Even as curiosity surrounding the spontaneous thunderstorm exploded, Damien continued moving without a single thought in his mind.
In his current state, it was impossible for him to even consider thinking in the first place.
A strange thing occurred.
While Damien immersed himself in his thoughts, drifting aimlessly in the rain, he was submerging himself deeper and deeper into the atmosphere,
In the gloom and peace that a rainy day brought, his feelings began to mirror the weather around him. He melded with the season.
And as he started erasing thoughts from his mind and temporarily letting go of his worries, his immersion only deepened.
His steps mirrored the raindrops, his body becoming lightning. He and the atmosphere slowly became one.
As he rose to the air and subconsciously walked through the sky, the raging thunderstorm around him began to change.
Damien was the storm, therefore, the storm was Damien. His attributes were being mirrored by the Heavens themselves. And at the same time, Damien mirrored the storm.
The lightning of the sky became the lightning of his body, the thunder becoming the howls of his footsteps. Black lightning crackled through the sky, laced with golden black flickers of flame.
The phenomenon slowly grew in size as the parallel between the two thinned. By the time their paths became one, thousands of kilometers had been submerged into the darkness of the storm.
A crackle of black lightning fell from the sky, impacting the ground in an instant and creating a crater tens of kilometers in diameter. Traces of reddish-black mana lingered in the air where the collision took place. But there wasn't just a single bolt of lightning. No, the area in Damien's immediate surroundings was transforming into a lightning storm.
But only a few stray bolts actually crashed to the ground. The target of these lightning bolts wasn't the earth at all.
No, it was Damien himself.
As the disaster around him grew more terrifying, heavier and denser bolts of lighting crashed against Damien's skin.
The color of the lightning was no longer the regular black that his lightning usually was. At the moment, this lightning had a striking white color. And every time another bolt struck him, that color became closer and closer to silver.
Meanwhile, Damien was barely conscious to even register the pain in his body. His senses were inadvertently spread to the surroundings, taking in the sensation of the surrounding storm.
Damien's mind was becoming clearer and clearer. The more he observed the storm, the impact its ferocity had on the environment below, the interactions between elements as the storm raged on, he felt infinitely close to realizing something new.
A pure silver bolt of lightning finally descended from the clouds above. The second it made contact with Damien's body, his skin was seared off entirely.
His muscles began to char, suffocating him and causing immense pain, but Transcendent Regeneration kicked in immediately to offset the damage.
Waves upon waves of lightning mana entered his body, trying to crush him from the inside, but his Void Physique sprung into action and devoured everything that came.
Unknowingly and ironically, a heavily offensive combatant like Damien who rarely prioritized defense developed something akin to an absolute defense before his attacking capabilities could catch up.
But due to this defense protecting his body, the silver lighting that should've been deadly wasn't able to wound him enough for it to matter. Therefore, Damien's consciousness was never disturbed from its trance-like state.
As Damien continued to subconsciously observe the scenes around him, the lightning striking his body slowly changed from silver to gold. The damage he was taking was becoming extreme, to the point where it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had died and returned multiple times already.
And although Transcendent Regeneration was able to help him survive until now, it was still a skill that relied on mana. With the amount of work his regeneration was being forced to do, it was only natural for his mana capacity to run dry rapidly.
After all, it wasn't any normal lighting that he was being struck with.
Unfortunately, Damien couldn't sense the condition of his body at all. Even as he inched closer to death, his mind was enamored by the new sensation he was feeling.
And unknowingly, he traveled thousands of kilometers away from the Celestial Star Palace, heading towards the very center of the continent.
But that journey was cut short before it could be completed.
The figure of a woman appeared beside Damien without a single hint of how it got there. The woman looked at the scene around her and scoffed.
"This kid…I can't tell whether he's an idiot or a genius."
The woman rolled her eyes and held out her hand. "Well, since it's you, I guess I can help just this once."
Her finger curled gently, and before a single instant could pass, Damien's eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.
The woman waved her hand, catching Damien's limp body with her mana before he could fall out of the sky. At the same time, her other hand waved toward the sky.
"Oi! He's already passed out, so there's no more need for you to be here. Scram!"
And as if heeding her words, the thunderclouds that were wreaking terrible destruction only moments prior vanished into thin air without a trace.
The woman clicked her tongue and looked back over at Damien. "Tch, I can't let him go in this state. Kid, you should thank this lady for being benevolent."
The woman's figure disappeared from the sky, taking Damien's figure with her. The seemingly apocalyptic storm that those in the Central Continent were forced to experience finally came to an end.
And unknowingly, Damien created another legend within the Cloud Plane. Rumors of that storm, of the insane damage it caused, spread rapidly. Tens of thousands of kilometers were scorched and destroyed, left borderline uninhabitable for many years to come.
And as rumors continued to spread, cultivators flocked to the scene to confirm the news with their own eyes. And once they did, another shocking revelation spread through the world.
This storm wasn't a natural disaster, it was something caused by a passing expert.
It was at that moment when people went wild. They no longer cared for the destruction and tragedy of the event. After all, this world worshipped the strong.
The fact that a hidden master appeared in the secular world again spoke to major changes. It meant that maybe some heaven-shaking battles would take place, battles that many were dying to see happen.
A trend started taking shape as excitement grew. Whether it be the common man or an experienced cultivator, everyone with even an ounce of determination began pushing their limits to become stronger.
It was a sensation so immense that it was curious how it originated from a single storm.
But it was naive to think it was just that. The denizens of the Cloud Plane, no matter how much decorum they possessed, were a warmongering people. Battle was their way of life.
Perhaps the storm wasn't actually an event that should've held as much importance as it did, but it appeared at an opportune time. A time when the proverbial pot was already on the verge of boiling over.
And as for the mysterious man who caused the pot to finally tip? Even though his strength was unknown, his actions granted him a title among the people.
And like that, an entire month went by.