While eating at the Lakeside pavilion Ethan heard some hunters talk about a green fang viper who only advanced to sky level a few days ago.
''I wonder if I am able to find it''
Ethan moved fast before seeing many groups of hunters aiming at the same prey.
''You might as well change your target with a much stronger one'' Pyr suggested to him.
''You think there are sky-level beasts that are easy to hunt at my level''
''There might be I sense a beast at sky level not far from the cliff we went before''
''I see then might as well try our luck'' Ethan changed his direction and went to the ruins.
Awooo!
''Saber fang wolves and a whole pack of them'' Pyr looked in the direction where the sound coming from
''I might as well use them as a warm-up''
Using his black flame daggers Ethan slashes them down not leaving a single one alive.
Finishing his kill he turned into a shadow and went towards the cliff.
''Huh?'' feeling a sudden chill Ethan moved away from the tree branch he was sitting at.
Bang!
A second after he moved a large snake bit the tree branch he was sitting on just a second ago.
''A sky viper! this is the beast you were talking about'' Ethan looked at Pyr who silently nodded his head.
The sky viper gave a loud screech before jumping towards Ethan.
''It's fast'' Ethan couldn't summon the wind so he used his flame daggers instead.
Clang!
Blocking the large fangs of the sky viper Ethan was pushed against a tree.
''It's strong too!''
Using every ounce of his strength Ethan tried to push the sky viper away but the more he put more strength to his daggers the more it would pin Ethan against the tree.
The tree begins to crumble as the strength of the viper pins him even more on the tree.
Drops of venom drip from the fangs of the sky viper landing on Ethan's body.
''You wanna kill me with your venom then let me burn you alive''
Ethan's body ignites with flames he focuses them on his daggers increasing their heat.
The sky viper makes a loud screech feeling the burning sensation of his fangs melting.
Slash!
Appearing right in front of the eyes of the sky viper Ethan drives his dagger into the eyes of the beast.
The viper seems to know what Ethan's aiming for so he closes his eyes with some sort of barrier.
''One more time!'' he disappeared again and kept teleporting from the shadows of the trees and the plants of the surroundings.
The snake screeched trying to predict his enemy's movements but Ethan made sure to change direction he even tried to disappear midair and teleport behind the shadow of the snake.
A series of cracks appear from the trees some of them are completely torn apart since the sky viper keeps moving to match Ethan's teleportation.
Hum
Blazing daggers suddenly caught their chance and drove it directly at the cracks that he made directly breaking the barrier on the eyes of the viper.
The snake moved violently feeling the pain in its eyes but a a few seconds later it was able to calm down and instead wait for Ethan using his heat sensor. This made the viper capable of fighting again.
The viper hisss making Ethan make more calculating moves
Their fight dragged much longer than he had expected so he took out a bottle of pills to restore his strength he did this while teleporting to a shadow of a nearby tree. Restoring some of his strength he felt that he's body became lighter then he teleported even more.
Ethan would turn into a shadow and would slash towards the wounded eyes of the sky viper he repeated this until its movements slowed.
Both of their bodies are now injured Ethan's body was poisoned while the sky viper's eyes are wounded.
''Ha...ha...might as well use it''
Focusing all his flames at one point a large ball of black flame appeared at his palm condensing at one spot the heat intensity doubled.
Hiss
The sky viper seems to sense the danger so it immediately uses its last-ditch attack. A black hazy smoke came out of its mouth killing anything it touches.
''Sh*t!'' Ethan took a step back and went back to the shadows making sure not to be touched by the smoke.
''Ugh my head is getting fuzzy'' Clenching his head he felt that his body had become heavy as well the poison had spread and affected his body.
''Have to finish this fast!''
Ethan appeared again right in front of the skyviper he made sure to kill it with one shot.
The flames he concentrated a while ago gathered at his palms again.
Bang!
Like a tiny black sun, Ethan blasted the brain of the weakened beast, it's body fell lifelessly on the ground.
Killing the sky viper Ethan almost loses his consciousness because the poison inside his body is currently spreading.
Instead of using elixir, Ethan sat cross-legged trying to use cultivation to push the venom away.
Using the five chaotic flame technique Ethan tries his best to push the poison away but some residual venom still lingers inside his body.
''Cough!''
''This won't do I can't remove them all''
Suddenly Ethan thought of something that might help him. Inhaling deeply he tries to activate his shadow flame inside his body.
A burning sensation circulates his entire body making his skin turn red.
Grinding his teeth he sensed every part of his body that had been cleared by the flame, his organs were burned but were healing slowly by the flow of his vital essence qi.
''Ha...'' breathing a sigh of relief Ethan finally started to recover from his injuries.
The sun set and Ethan finally recovered his strength looking around he saw many corpses of all kinds of beasts.
''Pyr you did this''Ethan look at Pyr who was sitting in front of him.
''They keep trying to attack you so I just kill them off'' Pyr jump to Ethan's shoulder before dozing off.
Looking at the dark sky he decided to clean himself up before returning to the inn.
There are still three hours remaining before the auction begins so Ethan uses this time to train his proficiency with his staff.
After three hours Ethan went to the auction house hosted by the Merchant Union.
Sitting in his comfortable chair Ethan could see each row of chairs in front of the stage. Apparently, the ones on the front were the guests from rich families to famous cultivators while on the second floor sat the lesser families and cultivators and Ethan was sitting on one of the seats there.
A few moments later all of the sites are occupied the lights dim and the auction starts. An attractive woman came on stage she began to welcome everyone and also introduced herself and the Merchant Union.
Seconds later she began to excite everyone by introducing the first item.
A man holding a small wooden box came on stage the attractive woman named Aliyah began to explain the origin of the item.
''I don't sense anything special about that item so how come so many of them are bidding for it'' Pyr look confused as he looks at the guests who frantically bid for the item.
''It might have nothing special to you but to them, it is a special item to use''
Ethan also raises his hand to bid.
''You want the item?'' Pyr looks at Ethan confused for his action.
''No, I just want to fool around''
Few guests bid for the item until it was sold to a Demigod expert.
Aliyah then shows other items which mainly consist of martial and cultivation techniques and pills. These items are special ones since it was made by a famous Deity cultivator who just wanted to show his new elixir pills and technique thus giving the Merchant Union the responsibility of selling them to different auction.
The pills and the techniques were sold to different Demigods who were present at the place.
''Now for the second item let's see if you are worth my time'' Ethan looked at the man coming on the stage with interest.
Aliyah began to explain again the item's origin.
''This item was found at a sunken pirate ship near the depths of Blue Sea''
She opened the box and a silver metal ore appeared to them.
''This is a titanium ore it is a type of metal low in density and corrosion resistant very useful for forging materials''
Ethan looked at the ore then at his ring.
''Now shall we start the bidding on the prize start with 100,000 high-quality vital coins''
The guests started to raise the prize from 100,000 to 500,000 high-quality vital coins and it seem to be increasing.
This time Ethan raised his hand and said
''I bid for 1 Million high-quality vital coins!''
Pyr smiled contently not because they got the item but because silence took over after Ethan bid no one bid for a higher prize for a piece of ore.