He had been hoping to threaten Arthur in order to discourage further fighting and force Arthur to let him go. But that was clearly not going to happen if he couldn't injure Arthur.
Black Mantis felt despair as he faltered. Arthur's fist struck him, but his skin hardened a little too slowly. By the time his skin was ready to harden, it had been smashed open by Arthur's fist.
That mistake sealed his fate. One mistake meant more mistakes. More mistakes meant more injuries. Soon he was bruised and battered.
In less than five seconds, he had been struck by more than twenty times. He was bleeding all over and was unsteady on his feet.
He knew then that he was beyond saving. So he pleaded desperately, "Please, spare me."
Arthur wanted to spare him for a moment. He wanted to beat the man up and force Black Mantis to tell him where he kept his wealth. But he wasn't confident he could get away with it.
He was too scared to leave Black Mantis alive. He felt that a cultivator at the second mortal coil, no matter how weak, shouldn't be underestimated.
If Black Mantis has just one friend at the second mortal coil and is able to contact that one friend for help, he would be screwed. So he didn't hold back as he beat Black Mantis. He fought to kill him as soon as possible.
But then Black Mantis began to scream for help. He raised his voice and shouted, "Please, don't kill me. Someone help me."
No matter what sounds his neighbors heard, they just thought he was exercising. Now that someone was screaming for help in his yard, their attention would be drawn, and Black Mantis might be saved.
Not that anyone would come forward to save Black Mantis. But if he doesn't want anyone to know that he killed someone in his yard and if he wants to avoid the investigation of the city's law enforcement, he will have to hold back from killing Black Mantis in public.
Arthur frowned, but he didn't stop fighting. He didn't hold back and struck Black Mantis harder. He struck Black Mantis to the ground and smashed his mouth to prevent him from speaking.
That didn't silence Black Mantis. He was still screaming for help even though his jaw had dislocated. So Arthur grabbed sand from the ground and poured it into his mouth.
That finally shut Black Mantis up. Then Arthur broke the man's limbs and dragged him into his house.
He was briefly tempted to torture Black Mantis, but he shook his head after thinking about it. Black Mantis was just too dangerous to be allowed to live. He couldn't even be allowed to rest. If he rests, he is bound to recover his strength.
There is also the fact that he has nothing that can bind a cultivator at the second mortal coil. If Black Mantis can shatter his sword, the man can surely cut through any rope he uses to bind him.
So he made up his mind and dragged the man down to his basement, where he killed him. Then he fed the body to Roar.
After doing all of these, he staggered to a chair and poured himself a drink. His hand was shaking as he did so. He was feeling the drawbacks as adrenaline left his body.
He exhaled loudly and said, "Wow."
"Wow. Just wow."
He couldn't believe what had just happened. The fight took a very short time, but it was the most intense one minute of his life.
He hadn't planned to fight Black Mantis at all. Even when he sensed that Black Mantis was a threat but wasn't much of a danger to his life, he didn't intend to fight him because he still remembered how easily his body had bested him.
That's why he was willing to concede after Black Mantis warned him not to proceed with teaching the advanced mana breathing technique for free. But Black Mantis had to take things too far.
He sighed and brought the cup of wine to his lips. But he was struggling to do so because his hand was shaking.
He had to use both hands to grab the glass and push it towards his mouth. Even then, he could only do it slowly.
It was far from the smooth movement of drinking that he was used to. It was as if someone was forcing him to drink.
Someone was indeed forcing him to drink the wine. It was he himself that was forcing himself to drink.
His body didn't want to drink it. Actually, his body doesn't want to do anything. All it wants to do is relax and rest because it is sore.
But it is because his body is aching all over that he insisted on drinking. He wants the wine to dull his pain.
He chuckled and said, "I need a new weapon."
He can still remember how his giant sword had been destroyed. His body had gone through the same thing, so one can imagine just how injured he is.
His body didn't fall apart like the giant sword because it is flexible and can withstand impact. The sword was rigid, so the vibrations shattered it.
His body is largely intact, but the damage to his blood vessels and muscles is significant. His whole body is bruised. His fair skin is turning purple and black because of the hits he took.
Black Mantis, on the other hand, only became injured by him after his force faltered. All of his punches did no damage to Black Mantis before then.
But Black Mantis was still bruised even though his punches didn't damage him. His force couldn't flow freely, so it still damaged his body after protecting him. It was truly tragic.
By the time the fight was over, not only was Black Mantis bruised all over, even his legs and thighs that Arthur didn't touch once were bruised too. The blood vessels in them had burst because of Black Mantis's excessive use of force to accelerate.