Although Venerable Sword Saint had grown somewhat stronger over all this time, his improvement was nowhere near as great as Ling Tian's. At the very least, Ling Tian had advanced two or three minor realms, while Venerable Sword Saint hadn't even advanced one. Back then, Ling Tian could already handle Venerable Sword Saint's Phantom Combo with ease. Now, he could do so all the more easily.
And that was exactly what happened. Ling Tian easily scattered several Phantom Clones and escaped their encirclement. At the same time, he attacked the clones while destroying the Teleportation Formations Chi Xue's side had set up. The fewer formations they had, the less of a threat Venerable Sword Saint posed when using them to attack Ling Tian, making him that much easier to handle.
Of course, most importantly, destroying those formations was no more than a matter of convenience for Ling Tian.
Next, Ling Tian continued fending off Venerable Sword Saint's pursuit while destroying the Teleportation Formations around him. With his strength greatly increased and his mastery of various secret techniques improved considerably, he had little trouble dealing with the situation.
"Ling Tian, your cultivation realm has risen considerably, and the prolonged, high-intensity fighting has greatly improved your recovery. But from what I can tell, you're still expending more energy than Venerable Sword Saint, so you won't be able to hold out as long as he can," Poxiong quickly assessed. "That means you'll need to shake him off and recover before you run out of energy. Otherwise, you might get killed."
Ling Tian could sense the situation between them as well, and the result left him a little disappointed. In his mind, only if he could keep fighting Venerable Sword Saint with equal or greater endurance would he no longer need to worry about