Ling Tian had placed great hopes in the possibility that, after breaking through to the thirty-third level of the Near-Sage Realm, he might draw infinitely close to the Saint level or even break through to it outright. But once he had fully stabilized his cultivation, he had neither approached the Saint level infinitely nor, needless to say, broken through to it. This left him deeply disappointed.
Fortunately, as Po Qiong had said, he still had ample time to reach a higher level. In particular, as his cultivation approached the thirty-sixth level of the Near-Sage Realm, he would have a better chance of breaking straight through to the Saint level. And though he had neither reached the Saint level nor come infinitely close to it, his strength had still improved noticeably. That was enough for him.
When one thought about it, cultivators sought to reach a higher realm—even the Saint realm—because they wanted their strength to rise, and rise substantially. Ling Tian's strength had clearly improved, so he had already achieved that goal. With that in mind, he stopped dwelling on the matter and continued cultivating, comprehending all sorts of other secret techniques. Of course, he knew that worrying about it would do no good and might even hinder his progress. Better to cast all such concerns aside and focus wholeheartedly on growing stronger.
It was worth mentioning that, while cultivating under the pressure of the Externalized Small World that Chi Xue and the others unleashed together, Ling Tian also kept studying various cultivation methods and secret techniques. He wanted to create some powerful new techniques—ideally ones that cultivators like Chi Xue and the others could also learn, so they could greatly increase their strength. That way, their overall strength would rise even more, giving them a better chance of defeating