last strength to charge at the nearest Martial Emperor.

Had he been in the others' position, he would likewise have chosen to stand by and do nothing.

But at this moment Yin Zhicheng himself was near death, so he didn't care what others thought.

That person's face turned pale with fear as he hastily retreated, shouting,

"Damn it, Yin Zhicheng, you're crazy!"

"What gives you the right to charge over and blow just me up?"

"With so many people refusing to save you, shouldn't you reflect on whether you've failed to get along with everyone?"

"As the saying goes, 'It's not scarcity we fear, but inequality.'"

He doesn't hate Yin Zhicheng's final‑time madness; he only hates that Yin Zhicheng chose to blow him up alone.

But the speed at which Yin Zhicheng unleashed his full strength was something he could not match.

Upon closing in, Yin Zhicheng exhausted his last inner strength, turning himself into a bomb that detonated violently.

Boom!

The terrifying blast sent that Martial Emperor spitting blood, his body flying like a severed kite before crashing into the ground with a thud.

Cough cough.

That Martial Emperor coughed a few times, swallowed a pill, and crawled out of the pit with a pale face.

His gaze was dark as ink, yet his heart swelled with relief at having survived the ordeal.

Fortunately, he had once specialized in an escape technique, which kept Yin Zhicheng from catching up.

If he had been caught in a Martial Emperor's close‑range self‑detonation, even if he didn't die he would lose half his life!

The other Martial Emperors were also shaken by the blast's aftermath, their qi and blood surging.

Everyone looked at Zi Ling, whose face was equally deathly pale, yet no one dared to rashly approach her.

Just now they hadn't even noticed how Yin Zhicheng got hit!

Even if they could suppress Zi Ling, they still wouldn't dare to act rashly against her, lest they follow in Yin Zhicheng's footsteps.

Thus, although it was a situation of seven or eight Martial Emperors joining forces to besiege Zi Ling.

But on the field, a strange balance had formed.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the battlefield of the Martial King and the ordinary Black Tide army.

The side where the Black Tide was located could be said to have taken full advantage!

In the situation where top-tier fighters like Xiao Wandie and Bai Ce were absent, and Zi Ling was restrained by the Martial Emperor, the Sheng Cheng side's strength was extremely limited.

Before the Black-robed Swordsmen intervened in the war, the Sheng Cheng side relied entirely on top-tier strength to resist the Black Tide.

Now lacking the advantage of top-tier strength, facing the Black Tide's offensive, the Sheng Cheng Guards could be said to be suffering successive defeats!

Although the Sheng Cheng side had recruited many Martial Kings of Martial King-level strength, compared to the dozens of Martial Kings recruited by the Black-robed Swordsmen, they were still far behind.

Several Martial Kings who had previously followed Gu Han to the Hall of Learned and repelled the Black-robed Swordsmen.

Under the combined attack of the many Martial Kings, they each suffered severe injuries, yet none retreated.

The strongest among them, who was already nearing the Martial Emperor realm, spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes vicious as he stared at the seven Martial Kings besieging him,

"You scum, following these monsters to attack human territory—don't you feel ashamed?"

Those seven Martial Kings merely sneered upon hearing that,

"This is merely a secret realm small world; whether these people live or die has nothing to do with us."

"Being able to become stepping stones that make us stronger is their glory!"

Through their trials, whether killing Black Tide Monsters or killing the natives of the Chong Yuan World,

they can provide them with Qi Blood, allowing them to raise their cultivation realm!