This area of flesh and skin that glowed had been enhanced by Black Mantis's inner force. The surface of the skin and the muscles beneath it had been hardened into rock by force. So when Arthur's fist smashed into it, it was as if he was hitting stone, not flesh.
Meanwhile, Black Mantis himself struck Arthur's body. Arthur didn't have the force to protect him. But his flesh was indeed very hard. They were so hard that they too might as well be stone.
Arthur's flesh was so hard that Black Mantis had to protect and harden his fist with force. If not, his hands would be crippled from striking stone so hard.
If Arthur were wearing armor, Black Mantis's fist would have shattered it the way he cracked the sword, deformed it with his fist, and/or bypassed the defenses of the armor entirely with force to harm his flesh underneath.
Only special armor and weapons are useful against cultivators at the second mortal coil. Even then, weapons are not as flexible as their hands, and they can't use force with weapons. That's why cultivators of the second mortal coil mostly fight with their bare hands.
It is a rare, if not impossible, sight to see a cultivator at the first mortal coil with the same tools fight on the same level and with a cultivator at the second mortal coil. But that is what is going on here.
These two men struck each other's bodies. with the single aim to crush it to paste. But none of them was having any success.
Arthur was visualizing the fire mana fighting technique as he fought. He was using this state of mind to force his body to explode with every ounce of power he had. Then he was using the advanced technique to use the recoil from his hits to hit harder.
Black Mantis, on the other hand, was using impeccable body and energy control to fight raw power. No matter what Arthur did, he couldn't injure him.
Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to make him unscathed. He was still getting injured as the fight went on because his own force was harming his body. It is all because of his injury.
Many years ago, a powerful being had come to Agate town. That powerful being went to a fighting pit to watch the matches and gamble.
Black Mantis had been there that day when the powerful being felt that the matches were being rigged. So the powerful person became angry and began to fight.
Black Mantis was just a passerby that day. He was just there to deliver some new slave fighters.
He could have ignored the fight. But he didn't know that the person was powerful, and he had just transcended the first mortal coil so he was full of pride. So he went forward to suppress him together with the proprietor of the fighting ring.
The matches were actually being rigged. This was to ensure that the fighting ring wouldn't lose money through the gambling. This powerful person caught on and became angry.
They didn't try to talk him off about the matter. Instead, they tried to suppress him physically and get rid of him so that he wouldn't run his mouth ever again. So a fight ensued.
It wasn't really a fight. It was more of a massacre. Black Mantis didn't even last one round of attack against that powerful person.
It wasn't really an attack. The person wasn't trying to kill him. The person had just brushed him aside and he fell down. Just one touch and he nearly died.
His body softened and his blood stagnated. When he woke up, he found that his body had been crippled for life.
His situation is still better than others who died that day. And till today, that fighting ring doesn't dare to have their fights on the surface. They have to hold it deep underground because of their fear of that man.
Even though he survived that experience
A cultivator at the second mortal coil still has a body that is at the ten transformation. It is the force they wield that makes them special.
Because his body was injured and couldn't be healed, his body became stuck at the ninth transformation. That meant it became unable to allow force to flow freely.
Whenever he uses force intensely, there will be runoff that will harm his body too. The greater the use of force, the more the run-off and the more the injuries.
This is why he didn't want to clash with Arthur after realizing that the boy could threaten him. In fact, he didn't want to clash with anyone who could threaten him. It is why he doesn't go into the green forest to hunt.
He doesn't want to fight at all. So he hides all the time while running a mercenary group.
But today, he violated his rule of hiding because a lot of dojo masters came to him and offered him a lot of money to warn Arthur off. He also had a previous vendetta to hash out with Arthur, so he came himself.
Now, as he was fighting with Arthur, he began to regret his decision. Not only that, the longer the fight lasted, the more despair he began to feel.
Even if he didn't have any injuries and was in perfect health, this fight still wouldn't be easy because force costs a lot of stamina.
His defense is strong, but it is an active defense that needs him to activate it and requires a lot of stamina to use. Meanwhile, Arthur's defense is passive. His body is strong and rigid all over.
The only thing Arthur had to spend his stamina on was attacking. But Black Mantis had to spend his stamina on both attacking and defending.
What's more, he wasn't fighting Arthur alone. He was fighting his injury too.
His injury had not only shortened his lifespan; it had also reduced his stamina. His injury was also hurting his body with the use of force. At this rate, he was bound to lose.