They still remembered how a projectile of light had shot out from the strange artifact and blown the guard captain to pieces.
It had been fired by the woman leading all these people.
Suddenly, the barrier in front of them began to vibrate.
Three people stepped out of it with sharp gazes, taking in the scene.
MingYue recognized them at once.
They were the Grand Elder and the First Elder of the family, with another elder behind them.
The Grand Elder often acted as the patriarch's advisor.
MingYue hated him to the bone. He had been the one who suggested her betrothal to the patriarch.
That event had caused many problems for her. It had disrupted her cultivation and made her progress fall behind.
Because of that, she had decided to go to that secret realm.
Otherwise, she would have skipped it since she had already gained cultivation resources from the previous secret realm.
The Grand Elder looked around and saw every family member they had left in the mansion chained and forced to kneel in front of all the commoners.
Rage filled his face.
Killing intent and pressure spread from his body and pressed down on everyone in the area.
MingYue smirked. "FengXue."
A stronger pressure burst out from MingYue. It collided with the Grand Elder's pressure and canceled it.
MingHao, standing at MingYue's side, looked at her with reverence. He had always looked up to his sister.
Now, feeling qi from her that was stronger than even their patriarch's, he felt proud.
The feeling only lasted a moment. His face soon turned pale when he saw what MingYue did next.
She used the instant of surprise when the elder sensed a Golden Core cultivator.
MingYue pulled out the gun, set it to 40 percent power, and aimed it at the Grand Elder.
BANG.
A concentrated qi bullet shot out of the barrel.
It hit the target and exploded, then continued on to strike the array barrier behind him.
The Grand Elder's face turned pale. So did the elder who walked behind him.
The noisy area suddenly went silent. The curses of the "young masters" and the murmurs of the commoners all stopped.
Every man present felt the hair on his body stand up.
Even those who held a grudge against the Grand Elder pitied him.
His crotch had turned into a hole.
Not a small injury, but a real hole that you could see through.
The bullet had blasted through his crotch and destroyed everything in its path.
BANG.
BANG.
While everyone was still frozen, MingYue fired twice more, this time lowering the bullet strength to 30 percent.
The Grand Elder was still in shock from the first hit.
The two elders at his sides quickly jumped and focused their qi to protect their own crotches.
But they were not the targets.
The Grand Elder fell to the ground. One bullet pulverized his thigh, and the other destroyed his right shoulder.
Both limbs were cut off and fell.
Seeing this, the elders quickly understood that the attacker had a deep grudge against the Grand Elder.
Since the woman had first aimed at his crotch, they wondered for a moment if the Grand Elder had violated this plain-looking woman in the past.
That thought only lasted a moment.
MingYue dashed forward and grabbed a sword that many people there quickly recognized.
It was one of the family treasures, a sword artifact that amplified the user's qi.
It had been wielded by one of their geniuses, MingYue, whom they believed was dead.
The Grand Elder wanted to move, but he could not. At this point, he was no longer just shocked.
FengXue's pressure was focused on his body. Combined with the damage from MingYue's shots, he was completely paralyzed.
SLASH.
The sword pierced through his already weakened qi barrier and then through his head.
He did not even have a chance to fight back.
Blood spurted out.
A moment later, the Grand Elder's body turned into green particles and vanished, leaving behind only his cultivation robe and storage ring.
From start to finish, MingYue had not given them any chance to respond.
She knew that without FengXue's pressure, she could not have done this so easily.
If FengXue had not helped, the best they could have done would have been to bombard the elders as soon as they came out.
That would have meant she could not question them.
The remaining elders quickly assumed that MingYue had come because of the Hua family and that the artifact had been taken from her corpse.
They stepped back at once and watched MingYue with wary eyes.
Both of them drew their swords and took defensive stances.
Their qi surged to the limit to protect their bodies.
"Is the Hua family cooperating with demonic cultivators?" one elder asked.
They looked at the Grand Elder's remains and then at MingYue's eyes, which were glinting red. Their thoughts settled.
Only demonic cultivators used methods that absorbed other cultivators' qi.
That kind of cultivation could raise one's realm quickly, but it had a major downside.
The qi absorbed was not pure. It slowly pushed the cultivator into madness.
Over time, many tragedies and massacres had happened.
Because of that, all major forces decided to forbid demonic cultivation.
Anyone who practiced it would be hunted and killed without mercy.
Seeing this woman absorb qi in front of them, they understood that she would not let them leave alive.
"MingYue, I cannot hold this for long. If you want to finish them, do it quickly," FengXue's voice said in her mind.
"No need. Take off your pressure, FengXue.
I appreciate the help," MingYue replied inwardly.
She then turned her sharp gaze on the two elders.
Her amber eyes still flickered with an intense red hue from the life force she had just absorbed from the Grand Elder.
[Queen, I will hold the excess life force for now.
This should be enough for you to break through to a minor realm, but if we do that here, the others will become suspicious.]
MingYue agreed.
If she broke through here, the elders would assume she had used some secret technique earlier to release that pressure.
Then they would attack her more aggressively.
She raised her hand and pointed at the elders.
"You two geezers, a and b, where is Zhang, that stupid old man?" she asked.
The elders swallowed. Zhang Xueqi was their patriarch.
His current location was tied to the family's greatest secret, one related to their roots.
They looked into each other's eyes. Many thoughts flashed through their minds.
In the end, both of them nodded.
Their qi burst out all at once. They leaped forward and shouted in unison, "For the glory of the Xueqi Family."