# CHAPTER 15: DUAL SCORPION-CARAPACE BLADES > *"From a beggar's stick to a pair of beast-fleshing knives: the exile has officially grown real fangs and claws."* --- ### I. FIRST SWEET SPRING IN THE OASIS Chu Ye steps down to the edge of Bone Oasis's natural underground lake. He knelt on one knee on the wet sand, scooped up sips of clear water, cool as morning dew, and splashed it onto his face, smeared with soot and beast blood. The cool, fresh water flowed through the corners of his dry, cracked lips, soothing his lungs that were burning from the toxic desert smoke. He lowered his head close to the water's surface and drank in large gulps. Never in his life did he feel that a sip of fresh water could be so delicious and precious! Even the jade soy sauce wine in ancient imperial banquets could not compare to one-thousandth of this wild underground stream. Fresh water poured into the stomach, combined with the heat of the Bloodstone pill in the chest cavity, immediately transformed into an abundant stream of vitality flowing throughout the limbs, washing away all the fatigue and dust after the earth-shattering death battle. Behind him, more than twenty rescued slaves — haggard faces, tattered clothes — were carefully standing around the body of Giant Bone-Waste Scorpion. An old man with gray hair and beard, his body covered with scars from fire and whiplash, walked three steps away from Chu Ye and knelt down respectfully: — "Great benefactor! The old man's name is A Ba. He used to be a weapon blacksmith of the desert barbarians before being enslaved by bandits... All the lives of more than twenty of us today were saved by a great benefactor! Please accept our gratitude!" The group of women and children behind also knelt down in unison. Chu Ye stood up, turned to look at A Ba, his voice was calm: — "Get up, everyone. There are no benefactors or servants in this place. I killed this scorpion to get its meat and armor. You quickly get water and gather dry wood. The meat of this beast is enough for all of us to eat for three days!" Hearing the word "full", the eyes of the slaves, who were already numb from hunger and thirst, suddenly lit up with a strong hope. --- ### II. FLAYING THE BEAST CARCASS & HONING THE DUAL BLADES Within just half an hour, a giant campfire was lit on the shore of the lake using dry date palm branches. Desert scorpion meat is as white as crab meat, succulent and sweet, skewered on fresh tree branches, grilled over charcoal, emitting a sweet aroma throughout the oasis. The slaves who had been starving for a long time ate greedily and shed tears of emotion. Meanwhile, in a flat stone corner next to the lake, Chu Ye and old blacksmith A Ba were focusing all their attention on making weapons. Giant Bone-Waste Scorpion's corpse is a priceless treasure: - The purple-black chitin armor on its chest and claws is more than an inch thick, harder than thousand-year-old iron, but weighs half less than cold iron! - After two giant stone pincers were pried off the inner layer of flesh, they revealed two curved, semicircular plates of bone and cartilage, naturally sharp like death scythes! Although A Ba is old, the skills of a desert blacksmith are still extremely skilled. He used desert quartz to meticulously polish each edge of the two cartilage plates of the scorpion's claws, combined with the natural venom solution remaining in the tail segment to temper the blade's surface. Under the trained hands of A Ba and the precise guidance of the cutting angle of Chu Ye, two complete swords gradually took shape: It's the **Dual Scorpion-Carapace Bone Blades** pair! Each sword is exactly three meters long, the blade is as black as the desert night, and on the blade's body there are natural grooves containing a layer of dimly luminescent emerald venom. The thick, serrated spine of the blade is used to grip and break the opponent's sword, while the curved tip of the blade is so sharp that even a strand of hair falling through the blade will be split in half! The handle of the sword is tightly wrapped with desert antelope skin tanned with scorpion fat. It can be held in the hand and is absolutely anti-slip. Chu Ye held the pair of Dual Weapons and walked out onto the open sand, trying to gently swing a sword. — *CROSS T T!* A green blade of light tore through the air, emitting a sweet whistling sound like the sound of silk tearing! He conveniently slashed the two meter thick marble rock next to the lake. — *BANG!* No loud explosions, no sparks! The blade cut through the hard rock as gently as cutting through soft mud! The rock's cross-section is flat and black as if melted by venom! Masterpiece of weapons! The old ebony log and primitive short sword have now been replaced by a pair of true swords of the wild! With the Blackbone Staff weighing thirty pounds wrapped in scorpion tail spikes strapped to its back, Chu Ye now possesses a perfect combat system from long range to close combat! --- ### III. SHADOW OF FALLEN SAND FORTRESS & BANDIT CHIEF SHADU MA While Chu Ye was putting the Dual Weapons bag into the two holsters slung across his back, A Ba suddenly stepped forward, his old face showing extreme anxiety: — "Great benefactor... you have good weapons, but the old man advises you not to stay in this oasis for too long." Chu Ye turned back to look at him: — "What's going on?" A Ba lowered his voice and pointed towards the dark red rocky mountains in the western desert: — "Ten miles from here is **Fallen Sand Fortress** — the lair of more than three hundred violent bandits under the command of **Hac Sa Cuong Dao Shadu Ma**! He is an extremely brutal desert death row prisoner, holding a Heavy Knife weighing hundreds of pounds, slashing people without blinking an eye." The old man trembled and continued: — "In that fortress, he is locking more than two hundred exiles in iron cages exposed to the sun in the middle of the desert, forcing them to dig through ancient ruins to search for Bloodstone and Ta An to hand over to him. We were the lucky ones to escape last night..." A Ba swallowed his saliva, his face white with fear: — "And most importantly... this morning, a courier of Jin Wanruo from The Outcast Encampment rode to the fortress, telling Shadu Ma that you were entering the desert! Shadu Ma has placed a reward of five Bloodstone on your head! He is gathering all the desert cavalry to prepare to head to this oasis to capture you!" It's Jin Wanruo again! The corner of Chu Ye's lips curled up in a smile as cold as desert ice and snow. He was not surprised at all. That obese businessman in the black market was a vulture in every direction. In front of Chu Ye, he tremblingly offered medicinal pills and leather armor, but behind his back, he immediately sold his whereabouts to the bandit boss to borrow a knife to kill people! — "He wants my head?" Chu Ye slowly raised his hand to touch the half-broken ceramic bowl on his chest. The fire of hatred and survival in his chest once again burned fiercely! In this place, hiding has never been the way to survive. A real predator never sits and waits for the enemy to come and siege. — "A Ba." Chu Ye said in a low voice. — "Yes... there is an old man!" — "After I left, you led all the women and children to hide in the underground caves at the foot of the oasis, and used scorpion meat and lake water to survive." A Ba opened his eyes wide in surprise: — "Great benefactor... where do you want to go?!" Chu Ye pulled a Dual Bone Blades sword out of its sheath, the blue blade glinting in the desert sunset: — "I'm going to Fallen Sand Fortress. He wants my head... I'll bring his head back as a drinking cup for you!" Having finished speaking, without waiting for A Ba to utter a word of resistance, Chu Ye's figure was like a flash of black lightning rushing across the lake shore, striding across the yellow sand, heading straight towards the dark red rock mountain range where Fallen Sand Fortress was located!