The battle with the Great Elder was probably considered a struggle in a trial of strength.
The thread of Divine Power from the Wine God intervention gave the Great Elder a "flashing back to light," a miraculous chance at "RETURNING TO THE PEAK."
But in reality, even the Great Elder at his peak couldn't directly kill Gao Tian; he could only imprison him, wearing him down over a lengthy period in this cage...
The war became difficult to define towards the end, hard to say who exactly was being tortured.
The balance of victory, in fact, had already started tilting towards Gao Tian.
Even if the Wine God hadn't withdrawn his Divine Power... it should have ended with Gao Tian defeating the Great Elder, although he too would pay a heavy price.
As one of the top three wielders of "spiritual power" in Changye City, Uncle Gao would be unable to act to his full capacity for at least six months. His Spiritual Domain greatly reduced; luckily, these were all recoverable losses.
