Ling Tian and the others couldn't stop Venerable Sword Saint from attacking them, so worrying about it was pointless. Rather than fret over it, they were better off working hard to increase their strength. After all, the stronger they became, the easier it would be to deal with Venerable Sword Saint in the future.
Besides, at the very least, Ling Tian and the others knew Venerable Sword Saint wouldn't attack them while they were undergoing the Heavenly Slave trials. In other words, they didn't need to worry about that for eighty thousand years. They could cultivate in peace and spar to improve their strength. With so much time, their strength would certainly improve greatly—especially Ling Tian's. He could continuously absorb the Divine Yuan Power of the Circulatory Universe, making his Small World grow larger, which meant his strength would keep increasing.
With Venerable Sword Saint looming over them as a threat, Ling Tian and the others cultivated with great diligence. In particular, those among them serving as Heavenly Slaves intensified the training they put their nearby Near-Saints through, which greatly improved their strength.
Time flowed on. In the blink of an eye, another thirty or forty thousand years passed. During that time, Ling Tian and the others underwent another three or four Heavenly Slave trials. Just as they had predicted, the Heavenly Slaves they faced grew stronger with each trial. If their own strength hadn't improved considerably, they would have found it very difficult to pass.
Even so, after three or four more trials, two or three Near-Saints at Ling Tian's side had fallen. They were deeply grieved, but there was nothing they could do about it. Ling Tian couldn't take the Heavenly Slave trials for them, nor could he help Hua Min'er and the other Near-Saint experts when they