The following month was a hell for Su Qingcheng. Every few days, Fan Yu would forcibly take her to that same dark room with the electric metal cross. The room was only illuminated by small blue crystals on the walls. The image of Fan Yu’s master and teacher, with her intimidating, blue glowing eyes were etched deeply into Su Qingcheng’s mind. Despite Yao Meiyue’s support and comforting words, these were not enough for Su Qingcheng to fight back against this mental demon. However, succeeding electric shock tests seemed to be awakening something strange inside of Su Qingcheng’s body, and further along into the month she was starting to feel the changes as well.

Despite the mental demon of Fan Yu’s master already being somewhat of a trauma for her, Su Qingcheng’s mood improved very slightly when she realized that the flow of Tianqi in her body was already saturated with electricity. The constant exposure to artificial lightning from Fan Yu, conducted by the metal cross, had already tempered her body to an extent that the pain actually lessened significantly over time. This was also within Fan Yu and her master’s expectations, as their entire plan was to use Su Qingcheng as a guinea pig to test if it was possible to artificially force someone to be able to control lightning without harnessing its energy.

It has to be said that prior to this moment, they had performed this test on countless prisoners in the Heaven Thunder Prison. However, Su Qingcheng was the first ‘freak’ they had come across who not only survived the electric shock test for over a week by now, but she had quietly and silently assimilated the thunder energy, allowing her to cultivate it! However, Fan Yu’s master knew that she was unable to properly use it without a proper catalyst. Despite this setback, she already had a plan for it. She would put it into motion very soon.

Meanwhile, Su Qingcheng had been lying in bed with a despondent look on her face. Her mood had improved a bit after realizing that the shocks didn’t hurt as much, but she seemed to have lost a lot of her will upon realizing that she had become a ‘weaker’ character in the story, being captured and used as what was the equivalent of a test subject. She wanted to be the writer of her own story; not a pawn to be used by someone else! This was humiliating, and she was powerless to resist, the blue eyes of her captor and torturer, it still continued to haunt her. Qingcheng’er. You already possess the ability to cultivate lightning energy without an external source… This is entirely the reason why they used you, they wanted to analyze the conditions of artificially creating people like their own kind. I am sure that those two freaks aren’t entirely human. They must have blood of a magical beast in their veins.

Su Qingcheng weakly nodded. Though her body was a lot stronger by now, she was still only fourteen years old. She would turn fifteen next month. She would celebrate her fifteenth birthday in the Heaven Thunder Prison… This was no doubt an incredibly depressing moment. And even though she knew her mother would spare no effort in trying to find her, it had been two months already since she was captured, and yet there was no sign of her at all. With her strength, she could easily break her out. The precondition however was that she could find her.

Yao Meiyue’s words upon this realization suddenly sparked a new life in her, though. She was turning fifteen this year… There was only a few more months before the agreement’s time limit was up. The electric shock tests was now nothing but a mere trifle for her. If she could cultivate lightning energy, she would become even stronger. Though the matter of Fan Yu’s master was still terrifying, to the extent she felt her face going pale, she just had to not think about it. As long as nobody triggered this memory, she would be fine, she would be alright. Besides, if they were done with their tests, they might just let her go, right?

As Su Qingcheng tried to improve her mood, she sat up once she heard the iron door to her cell opening up. Fan Yu appeared again. “Fan Yu, are you going to take me to that god-forsaken room again?” Su Qingcheng asked.

“Your mood has improved. My master was actually worried about you. She knew you no longer felt the pain, thus she wondered if you had been broken.”

The mere mention of Fan Yu’s master, who Su Qingcheng still didn’t know anything about, let alone her name, caused her to shiver. “Your master is a ferocious beast.” Su Qingcheng frowned. She was well aware back in the past life that tests like these were barbaric and utterly unethical. However, “scientific ethics” did not exist in this world. The notion of “scientific tests” was laughable. Though this could be considered a kind of research, people in this world didn’t seem to value morals very much when it came to the pursuit of power.

“Why would your master be even worried about me? She knows she needs me to test the conditions for manufacturing more Lightning Soldiers.” Su Qingcheng grumbled, arbitrarily giving a name to these freaks of nature who could control lightning without needing an external source.

“Lightning Soldiers, huh… A nice name. I will suggest it to the master. Come on. You won’t be taken to that room anymore. My master has a new test for you.”

“A new test?”

“You’ll see.”

Before Su Qingcheng could get up, Fan Yu had used her energy to bind the girl again in electric chains. However, the electric chains to Su Qingcheng now felt more like regular rope. She was long immune to the pain, now that her body had been repeatedly subjected to torturous lightning energy. She quietly walked behind Fan Yu who took her to an open-air part of the prison. It reminded her of the exercise yard that you would see in those prison television shows back on Earth.

Su Qingcheng was then pushed into the middle. Before she could ask what was going on, she had been trapped in a cage made of pure lightning. The bars were made of lightning. She curiously touched the lightning bars, and felt a prick of energy enter her body, causing her to be startled. It felt like static electricity, but if she knew that if a regular person touched this, they would be literally shocked to death, then Su Qingcheng would be… Shocked by this realization that her body had evolved.

Fan Yu’s master stood outside of the thunder cage and walked towards Su Qingcheng. Now, she was no longer concealing her appearance. She had short purple hair, and possessed a lithe figure. She could not be considered a beauty capable of toppling kingdoms, but she had a very majestic and manly charm about her despite her feminine face. It was probably the short hair and her incredibly toned and defined body. No longer cloaked, Su Qingcheng spotted that her midriff was exposed. Abs!

If Fan Yu’s master wasn’t already so scary to her, Su Qingcheng might have actually fallen for her. All she could do now was gulp and swallow her saliva. Fan Yu’s master smiled as if she was proud of a new creation. “I’m very proud of you, my sweet child, for surviving this long.” She said. This voice and this mannerism chilled Su Qingcheng to her very core. Just because I survived your sick electric chair treatment, I’m now your ‘sweet child’?! I have an actual mother too, you know!

“I think it’s time I told you who I was. It won’t do for you to just have the mental image of me as Fan Yu’s teacher. First of all, you are still young, so it won’t hurt for me to give you some extra information on the Liandou Continent… I figure you might have already realized there are realms beyond this continent, no?”

Su Qingcheng frowned. She had experienced a mental explosion, going back to what Yao Meiyue said about Fan Yu and her teacher having the blood of magical beasts coursing in their veins, it might not be so impossible anymore for them to control lightning without an external source. Though Su Qingcheng had read ancient tomes and records detailing the existence of extraterrestrial realms beyond the Liandou Continent, she never really believed in it. Until today.

“I’ve read about it, but I didn’t expect it to be true.” Su Qingcheng obediently answered Fan Yu’s master, afraid to provoke her. The chilling image of her blue eyes glowing in the darkness… Still terrified her.

“Right. I come from an upper realm far above the clouds,” Fan Yu’s master spoke casually. “So does Fan Yu. We both do. However, we were exiled from the realms because we possess human blood. Though it’s only minor human blood, it was enough for us to be banished to the Liandou Continent. This upper realm is called Cloud Nine, and it’s a heaven for strong magical beasts. They were capable of shape-shifting into a human form, enhancing their strength greatly. However, they would never admit to it – they merely treated it as a convenience. It would allow them to blend with the humans down here. But who knew that eventually, they would find out about Fan Yu and my own dark secret…”

Su Qingcheng inwardly was startled. So Fan Yu and her master were actually really magical beasts that happened to be the result of a human engaging in intercourse with a magical beast that had shaped itself into a human! But since the blood was just minor, the two of them had only been banished recently once it was discovered! However, Fan Yu’s master clearly had no intent to share such a memory.

“Fan Yu and I were both products of interracial relationships. I was naturally born far before little Yu, but because we share a master and disciple relationship, we were banished together. Having told you this much, you are now qualified not only for my next round of testing, but also to know my name… You may call me Lei Zetian!”

Su Qingcheng nodded. From the way she said it, this “Lei Zetian” shared the same given name as one of the famous empresses of China on Earth, Wu Zetian. That was a bit strange. Regardless, Su Qingcheng didn’t dwell on it too much and instead stepped back into the cage. She stayed silent and didn’t dare to talk back.

“I already know you’ve figured out my plans for you. Therefore, there’s no real reason for me to be secretive anymore. This round of testing will allow me to see if battles will let you trigger the innate lightning energy seeds Fan Yu has already placed in you. As lightning no longer really hurts you so much aside from the Heaven Thunder Cage I’ve placed you in, there’s no real danger involved. Unless you get eaten or torn up by what I’m going to put in there with you, I guess” Lei Zetian shrugged as she casually explained this to Su Qingcheng, who listened with a wide-open mouth.

This woman is nuts. Yao Meiyue spoke mentally to Su Qingcheng while being careful not to let her spiritual trace leak out, lest Lei Zetian noticed. After all, not only was she a powerful Tianqi Emperor, she had the blood of a magical beast, which increased her sensitivity to spiritual auras.

“As you know, I have the blood of a magical beast inside me. Fan Yu and I both possess the major blood of a Heaven Thunder Lion,” Lei Zetian explained. “With this imposing aura, I can merely will upon lightning specters and beasts to appear. My blood is stronger than Fan Yu’s, who is still young compared to me. Therefore, I’ll have you battle a weaker lightning specter first.”

Su Qingcheng didn’t dare to talk back even now. Instead, she just stood still.

Fan Yu laughed. “Master, your imposition has already imprinted itself deeply into her mind. She’s still quite scared of you despite your honesty,” she said. “I would be careful not to act too strong.”

Lei Zetian laughed it off. “I am impressed, she has not ‘humiliated’ herself despite the fact my face back in the torture room has already become a mental demon. She is about to turn fifteen, no? That’s quite absurd for a young girl like her. I’d have expected her to have crumbled by now. That’s why I was worried.”

Su Qingcheng’s mouth twitched. The pressure exuded by Lei Zetian was too much, but she couldn’t even move a muscle.

“Don’t worry. You’ll have to move once I throw this at you.” Lei Zetian snickered as she snapped her fingers.

Su Qingcheng suddenly heard thunder crackle next to her, causing her to jump away from the spot in fright. “Ahhh!” she squealed hurriedly as the source of the crackle was a ball of fierce electricity coalescing in the cage. Soon, it began to form and take shape. It appeared to be a humanoid fashioned totally out of purple electricity. Lei Zetian snapped her fingers again and black armor began to slowly emerge from the electricity, causing the thunder specter to appear like a ferocious knight made out of electricity.

“Wh, what is that?” Su Qingcheng asked as she readied herself into a battle stance.

“A low-ranked Lightning Revenant. Peak of the Tianqi Prince stage.”

Su Qingcheng frowned.

Lei Zetian continued, ignoring Su Qingcheng’s ugly expression. “It’s only capable of using lightning attacks, and I’m only using this to probe your strength. I wouldn’t be too scared of things now. You should be worried of what’s to come in the future.”

“Go on! Stop paying attention to me and fight!” Lei Zetian laughed as she and Fan Yu watched Su Qingcheng turn her attention to the Lightning Revenant in front of her. Time for her to vent her anger and frustration.

Su Qingcheng’s eyes watered in emotions as she hurriedly changed to Night Lily Stance and prepared to fight for her life in the Heaven Thunder Cage.

“Aaaaahhh!!!” Su Qingcheng roared out in a frenzy.