If any other cultivator had dared to act so arrogantly toward Ling Tian, he would have killed them without hesitation, striking like a bolt of thunder—even if they had merely attacked him. After all, if he didn't, many people in the God Realm would covet the Phoenix Soul Fruit and come after him, making his life unbearable. Hua Min'er and the others around him might even be put in danger. But he couldn't bring himself to kill Shi Wei and the others. They were powerful, and if they could cross the tribulation alongside him in the future, their chances of breaking free from the Lord of the Universe's restraints would rise considerably.
More importantly, Ling Tian worried that he might not find enough people to fight in the future. In particular, he still didn't want Hua Min'er, Feng Lingzi, and the others to take that risk with him.
At the very least, if Shi Wei and his group triggered the final tribulation, they could deal a serious blow to the Lord of the Universe and weaken him. That would give Ling Tian and the others a better chance of breaking free from his restraints later.
That was why Ling Tian deliberately held back. Otherwise, the instant Shi Wei and the others approached, he could have controlled the grand formation and attacked. Its powerful strikes would have left them no chance to set up their own formation, and he was even confident he could kill them in an instant.
The power of the Myriad Sword Demon Extermination Grand Formation was famous far and wide. It could kill cultivators one or even two major realms above its controller, or at the very least hold them back. That was how Ling Tian had once used it to withstand Venerable Sword Saint, whose cultivation