It's so hard being a hero!

She leaned back in her chair, her gaze fixed on a spot on the table, as if she were thinking about something else.

She only snapped out of her reverie when the Grand Commander turned to look at her, and gently shook her head.

"His Holiness the Pope said something to me when he set off."

She spoke, her voice softer than usual.

He said I'm too old, and my reputation over there probably isn't worth much anymore.

These words caused the people at the table to fall silent for a moment.

The Pope is a supreme being on the Starfall Continent, but before the threshold of the Holy Domain, he is merely a visitor from the lower realm.

Frey didn't stop, and continued talking.

"However, he said he would try his best, even if it was just to invite a Saint-level expert to Tianqian City to oversee things, it would still deter the demons from attacking again."

After he said that, no one else at the table responded.

Everyone understands that even if the Pope could actually bring someone from the Holy Land, it would only be a temporary measure. The power of the Demon God wouldn't cease to covet this continent just because a Holy Land expert is present. The real question is, how long can the power of the laws last?

At that very moment, in a faraway place, in the Sanctuary.

This is neither the realm of gods nor the realm of humans, but a space floating in the void, pieced together from fragments of various broken continents.

There is neither sun nor moon here, only a soft light that seems to come from nowhere, seeping in from all directions and illuminating everything in a hazy, indistinct way.

The Pope stood on a low hill, his white robe stained with silver-gray dust, and the emblem of light on his chest still shone with a warm golden light, but that light looked somewhat lonely in this space.

A figure stood in front of him.

He was a man who looked to be in his early forties, wearing a simple white robe. He had a gentle face and a calmness between his brows that seemed to have settled down after seeing too many years.

He just stood there casually, without any airs, but the Pope could sense that the power fluctuations emanating from him were on a completely different level from his own.

The feeling was subtle, like standing on the bank of a great river, watching the water flow quietly.

"teacher."

The Pope spoke, his voice much softer than when he was in the human realm, and it carried a tone he hadn't used in many years, almost the tone a junior would use when addressing an elder.

"Starfall Continent needs your help."

The man he called "teacher" lingered on the Pope's face for a moment before nodding slightly.

He didn't rush to speak, but listened quietly as the Pope recounted the fall of Zhenmo Pass, the Demon God's personal intervention, and the infiltration of dark energy into the Starfall Continent.

After the Pope finished speaking, he stood there and waited.

The man remained silent for a long time.

So long that even the Pope thought he would never speak again.

Then he spoke, his tone still gentle and calm.

"I know."

Just those three words.

But the Pope understood what lay beneath those three words.

he knows.

He knew all along that the demons would attack, that the Demon Suppression Pass would fall, and that the Demon God would make a move.

He knew all this would happen, but he didn't interfere or care about anything.

The man turned around, looked at the gray horizon in the distance, and his voice carried a subtle, complex tone.

"It's not that I don't want to get involved, it's that I can't."

His voice was calm, as if he were stating a perfectly ordinary fact.

"The Demon God's intervention is backed by the will of the God Realm. The current situation is not that the Demon Race wants to fight, but that God Realm wants this war to break out. If we intervene now, it will be tantamount to standing against that great figure."

He paused for a moment.

"Everyone in the Holy Land understands this principle."

The Pope stood there for a long time before speaking.

"What about Starfall Continent? Are we just going to let it sink like that?"

The man turned around and glanced at him.

The Pope noticed a faint hint of apology in his teacher's eyes, but it was fleeting and quickly disappeared.

"It will get stuck, but not completely."

He spoke with absolute certainty.

"The barrier of the law is still there. The power of the demons can only penetrate to the area of ​​Zhenmo Pass at most. It cannot pass through Tianqian City for the time being."

The Pope opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he just nodded silently.

"Okay, I see."

He didn't ask any more questions and turned to walk back the way he came.

The man stood there, watching the Pope's figure slowly walk away until it completely disappeared into the horizon. Only then did he turn his gaze away and mutter something under his breath.

A few days later, the Pope finally returned to Starfall Continent.

In the council hall of the City Lord's Mansion in Tianqian City, he sat in the seat of honor, with a cup of tea that had gone cold in front of him.

Hawke, Frey, and several other key figures were sitting around the table, waiting for him to speak.

The Pope's gaze swept across each face, then he gently shook his head.

"The Holy Land will not send anyone down."

Chapter 134 Revisiting the Holy Land

By the time Frey returned to her place, it was completely dark.

After she pushed open the door, she saw Sophia sitting in a chair by the window, holding what looked like an old book she had casually picked up from somewhere on the table, but her eyes were clearly not on the pages.

Her long silver hair shimmered softly in the candlelight, and her blue eyes stared straight out the window at the horizon swallowed by the night, lost in thought.

Frey stood at the door for two seconds before closing it and walking over to the table to sit down.

Sophia heard the noise at the door and turned to look at her.

Frey didn't speak immediately.

She first poured herself a glass of herbal tea, took a sip, and then put the glass down, letting out a long sigh.

There was an overwhelming sense of weariness in his voice.

Sophia didn't urge her; she just waited quietly.

After a long while, Frey finally spoke, her voice sounding much lower than usual.

"The Pope is back."

Sophia nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"The Holy Land has refused to send anyone down."

Frey's tone was flat, but this calmness was more unsettling than anger.

"Even his teacher said that there's nothing they can do about it."

After that, she briefly recounted what the Pope had encountered in the Sanctuary.

"The will of that great figure in the divine realm, the intervention of the demon god is merely a facade; what truly drives this matter is an existence at a higher level."

Sophie did not respond immediately.

She closed the book in her hand, placed it on her lap, and stared at some point on the table, as if she were processing the information she had just heard.

The room was quiet for a while before Sophia looked up at Frey.

"You don't seem to have given up yet?"

Frey paused for a moment, then gave a slightly bitter smile.

"Give up? How could I possibly give up?"

She leaned back in her chair, her gaze fixed on the ceiling, her voice carrying an indescribable quality.

"But how can I not be frustrated? Even the Pope's teacher is unwilling to help, so there's no point in even thinking about it if anyone else does."

Sofia just stared at her without saying a word. After a while, she said something that Frey never expected.

"Then I'll give it a try."

Frey paused for a moment, then sat up straight and stared intently at Sophia.

"You go?"

"Ah."

Sophia's tone was very calm, as if she were talking about something perfectly normal.

“In my previous life, I went to the Holy Land and stayed there for three years. I also met several human ancestors, including a Daughter of Light.”

Frey's expression changed slightly.

Of course she knew that Su Lan had studied at the Holy Land in her previous life, after all, that was a special privilege reserved for the Holy Sons of the Holy See.

However, she didn't know exactly who Su Lan knew over there, or what her relationships with those people were like.

Seeing that she didn't immediately refute, Sophia continued speaking.

"Just because the Pope couldn't persuade them doesn't mean I can't."

She stood up, walked to the window, and once again gazed at the dark purple horizon in the distance.

“Some relationships cannot be measured by seniority or status. The Pope is his student. When a student asks his teacher for help, the teacher naturally has to consider the position of the entire Holy Land and will certainly not agree easily. But I am different. When I was in the Holy Land, my relationship with that Lady of Light was that of friends.”

Frey watched her retreating figure in silence for a long while.

Then she stood up, walked to Sophia's side, and looked out the window at the deep night, just like her.

Are you sure you can see her?