That's right. If the Lord of the Universe hadn't restrained him, Venerable Sword Saint might well have joined forces with Chi Xue and the others directly—even if he might eventually have been able to destroy the Myriad Sword Demon Extermination Grand Formation on his own. After all, that could still take a very long time, and what Venerable Sword Saint lacked most was time. That remained true even though his Bloodline Power was still robust. He had simply lived far too long, and his life force was draining much faster than that of other cultivators. That also meant his Bloodline Power was declining faster than an ordinary cultivator's.
Venerable Sword Saint knew his own condition. He wanted to capture Ling Tian as soon as possible and learn the secret art of using Intent Power to influence and control the Circulatory Universe. The sooner he learned it, the sooner his strength would improve—and the greater his chance of eventually breaking free of the Lord of the Universe's restrictions.
If he could accomplish that sooner, he would gladly sacrifice some of his dignity to join forces with Chi Xue and the others and attack Ling Tian's group. But the Lord of the Universe had explicitly forbidden him from joining them, at least for now, so he had no choice but to withdraw.
Shi Meng and the others regretted the outcome deeply, while Po Family's Youngest Brother and his companions took it in stride—or perhaps they were simply consoling themselves. They believed that, if the Lord of the Universe hadn't deliberately restrained Venerable Sword Saint, some of them would already have been killed or injured.
Sure enough, thinking of that made Shi Meng and the others feel a little better.
"Fellow Daoist Chi Xue, I'm sure you noticed what Venerable Sword Saint said.