After seeing Venerable Sword Saint use the Phantom Clone secret art and then destroy the Teleportation Formations Ling Tian had set up in the space, Ling Tian knew he could no longer use them to temporarily evade Venerable Sword Saint and catch his breath. He had no choice but to find another way. Fortunately, a countermeasure soon came to mind. Ling Tian used Intent Power to influence and control the space. Though he could affect and control only a small fraction of its power, that was enough for now. What was more, as time passed, he would be able to influence and control more and more of its Origin Power, and might even gain control of the entire space, just as he had with his Pseudo Small World.
Of course, reaching that point would probably take hundreds of thousands of years, or even longer, and he had nothing like that much time. Still, Ling Tian had no intention of going that far. All he needed to do now was use his influence over the space to suppress Venerable Sword Saint and make things easier for himself. That would give him a better chance of holding out for a year, and if he could last that long, he would have completed his task.
That was exactly what happened. After Ling Tian began influencing and controlling a portion of the space's power, he turned it to his own advantage. He also used some of it to suppress Venerable Sword Saint. This eased the pressure on him while putting Venerable Sword Saint under strain. As their fortunes shifted, Ling Tian's situation gradually improved.
Venerable Sword Saint soon noticed the change. He also realized that the power suppressing him grew stronger as time went on. It was nowhere near enough to pin him down