Return of the King, Dominating the City

"Let me check your pulse again."

Song Yun chuckled, and without waiting for Nie Wushuang to agree, reached out to take her wrist.

Nie Wushuang’s arm trembled slightly, then she quietly looked at Song Yun.

Song Yun pretended to feel her pulse, only noticing how smooth and soft her wrist was, feeling very comfortable.

As for diagnosing illnesses through pulse, the "Immortal Demon Manual" also documents that, but he hadn’t had the chance to learn it yet.

After feeling her pulse for a while, Song Yun said seriously, "Xiao’er, your heart is throbbing with love."

"What do you mean?"

Nie Wushuang looked curious.

Song Yun chuckled, "It means you’ve found someone special."

Upon hearing this, Nie Wushuang’s cheeks flushed red, unable to look Song Yun in the eyes.

She turned her head away and mumbled, "Stop talking nonsense."

Seeing Nie Wushuang’s shy appearance, the werewolves all smiled knowingly.

Song Yun was unparalleled in combat, with a good character, and Nie Wushuang was stunningly beautiful; indeed, they were a perfect match.

Emily laughed and said, "Xiao’er, quickly tell us, who is your special someone?"

Nie Wushuang pouted and mumbled, "Sister Emily, why are you teasing me too? I... I’m ignoring you."

Seeing Nie Wushuang’s shy appearance, Song Yun said with a smile: "Xiao’er, are you ignoring Emily, but will you ignore me?"

"Ignore you?!"

Nie Wushuang stuck her tongue out at Song Yun, but as soon as she said it, she feared Song Yun might take offense and quickly changed her tune, "I... I’m not ignoring you, but don’t tease me."

Nie Wushuang’s adorable manner elicited a knowing smile from everyone.

Next, all the werewolves tended to their injuries. Initially, they planned to examine the belongings of the Blood Clan members.

However, out of the nine Blood Clan members, all except Keno had been sliced into pieces by Song Yun’s sword, leaving nothing behind.

People looked at Keno’s body in the distance with some sighs.

Keno, who was quite famous in the West, had his heart pierced through by Song Yun’s punch just like that.

If he hadn’t died, perhaps it wouldn’t have taken long for him to advance to Marquis.

By then, he would have been among the peak powerhouses.

Unfortunately, he encountered Song Yun.

Song Yun walked over to examine Keno’s clothes and fished out a small marble-sized ball from his pocket.

The ball was dark green and crystal clear, looking like a gemstone.

But Song Yun knew this was a Demon Beast Core.

Although this core was a different size compared to the Flood Snake’s core, Song Yun could clearly sense the energy fluctuations emanating from it.

Thick, profound, refined.

"What a treasure!"

Song Yun felt joy and immediately pocketed the core.

He didn’t mind others seeing it; since he took out the Blood Clan members, the spoils naturally belonged to him.

Of course, no one else had any objections either.

Moreover, the werewolves didn’t recognize the core; they even thought Song Yun had retrieved a piece of jade.

After searching Keno a while longer and finding nothing else, Song Yun called the group to continue moving forward.

Nie Wushuang’s leg was injured, and though she could barely manage to walk, seeing her frowning in exertion, Song Yun couldn’t bear it.

There was no help for it; when facing a beauty, Song Yun’s heart ached.

"Let me carry you."

Without further ado, Song Yun hefted Nie Wushuang onto his back.

The soft mounds pressed against his back, and his hands encircled Nie Wushuang’s hips; in that instant, Song Yun felt his heart waver.

Of course, it was only for a moment.

He quickly calmed down, steadily moving forward.

Contrary to this, Nie Wushuang was at a loss with embarrassment, frozen stiff on Song Yun’s back with a goofy expression on her face.

After walking for a certain distance, she finally relaxed, gently leaning on Song Yun’s back, feeling enveloped in a sense of security, and gradually, she fell asleep on Song Yun’s back.

...

Song Yun and his group had just left when others arrived here.

This group was none other than a team dispatched by the Wolf Castle.

They had a total of nine people, but now, only six remained.

The other three were killed by demon beasts during an earlier encounter in the passage.

"The Dark Holy See’s people were mostly killed by one person; even the Shadow Assassin Lu Ke was slaughtered into smithereens. Such methods, truly powerful. But judging by the technique, it shouldn’t be the work of the Desla Family. Could there be other forces joining the struggle for the Ice Crystal Holy Grail?"

"Perhaps, after all, we are not the only ones aware of the Ice Crystal Holy Grail. And from the footprints, the group that killed the Dark Holy See had six or seven people, clearly well-prepared. However, regardless of who killed the Dark Holy See’s people, we fear we will face a formidable enemy."

"Hm, there’s blood everywhere here, possibly seven or eight people have died. Judging by the smell, it should be those Blood Clan guys. Could it be the Desla Family’s doing?"

"Look ahead, Keno Desla is also dead, his chest pierced through."

"This... who could be responsible? Could a Marquis-level person have joined the contest? Hmph, the three major forces agreed not to involve a Marquis."

"We indeed have an agreement, but the one who made a move wasn’t from the Wolf Castle, Dark Holy See, or Desla Family. Now, the Dark Holy See and Desla Family are annihilated, leaving only us from Wolf Castle and that unknown force."

"The unknown force has already entered the cave. Should we proceed? Given the current situation, confronting that force might lead to our demise as well."

At this point, the werewolves fell into silence, all conflicted about whether to continue the quest for the Ice Crystal Holy Grail.

A burly middle-aged man shook his head, saying, "Forget it. If we continue, we’ll die here too. It seems the Ice Crystal Holy Grail is destined to elude us."

"Victor, are we just going to give up like that?"

"What else? Go to our deaths? It’s just unfortunate we don’t even know who our opponent is. Let’s go back to Wolf Castle and report the matter to Lord Yineye."

With Victor leading, the werewolf team withdrew from the struggle for the Ice Crystal Holy Grail.

...

Song Yun and his group traveled for two hours, with the surrounding ice layer growing thicker and the passage eventually only allowing one person to stoop through.

Song Yun had no choice but to put Nie Wushuang down; fortunately, Nie Wushuang could walk herself, or she would have had to be left behind.

After advancing a bit further, the ice layer narrowed, and they could only crawl forward.

Eventually, only fist-sized holes remained, impassable for people.

Song Yun took out the black light severing sword, and with no path, he had to carve his own.

Sword Qi swept away, quickly opening up a path.

The group followed him and continued onward.

After about five hundred meters, they saw in the distance, a cup faintly visible, encased in the ice layer.

The cup was ice blue, and under the refraction of multiple ice layers, its shape was indistinct.

However, that deep blue was truly striking.

Song Yun said, "It seems we’ve found the Ice Crystal Holy Grail."

Nie Wushuang said, "There is no description of the Ice Crystal Holy Grail in the books, but it should be this cup."

The group continued forward, and to avoid damaging the Ice Crystal Holy Grail, Song Yun refrained from using the black light severing sword, instead using the Throat Sealing Sword to slowly chisel through the ice layer.

Finally, he broke through the ice, revealing half of the Ice Crystal Holy Grail.

The cup was a goblet, not large, only as tall as a finger, entirely ice blue like jade, with a very thin base, and the thumb-sized cup body was carved with intricate patterns.

The pattern was unmistakably twin dragons playing with a pearl, in typical Huaxia style.

"Indeed, this cavern must have been built by the Huaxia people, and the Ice Crystal Holy Grail is also a Huaxia artifact."

Song Yun thought to himself and reached out toward the Ice Crystal Holy Grail.

The closer he got, the colder it became.

When he touched the Ice Crystal Holy Grail, an intense bone-chilling cold made him involuntarily shiver.

He thought he would suffer frostbite, but unexpectedly, after the cold, he felt refreshed and invigorated, as if his veins were fully flowing.

"Truly a treasure indeed!"

Song Yun secretly nodded, taking the Ice Crystal Holy Grail out of the ice layer.

Seeing him holding the Ice Crystal Holy Grail, everyone excitedly looked inside the grail, eager to see what the realm-enhancing Ice Crystal Holy Water looked like.

But when they saw inside the cup, everyone was dumbfounded.