The harder it was to break through, the more serious the problems one would face by forcing a breakthrough. Ling Tian and the others had concluded long ago that the Lord of the Universe had run into trouble because he had forced his way into sainthood. It was entirely possible that the Lord of the Universe's predicament wasn't something he had deliberately put on, but was simply the truth. If so, that would mean it would be much easier for Ling Tian and the others to defeat him.
Ling Tian had considered that possibility too, and even thought it was quite likely. But he didn't let his guard down. After all, the Lord of the Universe was the most powerful opponent he had ever faced, and Ling Tian still didn't know much about him. That made it all the more important to be cautious.
For Ling Tian and the others, the task at hand was to improve their strength as much as possible. Fortunately, although advancing their cultivation realms was difficult, their strength continued to grow. Ling Tian's progress was especially great. After all these years, his improvement was almost on par with that of cultivators who had advanced by an entire major realm.
After that, Ling Tian didn't waste any time. He continued cultivating, while also studying various cultivation techniques and secret arts.
Time flowed on. In the blink of an eye, tens of millions more years had passed. Even though time inside the Eastern Emperor Bell's main body passed a thousand times faster than in the outside world, more than ten thousand years had still elapsed outside. The million-year deadline set by the Lord of the Universe was now drawing near, with only a little over a hundred thousand years left.
Tens of millions of years was a