Yuankong's internal power was immensely deep and abundant. The first time Hu Xiaotian had drawn it from him, Yuankong had resisted throughout, but this time he could not fight back at all. Internal power flooded madly into Hu Xiaotian's meridians, surging with unstoppable force. His meridians rapidly expanded, and his dantian sea of qi swelled violently under the wild influx of inner breath. To counter that powerful influx, the qi vortex in his dantian could only spin furiously, its speed already pushed to the limit. The heat generated by that high-speed rotation made his dantian swell even further. His lower abdomen hurt as though knives were twisting inside it, as though a raging fire were burning there, intent on reducing him to ashes. He was like an overinflated ball about to burst.
Yuankong endured a different kind of agonizing pain. The power within him was being drained madly by his opponent. Though he wanted to struggle, his body no longer obeyed his will.
This continued for nearly half an hour before Hu Xiaotian threw back his head and roared. The river water around him exploded, sending towering columns of water skyward. Yuankong's body flew away like a kite with its string severed, slammed heavily into the cavern wall, and then fell to the ground.
Like a man possessed, Hu Xiaotian kept pounding his own abdomen, trying to ease the excruciating pain in his dantian. Even this could not counter the torment inside him. Suddenly, he sprang out of the middle of the river and hurled his body against the rock wall. The pain threatened to tear apart both body and soul, making death seem preferable. Dust billowed, and fragments scattered in all directions.
Yuankong spat blood as he sat on the muddy ground, staring blankly at Hu Xiaotian's frenzied actions.