Chapter 453: Inner Battle

As the others saw how Xue Wei collapsed, they all felt their hearts stop beating for a second, and they rushed to his side.

The Monarch Piranha Flower withered at a rate visible to the naked eye; all vines also collapsed in mere moments.

It was clear that Xue Wei had killed the Monarch Piranha Flower, but what happened? Why had he collapsed in front of them?

Lan's eyes flashed with surprise, but then a smile adorned his lips. He had no intention of interfering with what was happening.

Hei Gou and Lin Xiao moved his body to a shaded area, where they tried to investigate him, but no matter how much they searched, they only found the wounds caused by the vines which had shredded his clothes and left numerous wounds and gashes on his body.

Because the seed that had entered his heart was small, the entry point at the front of his chest was small and looked shallow. When looking at all the wounds on his body, it did not seem as if it was special.

An oppressive atmosphere shrouded them all; they were gathered around Xue Wei, ready to protect him if anyone came. Still, they also knew that they were generally safe in the forest, as every living creature had already been dealt with by the Monarch Piranha Flower.

While his body was limp, and his mind was black, a battle was ongoing in his body.

The seed, which had entered his heart, had managed to grow roots that dug into the tissue itself. From then on, it would be impossible to remove it without digging out his own heart.

The elements of Wood and Fire were fighting against the Monarch Piranha Flower's spirit inside his body.

Although he had more elemental affinities, the wood and fire were the only ones who could subdue the Monarch Piranha Flower's spirit. It was all unconsciously done, Xue Wei noticed nothing, but the flower was trying it's best to take over his body.

The Monarch Piranha Flower Spirit was not so strong that it could form a human body on its own, but it was capable of occupying someone else's body.

It was just that every living human being who came into the forest was killed, and it was not before it had its evolution that it could take over someone else's body.

This was also why it had led them to its side while observing them. Throughout the entire process, it had checked who the leader was and who had the most beneficial body.

Realizing that this Xue Wei was a Sovereign Beast, it was clear that he was the most beneficial target for it, and it conjured all its spirit and energy into a seed that had entered his heart.

The battle caused ripples of energy to appear around Xue Wei's body. There were three colors to the energy, one was fiery red, the other was emerald green, and the final was completely black.

Two of these colors represented his elemental affinities, and the black was from the Monarch Piranha Flower's spirit.

At first, when Xue Wei passed out, there were no problems, but the longer time he was out cold, the energy ripples became more and more powerful, and eventually, none of his friends could stand by his side without getting injured.

He was unconscious for a full day and night before the powerful ripples of energy finally began subsiding.

The black color was almost completely overwhelmed by the red and green, and after it was removed, Xue Wei finally began moving slightly.

His fingers twitched, his eyelashes fluttered, and slowly his eyelids lifted, and his eyes full of confusion could be seen.

Xue Wei felt puzzled. The last thing he remembered was fighting against the Monarch Piranha Flower, but then everything went black.

Now he could feel some changes to his body, and he felt drained as if he had been in a long fight.

Looking around, he also saw scorch marks and other weird marks marring the ground around him.

Clearly, something had happened. Xue Wei slowly rose from the ground, he sat down with his legs crossed, and he began observing the inside of his body.

All the Wood and Fire elemental Qi in his body was nearly exhausted, and he found a weird black energy roaming his meridians.

As he followed this black energy, he found that it originated from his heart, where he found a seed attached to the flesh, the roots growing from the seed were like blood veins, and he knew that he could not remove it.

Frowning, he felt that the energy within this seed was familiar; it reminded him of the Monarch Piranha Flower.

"Don't worry," Lan suddenly spoke up for the first time since he had fallen unconscious. "It won't kill you as such.

"This is the seed of life, the ultimate ability of the Monarch Piranha Flower. It has planted itself in your heart, and it will continue to fight you until it can take over your body.

"Right now, you can dominate it because of your Wood and Fire energy, but if it gets stronger than you, then you can only say goodbye to your body.

"There are not only downsides to it, though, but you will also be half a Monarch Piranha Flower now," Lan said with an enigmatic smile on his face. "You can now create vines as you please."

Xue Wei looked at Lan, and he had a feeling that the man was hiding something from him.

"Of course, the more essence blood that this Monarch Piranha Flower Seed consumes, the stronger its spirit will become, and the sooner it will take over your body."