Ch 24 Nephele

As Eos vanished into thin air, one of the empty carriages suddenly burst apart with a loud explosion. Tiles flew in all directions as Nephele's powerful qi pressure surged through the air. She seemed almost ghostly, slipping in and out of the shadows between the wagons as she moved with incredible speed.

The sudden attack caught everyone off guard, and chaos erupted as people scrambled to figure out what was happening.

Where Nephele went, images of her were left behind, which also disappeared and came back depending on how the shadows fell. And she let her aura spread to its full extent.

A group of cultivators and soldiers came running back to the wagons after being out in the flower meadow. Most of them were mortal cultivators who had fake spirit roots, but there were also over twenty real cultivators or immortal cultivators in the Golden Core Realm among them.

Nephele remembered what Eos had said, 'Find the leader and the alchemist.' She scanned the crowd for the leader and alchemist her master had sent her to find. Everywhere she looked, slaves screamed and fought against their captors, their eyes wild with fear.

'There they are!', thought Nephele.

Her eyes locked on a man who stood out from the rest. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a head of dark brown hair that matched his piercing dark eyes. It was clear that he was a cultivator, which meant that despite appearing to be in his thirties, he was likely several hundred years old. He towered over most of the people around him, standing at an impressive 7 feet.

Beside him stood a woman who looked to be in her twenties. Nephele couldn't help but notice she was a striking woman, and her dress clung to her curves, emphasizing her ample breasts and shapely backside. Her posture and movements suggested that she was a cultivator, probably in the Golden Core realm.

Suddenly, two men charged at Nephele, she effortlessly dodged their attacks and struck back with deadly precision. The first man's arm was shattered under her palm strike, causing him to scream in agony as bone fragments pierced through his skin. Nephele then used her leg to snap the man's spine, leaving him paralyzed and writhing in pain on the ground. She didn't hesitate to finish him off with a swift strike to the head, which left his skull crushed and brain matter spilling out onto the dirt.

The second man fared no better. Nephele created a sword of solid qi and swung it with a fierce, sweeping motion that sliced through his midsection like butter. The man's entrails spilled out onto the ground, and he gasped for air as he desperately clutched at his mutilated belly. With a cold and calculated motion, Nephele thrust the sword up through the man's groin, slicing up through his torso and out of his skull in a gruesome display of blood and gore.

As Nephele fought off the two cultivators, the tall man with dark brown hair and piercing dark eyes stood back, watching the battle with a calm and calculating expression on his face. Suddenly, he spotted a slave cowering in fear behind one of the wagons. Without a moment's hesitation, he lunged at the slave, his eyes glowing with an insatiable hunger for power.

The slave screamed as the man's hand shot out and grasped his neck. With a sickening crunch, the man crushed the slave's windpipe, killing him instantly. As the lifeless body fell to the ground, the man closed his eyes and began to absorb the slave's soul qi.

Nephele turned around just in time to see the manpower up with more soul qi, his body glowing with a sickly green light. She knew that this was a dangerous opponent. But Eos had given a clear order to capture both the alchemist and the leader of the group, who appeared to be a young girl standing next to him.

The aura that alchemists and the girl produced was not all in proportion to their cultivation. They must be littered with artifacts, Nephele thought.

With her keen senses, Nephele scanned the man's body for any signs of hidden power. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she spotted not just one, but several spirit artifacts spread throughout his being. The most prominent one was a dark half-moon design embedded in his chest, which seemed to be the wellspring of his formidable aura. It was clear that this was no ordinary opponent.

Nephele approached the man with fluid and determined movements, but her body seemed to flicker as she weaved in and out of the shadows. Meanwhile, the young girl standing next to the man had positioned herself strategically to avoid any shadows falling on her. It was evident that she had noticed Nephele's visibility in the sunlight.

With a booming voice, the woman commanded the group, "Kill that thing!!!" Simultaneously, she pointed her finger at Nephele, identifying her as the target. It was clear to Nephele that the woman was the leader of the group, but it seemed that leadership wasn't determined by strength alone. Nephele speculated that it might have something to do with a blood connection since it was a clan rather than a sect.

Suddenly, a horde of cultivators charged at Nephele from all directions, their fierce attacks unleashing powerful bursts of energy that tore through the air. But Nephele was a master of combat, and she moved with a fluid grace that made it seem as though she was dancing amongst them.

She dodged, weaved, and spun with blinding speed, using her agility and quick reflexes to avoid every attack. With a flick of her wrist, she created a sword of solid qi that shimmered in the sunlight. She swung the sword with a fierce, sweeping motion, slicing through the flesh and bone of her attackers with deadly precision.

Blood sprayed in all directions, and screams of agony filled the air as Nephele unleashed her brutal techniques. She used her qi pressure to crush the bones of those who came too close, leaving them writhing on the ground in agony. With her telekinetic powers, she lifted her enemies into the air, slamming them back down onto the ground with bone-shattering force.

The air was filled with a sharp metallic stench, mingled with the sweet aroma of crushed bone and the musky odor of fear.

The wind around her whipped up into a frenzy, as Nephele unleashed her elemental techniques. She created razor-sharp blades of wind that sliced through her opponents like a hot knife through butter. Limbs flew through the air, and bodies were torn apart in a gruesome display of carnage.

An unnatural metallic taste was left on the tongue after witnessing Nephele's brutal display. It was a copper sweetness that left a sour aftertaste.

Despite the sheer number of her opponents, Nephele remained calm and composed. Her movements were precise, her attacks deadly, and her resolve unbreakable. By the time the dust settled, her attackers lay in a pool of their own blood and gore, their broken bodies serving as a warning to anyone foolish enough to challenge her.

Meanwhile, the woman and the dark-haired man exchanged a glance, and the man quickly darted away from the woman and in the direction of some of the escaping slaves. As he moved away, his shadow stretched out as if it had a mind of its own, enveloping the group of slaves and pulling them in his direction.

A scream erupted from the crowd as the shadows drew closer, and the slaves began to struggle against the entrapping darkness. They struggled and fought, but the shadows were unrelenting, and they pulled the group closer and closer to the man. There was a sickening crunch as they were all ripped to pieces, their mangled bodies only barely recognizable.

The man closed his eyes as the shadows retreated into his body. As the shadows disappeared, Nephele realized that this man had devoured their soul qi, if it had not been their souls.