Profound Forest; Brewing Storm!

Zhao Weng trudged though the forest path, countless thoughts running through his mind. Scenes of the fight with his father replayed over and over, different decisions and basing off his father's character, the different outcomes that would happen. The first was if he did not leave. If so he'd be given a death sentence, and if his father felt like showing mercy, and letting him stay in exchange for his title, he wouldn't ever dare lift his face with all the accusations of spineless coward and blasphemer he would be branded.

Many others followed but all ended in either his death, or his disgrace. None ended with him being nothing more that a talentless, disrespectful and worthless person. He took a deep calming breath knowing he had made the best possible choice; then again, he was in the forest with no food, shelter or way to defend himself. This really put a damper on his mood so he slapped his cheeks once to clear his mind.

Originally he was to follow the main path ahead that connected the Zhao and the Fang Clan, but considering the spectacle he made and the clan's worth of bloodthirsty enemies he now had, an assassination was definitely guaranteed. The least he could do was make it harder for them by going into the forest So that he wouldn't be easily caught. That way his tracks were nigh untraceable. He decided to head to the west of the path, the western region.

The forest was divided into two by the path the humans made, the eastern and the western forest. He was quickly weaving through the forest trying to make an arc towards the Fang Clan without attracting any unnecessary attention from strong beasts, or any beasts for that matter, when he suddenly felt the wind getting stronger and the clouds getting darker.

They rolled and moved as if being summoned towards the not so far horizon where lightning streaked and thunder roared. A thunderstorm of magnificent grandeur was currently assailing a patch of forest in the distance. " Such unnatural lightning!! This is my chance! It must be a master of the Dao practicing his state of thunder. I could probably gain some insights!" Zhao Weng thought excitedly and changed course to deeper in the forest following the clouds while hiding from fleeing beasts occasionally passing him.

He came to a clearing without grass or foliage, just charred patches of ground coating the bare one. Lightning crashed every second making the blackened trees suffer more torture and the ground fragment. An overwhelming energy was in the lightning storm's field of efficacy and just the little that was leaking was enough to put such a huge pressure on Zhao Weng that he felt his knees buckle beneath him and sweat to start dripping out of fear.

"Is this the power of a god?!!" He wondered with despair and hopelessness in his eyes. Suddenly all the pressure faded leaving Zhao Weng confused. "Run! I gotta get out of here!!" He bolted without looking back but before he even got five steps away , "STOP!" the word that rang out in his head was absolute leaving no room for resistance. He stopped looking on blankly but deep within was bottomless fear. "Come!" The voice turned gentle, without the boundless murderous intent, hypnotic even. His eyes were completely blank as he turned and started walking into the storm.

A few minutes after Zhao Weng entered the forest, a young girl about his age with fiery red hair and white robes similar to his rushed into the forest, pausing to catch her breath. "Damn it Zhao Weng how far have you gone!" Zhao Ling complained in frustration. She had decided to follow him in abandoning the clan after seeing how they treated him. She began running along the main path but stopped.

She had sensed the shift the energy in the air shift. She had learnt of the evolutions of energy from her father and understood that this shift in energy was due to a state, and a highly ranked one at that. Lightning energy was taking over the balance in elements. "A state cannot overhaul the balance of such a large radius, this can only mean one thing, A Will of lightning!" She thought in distress.

"This is bad this is bad! Knowing that knucklehead he went rushing over probably seeking a teacher! I have to stop him before he gets himself killed!" She ran towards the storm at her fastest possible speed. ' Doesn't he know how cruel those of the martial path are?! I pray you are not so naïve Zhao Weng!' she silently prayed increasing her speed another level. She arrived to the most horrifying scene she had ever seen.

Lightning as thick as a grown man's arm kept crashing onto the ground painting a very apocalyptic scene of Doomsday. An aura unlike any she ever felt assaulted her; she was forced to circulate all her Qi towards resisting it to even move. And amidst all this derelict land, black soil and purple lightning, a sole figure was seen walking unsteadily, his gait hunched. She recognised his figure which surprisingly did not catch the attention of the storm and tried calling out to him but between the sounds of lightning crashes and rumbling thunder, it was about as effective as a mosquito buzz.

Throwing rocks and sticks also was out of the question because they would be disintegrated before even travelling far. She observed his slow advance and felt something was off. He was walking differently and the lightning was seemingly avoiding him. "Mind control! Only powers of the malevolent nature could ever achieve such sorcery. What evil sage is controling Zhao Weng?!"

She circled the perimeter to where his face was in view and was surprised to see his blank face without expression, eyes fixated to a bright spot of light floating around the centre of the storm. "That is no evil sage! It must be an artifact created by a demonic Dao practitioner! I must save Zhao Weng!" She screamed his name with newfound determination. His features twitched a little with every scream but he still hadn't snapped out of it.

"Though I'll end up completely drained, there's no other way.." she muttered then started gathering all her Qi to her throat. The pressure she had been oblivious to before due to her Qi barrier covered her again bringing her down to her knees but she still continued chanelling to her throat. Her face grew pale from withstanding the pressure.

Seemingly at her limit, she took a small breath and whispered, "Wake up!". Shockwaves blasted from her mouth directed towards Zhao Weng. She collapsed immediately after but still looked on desperately. The shockwaves blasted through the storm and though weakened, still made it to Zhao Weng.

He felt as though she was beside him whispering in his ear and broke out of the reverie he was trapped in. He looked around in shock wondering how he got there. He spotted Zhao Ling lying limply by a tree looking at him saying something with a worried look on her face. 'why is she out here? What is she saying?' he started walking towards her to help her up but noticed his left arm was stuck in place, in an extended position with the palm wide open. He tried pulling his arm away, even using his other hand but it didn't budge.

'why is my hand stuck here? What's going on?!' distressed thoughts ran through his mind as he suddenly noticed a glowing orb hovering a few centimetres away from his hand. He suddenly started remembering the voice that stopped him and summoned him towards the storm. 'this thing is dangerous! I gotta get out of here fast!' he even contemplated cutting off his arm to escape when suddenly the orb glowed brighter and collided with his arm.

It surprisingly melted into his arm and started flowing against his blood in his veins towards his core. The feeling of his blood flowing backwards and a foreign object invading his body was the most excruciating pain he has ever felt in his life! He felt as though he would faint any moment but the pain itself kept him conscious, forcing him to feel the entire process. It flowed all the way to his dantian where it suddenly stopped, the pain, the faulty blood flow, everything entered an eerie stillness.

Outside, Zhao Ling looked on with overwhelming worrying as she saw the demonic artifact merging into his body seemingly seamlessly. She saw him screaming in pain for a full minute before suddenly stopping looking up blankly as if lost. There was an eerie silence in the world as the lightning and thunder stopped, even the beasts stopped their panicked cries. Faintly, small crackling could be heard.

The clouds never dissipated, and now small electric arcs were weaving through them. The world went dark as a lightning bolt as wide as a tree could be seen moving so fast yet so gracefully slow that it seemed a dragon descending the heavens. But the terror it evoked was beyond words. It blasted into Zhao Weng's body with such destructive power that the land was immediately destroyed. A blinding light was brought forth that caused all to close their eyes in fear of losing them.

"ZHAO WENG!!!" Zhao Ling screamed hoarsely trying to reach out to him but what greeted her sight was a scene so horrible that she teared up.a big depression and within, naught but ashes where he was standing.