Su Qingcheng had vented out her inner anger at this point and received some form of new clarity. These months of being kept in captivity had finally been seen by her as what they really were – a cruel experiment by a cruel lady who wanted to artificially create an army of Lightning super soldiers. Su Qingcheng was merely just the successful result of this experiment. Why should she feel grateful for this? She was mad just thinking about how she could have ever thought she actually agreed to this. Yao Meiyue was secretly overjoyed that Su Qingcheng showed signs of being at least capable of battling the inner demon that Lei Zetian had given her. While this was going on, a far more upfront battle was taking place.

At this point, Lei Zetian had already dismissed Fan Yu, exclaiming that it was too dangerous for her to be around, and it was true. Lei Zetian didn’t mind herself dying at this point if it really got to that point, but she wouldn’t dare to put Fan Yu in the sinking ship with her. She secretly sent a mental message to Fan Yu telling her to escape immediately, and ignore the matter of Su Qingcheng for now. Fan Yu obeyed, immediately using a secret exit to leave the Heaven Thunder Prison without anyone knowing. As for her fate, nobody would know until a very long time in the future.

Su Ran soon entered the space of the courtyard as her body was enveloped in the purple tribulation thunder that blanketed the prison, looking imposingly down at Lei Zetian as if she were an ant. “You vile beast. You really are something,” Su Ran hissed. “You dared to keep my daughter prisoner for four months. Just what kind of things did you even do with her? Give me a reason why I should spare your pathetic life.” She growled, as her eyes seemed to grow blue flames out of them but disappeared in a flash. This sight terrified Lei Zetian.

“Ma’am, ma’am. You must be calm. I swear, I didn’t do anything to her.”

Suddenly, a cold voice roared out from an upper level balcony.

“I really can’t believe I actually agreed to be your soldier,” the cold voice rung out. “I had been almost brainwashed by you simply because your ‘treatment’ made me breakthrough and also control the power of lightning!”

Su Ran recognized this voice – it was, naturally, her daughter! Suddenly, conflicted feelings erupted within her heart. Just what had she gone through? It must have been so terrifying. Now, Su Ran regretted not joining her to go to the White Spirit Competition. If it weren’t for that, she would never have gotten into this situation in the first place. Lei Zetian’s expression became ugly.

“You! You dare to bite the hand which feeds you?” Lei Zetian turned her head up to see Su Qingcheng standing on one of the guard rails of the upper floor balconies, standing in an imposing manner similar to Su Ran. Her entire body was pulsing with purple lightning.

“Shut up! I am not just some weakling you can order around easily,” Su Qingcheng hissed. “I have already absorbed the Lightning Core from your Lightning Wyvern Prince. Do I actually need your help to cultivate lightning power?”

Suddenly, a realization hit Lei Zetian. She already knew that Su Qingcheng had the backing of Yao Meiyue. As Yao Meiyue was a genius that surpassed even the beast freaks of Cloud Nine, she probably had a way to teach Su Qingcheng how to use the lightning power effectively. In a way, Lei Zetian actually lost all the momentum in this exchange. Now that Su Ran was also here, her only fate was death. If she knew that Yao Meiyue was also Su Ran’s former teacher, she would rather just commit suicide on the spot.

Su Ran’s expression brightened when she realized that Su Qingcheng learned a harsh lesson from all of this and seemed to mature an extra layer. Then again, Su Qingcheng was so on-guard against Fan Yu. The only reason why she was bamboozled into accepting Lei Zetian is because, despite everything she did being absolutely despicable, she was very honest and gave Su Qingcheng a false sense of security – in fact, this was simply the behavior of a psycho, and Su Qingcheng had been lulled into it. Even though she had experiences from her past life, this kind of thing was not something that you could simply just dismiss. Especially when your tormentor even went through the trouble of providing ‘aftercare.’ It was, in a way, an extreme BDSM exercise. Except the consent was totally manufactured. It was not genuine! Feeling used made Su Qingcheng even angrier at the situation.

“That’s right! With my mother here to fetch me, I’m not afraid of you. Just because you gave me the power to control lightning, I should be your slave? Did you forget that you almost broke my mind with how you tortured me for a whole month straight? Do you think that just because I got my power from a month of torture, I should just cast everything aside?! It took me a while to see the light. But I know it now! You’re a monster to the core!”

Lei Zetian’s face twitched as her expression was unsightly. Su Ran’s expression was also unsightly. She did not know that the reason why Su Qingcheng had gained a power boost was because she gained it by being continuously exposed to energy lightning. Even Su Ran dared only to use natural sources of lightning to temper herself. In fact, this was the entire cause of Su Qingcheng’s accident approximately five years ago! Lightning!

“Humph. I’ve heard enough,” Su Ran growled. “You really are a piece of work. First you capture my daughter, then torture her for a month? Then you made her fight a Lightning Wyvern Prince just to make her eat its core? What the fuck is wrong with you? Really, you’re beyond saving. I should just kill you right now.”

Su Qingcheng’s mouth twitched. She didn’t expect her mother to be so vicious. Lei Zetian’s unsightly face warped into one of terror as she saw flames erupt from both of Su Ran’s hands. Before she could lift a finger, Su Ran had already seemingly teleported in front of Lei Zetian, deftly shoving a hand in a spot on her chest between two rib bones. It sunk through and pierced skin, directly entering the body. Lei Zetian screamed in agonizing pain as the flames of the Ghost Calamity Palm erupted in her body. The pupils in Su Ran’s eyes became flames, and it was a sight that Su Qingcheng would never forget. Lei Zetian’s entire body erupted into a ghastly purple flame, letting out electric sparks as it began to disintegrate. Nothing remained afterwards; Lei Zetian was now no longer a part of the world. Not even her soul remained.

After this, the lightning that blanketed the prison suddenly disappeared. The prison itself seemed to stop emitting noises. Suddenly, it felt like the sky is falling. Su Ran was already in the air so she felt nothing, but Su Qingcheng on the other hand immediately realized that Lei Zetian was the owner of the Heaven Thunder Prison. Now that she was dead, it lost all of its power and was literally falling from the sky. Danger!

“Mother!” Su Qingcheng cried out as Su Ran quickly scooped her up in her arms and quickly flew away to safety.

Su Qingcheng looked back at the falling Heaven Thunder Prison with a bitter smile. She would keep the experiences in this place close to her heart as a reminder that true strength was the only thing that mattered. Only with power could you dare to do as you pleased. The challenge would be concluded in five months. Su Qingcheng had five more months to make it to the Tianqi Geomancer stage.

With the lightning energy, she was confident she could do it.

She just hoped nothing like this would happen again in the interim.