1 The will of the heavens is absolute! All mortals surrender before it

The vast horizon was shrouded in grey. Fierce winds buffeted across and the scent of sulfur mixing with the fragrance of mud was quite strong .

All signs foretold the descension of a storm,the sort that would last long enough to leave naught but desolation in its wake.

As the entire land held its breath , most of those who dwelled on the surface choose to hide themselves until the fury of the heavens abated.

This included the most tyrannical of the experts who walked the land and even the most terrifying of the demonic beasts who plagued the Great Forest of Disasters,the subject of the nightmares of the same overlords.

These beings who were ever so above the feeble mortals were made to realize once more that in front of the mighty heavens their prideful prowess which allowed them to disdain one and all was nothing more than a joke , a flickering candle blown off in the slightest of winds.

It was such a storm that found Yu Feng ( The Yu in sheng yu(remaining) , the Feng in shan feng (mountain peak) ) dredging across under the eaves of the gigantic trees that comprised the Great Forest of Disasters

.The sound of the branches and bark breaking underfoot was loud enough that at any other time he would have been besieged by countless demonic beasts already, if it were not for the ominous weather.

Not that he cared ,a part of him was even wishing for being ripped apart limb from limb under the fierce tooth and claws of the demonic beasts until no trace of him remained in that world.

His vacant eyes seemed to reflect the gaze of those who fell upon them and if it were not for his incessant movements he could have been mistaken for nothing but a lifeless puppet

.Even now he felt nothing more than a walking corpse ,bereft of purpose, of meaning wandering around seeking for the unattainable , the spark that would bring some life into him once more .

His mind wandered around strange paths not entirely dissimilar to the desolate,ominous ones along which his body moved of its own accord .

Whilst his thoughts delved into unfathomable depths , memories both good and bad , joyful and full of pain made their way across him twisting and turning his face in ever changing contortions until they were finally devoured by the misery which when seen in the dim light from the overhang serving as the only source of illumination acquired a strange , unholy countenance of sorts.

It was then that the heavens decided that the period of grace provided was over and unleashed all they had in one fell swoop.Darkness engulfed the earth.The eerie calm was broken at last. Rain began to fall in torrents, winds blew at tremendous speeds strong enough to uproot trees,rocks and the unsuspecting man or animal who by a great stroke of misfortune wandered into their path.Lightning crackled across the sky and the sound of thunder followed sounding like the drum beats that often signaled the doom of many a soldier to the hell known as war.

Yet he walked along, oblivious to the signs that warned of the oncoming disaster.

Until then he had been safe enough,the outer regions of the Great Forest of Disasters did not have too many powerful beasts and any beasts which made those regions home were busy hiding themselves lest they bear the brunt of the wrath of the heavens.

But now he had wandered too deep into the dark haunts whose very mention would cause many a hero, many an expert who thought themselves to be fearless quake in fear, for these were the abodes of the terrifying beasts who truly were the masters of the Great Forest of Disasters !

Their mere presence signified a great , inescapable tribulation .Each was capable of leveling a country all by itself ! .Bound by an ancient covenant they rarely ventured outside their domains lest they be ganged upon by human and fellow beast alike.Thus it was that the world had escaped for so long from the huge ruin that they could bring upon it.Yet anything that ventured into their domain was fair game, prey to be devoured unless the prey itself proved to be a match for them yet such experts were rarely seen and would not be so bored or foolish to seek them out actively.It was into the domain of such a beast that Yu Feng had wandered into , the domain of a Great Demonic Flood Dragon !

The great beast had been in slumber for a long while now , yet it now was forced awake upon sensing an intruder in its domain .It snorted in an irritated manner and growled at the sky that had brought its rage upon it

.Even if it were a flood dragon it did not tended to do well in storms ,the rain irritated its scales, the wind prevented flight of any kind and the prey chose to hid themselves deep within unable to be found.

Above all it hated the storm due to its helplessness ,it hated the fact that it could not do anything even with all of its strength .The heavens seemed as unassailable as ever , unconquerable as ever and they overbearingly imposed their will on it .How could it accept that being an overlord in its own right !

Yet it could do nothing but gnash his teeth in frustration without any semblance of a revolt.

Thus storms always tended to leave it in an irritable mood and a storm of the magnitude that had now come down upon the Great Forest of Disasters was simply the worst forcing it to curl up docilely .

As such when the dragon which had its peaceful sleep interrupted and was forced to endure the storm realized that chief cause of the said interruption was walking quite carelessly, trampling grass and bark alike in a manner reminiscent of a water buffalo it was like adding fuel to the fire .

The dragon went up in flames .Even back then the so called great experts would enter its domain only after requesting courteously for its permission first , never did one have the gall to enter its domain in such a rude manner!

But when it realized that the prowess of the intruder was nothing to speak off its hideous face the sight of which could leave even a brave warrior in nightmares contorted into a malicious grin.

Soon enough a formless , indiscernible wave of power arose from it .This strange power was undetectable to all save to the few beasts who hid themselves even more tightly upon sensing it

.Unbeknownst to him , the body of Yu Feng fell subtly under the influence of this mystical power and he began walking ever deeper into the darkness.A luring spell to attract prey but was a simple task for the mighty dragon and for a prey of that caliber it did not require much effort at all.For prey ,Yu Feng had become quite unknowingly .

"Since you served yourself on a platter to my doorstep, do not blame me then for enjoying your flesh , sucking your life and soul in one breath and condemning you to an eternal purgatory though you would be nothing more than a snack devoured before I even get to enjoy myself thoroughly"the dragon chuckled to itself in a fiendish manner the sight of which would have sent goosebumps down anybody.

Thus Yu Feng who was still trapped within his own mind was unable to realize that every step of his was but leading to a mortal peril one from which there seemed to be no escape at all .

The heavens seemed to had decided that it was time to cut the strings of his fate and end his journey for once and for all.Yet with the state that he was in even if he had known he might not have cared at all perhaps he might even have chosen to voluntarily venture into the beast's maw but then again he might have not .Who knows ?. What passed through in his mind could not have been clear to anyone , not to him ,perhaps not even to the Heavens that were leading him to his doom .

However within all that mess there existed a silver of thought that was reminding him not to go any further perhaps the last remnants of rationality that remained or perhaps the instinct left behind after partaking in many battles that rang bells of alarm in his mind regarding an ever closing danger.