It's so hard being a hero!

However, the demons are also coming up with new tricks.

Around three months after the fall of Zhenmo Pass, strange deaths began to occur in Tianqian City.

Most of the dead were male cultivators, ranging in age from their early twenties to their forties and fifties, and came from all walks of life: adventurers, mercenaries, merchants, and even two low-ranking military officers.

The manner of their deaths was remarkably consistent: their facial expressions were peaceful, with a slight smile on their lips, and no external injuries could be found on their bodies. They looked as if they were asleep, but all their life force had been completely drained.

The military sent people to investigate for more than half a month, and finally caught a succubus in a brothel in an alley in the east of the city.

The succubus disguised herself as a human woman, staying indoors during the day and only coming out to entertain customers at night.

She specifically targets single cultivators with weak willpower, unleashing her desires during intercourse to make them lose their lives in the ecstasy of pleasure, ultimately dying from exhaustion.

Sofia also went to the scene with Leila once.

The room was filled with a strong, pungent smell of cosmetics mixed with an indescribable, cloying sweetness that made you want to vomit.

The blankets on the bed hadn't been made yet, and several men's coats were scattered haphazardly in the corner. On the table was a half-empty pot of tea and an overturned wine glass.

Leila stood in the middle of the room, looked around the whole scene, and then said something to Sofia.

"This move is too vicious; it's even harder to defend against than attacking someone directly."

Sophia didn't speak, but simply nodded silently.

She stood by the window, but her eyes were fixed on the bed covered with pink sheets; her mind was on something else entirely.

Isn't that how Lilith's power penetrates people's hearts?

If you're not careful, it will slip in through the cracks of your desires, and by the time you realize something's wrong, it's already too late.

From then on, in addition to patrolling, Sophia found herself another thing to do: every night before going to bed, she would secretly set up several low-level light perception arrays in several important places in the City of Heavenly Punishment.

That thing isn't very lethal, but it can catch those very subtle remnants of dark energy.

The next morning, she went to check again. If any area of ​​the light array had been touched, she would tell Leila and have the patrol team focus on checking that area.

Using this clumsy method, they later managed to uncover two shadow demons hiding in the cellar, a ghoul hiding in the basement of the old church that was stealing corpses, and a mind demon disguised as an old woman selling vegetables.

That inner demon was the most troublesome. She had been lurking in the City of Heavenly Punishment for almost three months, pushing a dilapidated cart to sell vegetables in the market every day, and had become very familiar with the surrounding vendors.

If Sophia's light perception array hadn't detected the abnormal fluctuations at her stall one night, probably no one would have suspected that an old lady who haggled over a few coins every day could have any problems.

When Layla led her people to surround it, the inner demon overturned the cart and tried to run away. It was as fast as a black wind, but it was eventually blocked in the alley by two silver-level knights who flanked it from both sides.

When she was held down, half of the old woman's skin fell off her face, revealing a pale face with no features underneath.

When Sophia arrived, the inner demon had already been sealed away and was huddled in the shadows of an alleyway, trembling uncontrollably.

Lyra stood a few steps away, still holding her sword, her expression complex.

"This thing sells vegetables right under our noses every day and has spoken to so many people, yet not a single person has noticed anything amiss."

Sophia walked over, glanced down at the inner demon, and then looked up at the houses on both sides of the alley.

"It stays in the most crowded places every day and has figured out everyone's habits and routines. This method of infiltration is much smarter than Shadow Fiend, which only knows how to attack."

Lyra was silent for a moment, then sheathed her sword, turned around, and gestured to the knights to take the inner demon away.

"Yes, they've become smarter and harder to deal with."

From that day on, the city's screening efforts were raised to a new level. All outsiders who had lived in the city for more than a month had to re-register their identities and have their new magic mark affixed.

The atmosphere in Tianqian City was particularly tense during that period. There were noticeably fewer people walking on the streets, and even the noise in the taverns was much quieter than before.

Fortunately, nothing major went wrong after that.

In the blink of an eye, half a year has passed.

Half a year is neither a long nor a short time.

Sophia knew the patrol routes outside the City of Heaven's Punishment like the back of her hand; she even remembered exactly how many potholes appeared on each section of the road.

That evening, she had just returned from patrolling outside the city and hadn't even had time to wash her face when someone delivered a letter to Frey's courtyard.

The envelope was stamped with the emblem of Tianxing Academy, and the seal also bore the wax stamp of the Adventurers' Guild.

Sophia opened the letter, quickly read it through, and couldn't help but smile.

The letter was written by Olivia, and it was quite short: the other five members of the Silver Light Squad had finished their six-month practical training and were now being led by Olivia and Merkel toward the City of Heavenly Punishment. They were estimated to arrive in two or three days.

The letter ended with a sentence.

"They all miss you."

Sophia carefully folded and put the letter away, then sat on the stone bench in the courtyard, watching the sky gradually darken. Suddenly, she felt a sense of peace that she couldn't quite describe.

Two days later, in the afternoon, Sofia was waiting at the city gate to meet Laila when she saw a group of people walking towards her on the main road.

The leader was a middle-aged woman riding a brown horse, wearing a light blue teacher's uniform, with her long hair tied in a low ponytail; it was none other than Olivia.

Two horses followed behind her, carrying Merkel and a young warrior in heavy armor, Baron.

Further on were a few people walking by. Sophia immediately recognized Noah's striking blond hair, Mu En's tall and thin figure, and the two familiar figures of Misia and Lilia.

All five of them looked a little tired from walking, but they were all in pretty good spirits.

Lilia was the first to see Sophia. She was stunned for a moment, and then without saying a word, she took off running, not even caring about the bag on her back, and rushed straight towards Sophia.

"Sofia!"

She ran up to her, opened her arms, and hugged Sophia tightly, as if she wanted to choke her to the bone.

"We've finally arrived. These past six months have been exhausting! Do you know how tough that practical training was? It was like living a life that no human could endure!"

Sofia was almost out of breath from being squeezed so tightly, but she still smiled and patted her back.

"Gently, gently, you haven't strangled me to death yet."

Lilia then released her grip, took a step back, and looked her up and down, her eyes sparkling.

"You haven't changed much, you're still the same as always."

Noah and Baron also came over one after another.

Noah stood with his hands on his hips, tilted his head to the side, and spoke with a smug air of "I told you so," while pretending to be convinced.

"Just as we guessed, you've been here at Zhenmo Pass all by yourself for half a year, and you haven't gotten into any trouble at all."

Baron chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

“Sophia, we’re all combat-trained now, so we definitely won’t hold you back like before.”

Although Misia and Mu En didn't say much, their joy at not seeing each other for so long was written all over their eyes.

Sofia nodded toward Olivia and Merkel, then turned and smiled at the five people.

"That's great, welcome to Heaven's Retribution City."

Chapter 143 Returning to the Team

Before Lilia could even let go of the hug, Noah and the others had already surrounded her, bombarding her with questions.

"What's it like at Zhenmo Pass? I heard the demon army is already pressing in outside Zhenmo Pass?"

"Have you ever really seen a demon? What do they look like? Are they like the ones in the books?"

"Sofia, you seem to have grown a little taller."

Barron was squeezed at the back, causing Noah to lean backward repeatedly.

Sofia was surrounded by them, and she smiled and raised her hand, signaling them to be quiet for a moment.

"Take it one at a time, don't rush."

After that, she spent some time picking out what she could talk about and telling them about the situation in Zhenmo Pass and Tianqian City over the past six months.

Of course, she didn't mention the bloody and dangerous details, so as not to scare her teammates who were traveling far from home for the first time.

At this moment, Olivia also dismounted, walked over, clapped her hands, and drew everyone's attention.

"Alright, alright, let Sophia catch her breath first. We've only just arrived in Heaven's Wrath City, let's settle down first."

She turned to look at Sophia and asked, "Sophia, do you know where the place the academy arranged for us to stay is?"

Sophia nodded.

"Yes, I know. It's in the eastern part of the city, quite close to the Adventurers' Guild branch. I've passed by it several times."

"Alright, let's go, let's settle in first."

After Olivia finished speaking, she looked at Sophia and asked in a consultative tone.

"What about you? Where have you been staying these past few days? Do you want to move in with us? After all, you're part of the Silver Light Squad, and you'll eventually have to rejoin the team."

Sophia thought for a moment and then nodded: "Okay, I'll go back and pack my things, and I'll be over in a bit."

Lilia immediately jumped up.

"I'll go with you!"

As she spoke, she had already taken Sophia's arm, as if she were afraid Sophia would run away.

Sophia smiled helplessly, but didn't refuse, and led her towards Frey's little courtyard.

On the way, Lilia kept chattering away, talking about her experiences in the Nebula Mountains over the past six months.

One minute he's saying that Merkel kicks him out of bed to run before dawn every day, and at noon he has to deal with those magical beasts in the mountains. Then at night he has to write some kind of cultivation report.

Sophia listened and nodded repeatedly, occasionally interjecting a few words in response.

When the two returned to Frey's little courtyard, Frey was sitting in the yard basking in the warm afternoon sun, holding an old book in her hands, looking very relaxed.

She saw Sophia bring in a little girl with pigtails, her eyes lingered on Lilia for a moment, and then she raised an eyebrow.

"Is this your classmate?"

"Yes, my teammate's name is Lilia."

As Sophia spoke, she went inside to pack her luggage.

Lilia stood at the door and bowed to Frey.

"Hello, I'm Sophia's teammate. We were on the same team back in the academy."

Frey couldn't help but smile as she looked at her obedient yet nervous expression.