Chapter Summaries

Li Le and the Sandworm reached Val Habar after the combined forces drove off Dah'ren Mohran, then he inspected the ship and explored the bustling market. There he met Joda, Disi, and Guild receptionist Sophia, whose excitement over a newly discovered species froze when she opened the Guild catalog.

• Li Le ordered the Sandworm to head for Val Habar, and the settlement's forces drove Dah'ren Mohran away as the sandstorm closed in.
• At Val Habar's docks, Li Le and Kaluo found that Sisi had salvaged two binder emplacement mounts, which had weighed down the Sandworm, and discussed expanding the ship.
• Li Le visited the trade market and heard Joda recruit the sickly Disi for his Hunter Caravan after learning Disi had passed the hunter exam.
• Li Le met Sophia, introduced himself as director of the Kinsect Research Institute, and learned she wanted to observe the insect behind his unusual scent.
• Sophia received the Guild's ecological reference materials and froze when the catalog revealed Ahtal-Ka, a Neopteron.

Li Le established Kinsect supply arrangements in Val Habar and introduced Sophia to Sisi, whose interest in her sewing machine sparked plans for lessons and equipment. The chapter ended with the Felynes testing the newly refitted Sandworm while Sisi restrained Li Le for the coming collision.

• Sophia recognized Li Le’s report about Ahtal-Ka and hurried to observe Sisi at the harbor.
• Li Le negotiated Kinsect sales and support with Laude, who praised the newly recruited hunter Disi’s skill with a charge blade.
• Li Le invited Sophia to observe Sisi, and she sketched the Kinsect while feeding her alongside the Felynes.
• Sisi showed interest in Sophia’s sewing machine, so Sophia demonstrated it and Li Le planned to buy machines for her to study.
• Sophia woke to see the refitted Sandworm on its trial run and realized it resembled a small Dah'ren Mohran.
• Li Le announced a collision test, and Sisi bound him in place as Sophia began sketching the scene.

Li Le accepted an urgent Seltas contract and traveled into the Ancestral Steppe with Sisi and Kaluo, where a wild Melynx tribe agreed to guide them. They found the injured Seltas near a rock face, and Li Le held Sisi back so Disi could gain hunting experience.

• After buying supplies for the mobile Kinsect Research Institute, Li Le took the urgent Seltas contract despite Sophia warning that it led into the unknown Sunken Hollow.
• Li Le set out with Sisi and Kaluo, then used silvervine and a Pawprint Stamp to persuade wild Melynx to share information and guide them.
• An elderly Melynx joined the group and explained that local Melynx tribes opposed the recent arrival of humans on the Ancestral Steppe.
• Near midday, Sisi spotted a dark green Seltas resting on a rock face, and Li Le recognized it as the monster that had attacked the ingredient transport team.
• Li Le calmed Sisi and chose not to interfere, leaving the hunt to Disi so he could gain practical experience.

Li Le and the Melynx found an injured Seltas that had fled a Seltas Queen, and its strong attachment to Sisi led them to spare it and try to make it a companion. After naming it Bug Brother, they heard a tremendous crash in the distant forest, leaving the source of the danger unresolved.

• Li Le accepted Spade Tip Two and Three into the team and found fresh monster fluid near the cavern entrance, confirming the Seltas was nearby.
• Li Le discovered the wounded Seltas and suspected a Seltas Queen had inflicted its injuries; the Seltas followed him because Sisi's pheromones clung to him.
• The Seltas fell asleep beside Li Le, so he restrained it with insect silk overnight instead of killing it.
• After waking, the Seltas showed no hostility, feared Sisi's movements, and shared softened Jagras meat with Li Le, whom it mistook for a fellow insect.
• Li Le decided the Seltas had passed his test and named it Bug Brother, then a tremendous crash sounded from the distant forest.

Li Le and his companions tried to evade the Seltas Queen, but it pursued them out of the Ancestral Steppe and attacked Sisi. As the Queen closed in, Old Bones broke apart during Sisi’s charge, leaving Kaluo beside her with a binder ballista bolt head.

• Li Le masked Bug Brother’s scent with fragrant powder and sent the Three Spade Meowsters to scatter false trails while the group headed back toward camp.
• Li Le found traces of a Nerscylla and Seltas Queen fighting, then decided to report the dangerous monsters and leave the Ancestral Steppe.
• Spade 2 rejoined the group with news of the Queen’s destruction, and Li Le sent Bug Brother away before leading the others toward the red-earth ruins.
• The Seltas Queen pursued Li Le, who drew it toward a rock wall, while Bug Brother rescued him from falling rocks and dodged the Queen’s water blast.
• Sisi broke one of the Queen’s armored forelimbs with a Paintball, then charged it with Kaluo aboard Old Bones.
• The Queen rammed Old Bones and shattered it; Sisi landed in its path as Kaluo raised a binder ballista bolt head and warned her.

Li Le, Sisi, Kaluo, and Bug Brother fought the Seltas Queen while trying to save their cart, then escaped onto the mountain road. Disi watched from a cliff as the Seltas Queen killed the wounded Seltas, and the group fled with the Queen still nearby.

• Sisi wounded the Seltas Queen and helped Li Le use its red extract, but the Queen drove them back with foul pheromones.
• Li Le cleared the pheromones from Sisi with a deodorant ball and realized the Queen was summoning a Seltas; Disi appeared on a cliff after badly injuring that Seltas.
• The Queen captured the wounded Seltas and forced it onto her back, while Li Le used the opening to move the cart toward the mountain road.
• Sisi evaded the Queen’s charge and pheromones as Bug Brother lifted the cart onto the road, but the Queen pursued them through the air.
• The Queen killed the wounded Seltas after Bug Brother escaped its control, and Li Le and Sisi rejoined the cart and hurried away.

Li Le reassured Sisi after the miniature Ahtal-Neset’s destruction and encouraged it to keep developing its strength, then helped Bug Brother recover his confidence. On the journey back to Val Habar, Li Le submitted a report identifying Bug Brother as a special Seltas and revealed plans to gather materials for Sisi’s future Ahtal-Neset.

• Li Le found Sisi practicing with its sickle claws and explained that it could build a stronger Ahtal-Neset over time by accumulating suitable materials.
• Li Le encouraged Bug Brother to keep training and avoid natural enemies, then the team packed up and set off the next morning.
• Li Le and Kaluo gave Disi a ride, and Li Le helped Sisi gather insects after realizing he had forgotten to complete his own request.
• Li Le gave Disi an ecological report on Bug Brother and identified himself as Val Habar’s foremost insect scholar, while Disi explained why he had collected the Seltas Queen’s severed limbs.
• Li Le returned to Val Habar and submitted his quests and Bug Brother report to Sophia, who learned that Li Le himself was both the subject and certifying scholar.
• Li Le told Sophia he planned to gather lightweight materials during the Sandworm’s voyage, with Bug Brother helping him search before dawn.

Li Le and the Felynes salvaged shipwrecks and built Sisi a land-walking Seltas Queen Ahtal-Neset, which Li Le learned to operate. After earning his two-star hunter medal, Li Le accepted an urgent Kecha Wacha contract and set out for the Sunken Hollow to test the machine’s endurance before the hunt.

• Li Le led the Sandworm to salvage shipwrecks until Sisi and the Felynes had gathered enough materials to build a land-walking Seltas Queen Ahtal-Neset.
• Li Le explored the finished machine, discovered its silk-thread controls, and climbed inside as Sisi sealed the shell around him.
• Sophia told Li Le that Disi had taken a risky three-star Kecha Wacha contract, then showed Li Le the same urgent contract and urged him to hire the Guild’s Felyne rescue team.
• Li Le exchanged his hunter badge for a two-star medal, then departed with Sisi, Kaluo, and the Felynes toward the Ancestral Steppe and Sunken Hollow.
• Li Le tested Sisi’s endurance on the journey and reached the entrance to the Sunken Hollow after one night and one day.

Li Le and Kaluo searched the underground caverns for a Kecha Wacha and followed it into a web-filled Nerscylla nest, where Sisi’s Ahtal-Neset clashed with an injured Nerscylla. They discovered the Kecha Wacha had entered the nest to reach a dead companion, but a larger Nerscylla appeared as they pursued it.

• Li Le led the team into the underground caverns, reviewed the investigation map, and chose a route around the Nerscylla nests.
• Li Le prayed at a feline altar and offered a Paintball before continuing the search for the Kecha Wacha.
• Li Le and Kaluo found signs of the Kecha Wacha and entered a vast webbed cavern, where Sisi’s Ahtal-Neset drew the attention of an injured Nerscylla.
• Li Le marked the Kecha Wacha with a Paintball, and Sisi fought the Nerscylla until it retreated into the web.
• Li Le and Kaluo chased the Kecha Wacha and realized it was trying to reach a dead companion suspended among the Nerscylla’s prey.
• Kaluo spotted a larger Nerscylla crawling along the cave wall as the pair followed the Kecha Wacha.

Li Le, Kaluo, and Sisi subdued a Kecha Wacha that was trying to protect its dead companion, while Sisi drove off an injured Nerscylla. They transported the Kecha Wacha toward the public base, where Sisi began devising a way to improve the Ahtal-Neset after its attempt to climb the entrance pit failed.

• The Nerscylla trapped a Kecha Wacha in its web, but Sisi arrived and knocked the spider away while Li Le and Kaluo approached the trapped monsters.
• Li Le realized the Kecha Wacha was not attacking because it was trying to reach its companion's corpse, so he had Sisi bind them together and leave the Kecha Wacha alive.
• The injured Nerscylla escaped, and Li Le named it Grudge-Filled Spider Sister as he recorded the hunt and considered strengthening the Ahtal-Neset's cockpit supports.
• Li Le's party encountered a Hunter's Guild transport team and helped lower its Gypceros corpse down a cliff; Li Le planned to release the Kecha Wacha, whom he called Little Fox, on the Ancestral Steppe.
• At the public base's entrance pit, Sisi's attempt to climb the rock wall failed, but Little Fox's gesture inspired her to seek a modification, and she headed for the lift with Li Le.

Li Le's team returned to Val Habar with two Kecha Wacha carcasses, while Lan Rui's solo hunt marked a turning point in his reputation and Disi continued honing his hunting skills. After discovering they had forgotten to carve the carcasses, Li Le agreed to let Sisi try taking the Kecha Wacha's hooked claws for the Ahtal-Neset.

• Li Le and Kaluo reached the outpost after showing off their Kecha Wacha kills, and Lan Rui carried a Great Maccao King's carcass into Bherna Village as a Felyne explained his past reputation as a coward.
• Li Le met Disi in the Red Earth Ruins, encouraged him to trust his abilities, and learned that Disi hoped to complete a commission before joining a Hunter Caravan expedition.
• Li Le's team returned to Val Habar at dawn, where Sophia inspected the Kecha Wacha carcasses and told them to carve materials before she verified their contract.
• Li Le realized the team had forgotten to carve the carcasses and agreed to let Sisi take the Kecha Wacha's hooked claws for the Ahtal-Neset, leaving the risky cutting to her.

Li Le helped arrange the Kecha Wacha’s dismantling and armor forging, then watched the Hunter Caravan depart for Cathar while the Felynes continued modifying the Ahtal-Neset. Afterward, he encountered Julius, a five-star hunter upset that the caravan had left without its expected escort.

• Sophia warned Li Le that the Kecha Wacha’s unusual cuts could look like waste, so Laude dismantled the corpse before an investigator inspected it.
• Laude confirmed the recovered materials could make armor but not the Wonder Staff, and Li Le provided the extra materials needed for the armor.
• Li Le discovered that the Felynes’ Ahtal-Neset modifications could not support the Kecha Wacha arm bones, and Laude recommended consulting shipbuilding craftsmen in Cathar.
• Joda told Li Le to mention his name to Chief Rair in Cathar, while Disi returned and the Hunter Caravan departed Val Habar that evening.
• Li Le learned the Kinsects sold poorly because customers mainly asked whether they could buy a Kinsect like Sisi, then saw Julius complain about the caravan leaving without its expected escort.

Li Le and the Felynes sailed from Val Habar to Cathar, where they met the village chief’s daughter, Gemma, and learned that the village’s blocked lava flow had damaged its smithing business. Gemma revised their connecting-component designs, and Li Le began discussing business with Chief Rair.

• Li Le formed the Ahtal-Neset Engineering Team, tried adapting to his Kecha Wacha armor, and prepared the Sandworm for the voyage to Cathar.
• Li Le collected his three-star hunter medal, hired employees for the Kinsect Research Institute branch, mailed letters to Sara and Lan Rui, and departed with the Felynes.
• Gemma spotted the Sandworm, met Li Le, Kaluo, and Sisi, and explained that Cathar’s blocked lava flow and Tetsucabra in the mines were hurting the village.
• Li Le proposed hiring Cathar craftsmen to teach the Felynes smithing skills, creating income for the cats and potential customers for his insect materials.
• Gemma revised the Ahtal-Neset Engineering Team’s connecting-component designs after learning that Sisi could carry the maximum-strength parts regardless of weight.
• Li Le reached Cathar and approached Chief Rair, who recognized him as Commander Joda’s friend and said they could ask Li Le for help.

Li Le arranged smithing work and heavy components in Cathar, then tested Ahtal-Neset’s new climbing legs while traveling to hunt a Gypceros. He reached a contaminated pool in the unstable Sunken Hollow, but the expected monster never appeared, leaving him suspicious of the unnaturally quiet surroundings.

• Li Le discussed smithing lessons, ship modifications, and the Isana with Rair, who explained Cathar’s shortages and the tensions between Julius and Disi.
• Li Le accepted a Gypceros hunting contract from Sophia, upgraded his Bone Rod, and offered the workshop owner legitimate Kinsect supplies and support.
• Gemma delivered two heavy metal leg components, and Li Le and Sisi installed them on Ahtal-Neset while Julius and Aiden watched.
• Li Le tested Ahtal-Neset’s new climbing ability in the cavern, but Sisi’s pendulum swing snapped a rock pillar and left one rear leg partly broken.
• Li Le and Kaluo traveled deeper into the Sunken Hollow, where Li Le found purple venom in a pool and tried to lure a Gypceros with Flashbugs.
• Li Le waited a full day without seeing any Gypceros and questioned why the unstable area was so quiet.

Li Le and Kaluo discovered that a Nerscylla had been trying to give Sisi a sewn Gypceros hide coat, then moved on to lure a Gypceros into a trap. The Gypceros appeared to collapse after being injured during its escape, and Li Le attacked it as he suspected it was playing dead.

• Li Le and Kaluo found a Nerscylla nest, learned it had hunted the Gypceros they had been tracking, and fled when fresh webs suggested it was ambushing them.
• The Nerscylla approached Sisi and offered a sewn Gypceros hide coat; Li Le realized the gift fit Sisi and helped the two monsters reconcile over their earlier fight.
• Sisi accepted the coat, and the Nerscylla left; Li Le and Kaluo continued through the cavern and set a trap near signs of venom.
• Li Le lured a Gypceros with shiny minerals and insects, then marked it with a Paintball as it fled from the group.
• Kaluo drew the Gypceros toward an insect-silk pit, where Sisi charged it and injured one wing; after it fell motionless, Li Le accused it of playing dead and thrust his staff at its head.

Li Le and Sisi defeated a Gypceros, returned to Cathar, and received funding and research news from Director Sara. As Li Le and the Ace Squad prepared to search for the missing Disi, he arrived back in the village covered in cobwebs and looking ill.

• Li Le wounded the Gypceros with his glaive and knife, then Sisi crushed it under the Ahtal-Neset's legs.
• Li Le and Kaluo left the Gypceros uncarved, and the team returned to Cathar with its carcass.
• Gemma told Li Le that Disi had hunted a Tetsucabra and then gone after a dangerous Nerscylla.
• Li Le collected a package from Director Sara containing 50,000z and a letter about Kinsect research.
• After five days without news of Disi, Li Le and the Ace Squad prepared to head out while Joda arranged a rescue contract.
• Disi arrived at the village entrance in an empty minecart, covered in cobwebs and faintly purple.

After helping restore Cathar’s lava flow, Disi and Gemma departed with the Hunter Caravan while Li Le prepared the Sandworm for a dangerous sea voyage to protect Sisi. As the ship’s Dragonator neared completion, Li Le received a letter from Lan Rui and worried that her ambition was pushing her too hard.

• Disi returned from his Nerscylla hunt with Lone Star, then collapsed from his injuries as Joda and the caravan carried him to recover.
• Village Chief Rair restored Cathar’s lava flow, and the villagers celebrated before speeding up construction of the Isana.
• Disi chose to cross the sea, while Gemma decided to learn forging from Laude before later helping build Ahtal-Neset.
• The Hunter Caravan and the elite hunter’s golden ship sailed, while Li Le warned Sisi to flee if she encountered the dangerous monster marked with a question mark.
• Gemma’s custom Dragonator was installed on the Sandworm, and Li Le ordered the ship to set sail after explaining that he feared for Sisi’s survival during the coming calamity.
• A Felyne mail carrier delivered Lan Rui’s letter to Li Le, who noticed a bloodstain and decided to write a gentler reply instead of encouraging her to compete harder.

The Behemoth Legion withdrew into the jungle after heavy losses, while Wudi returned to find the monster legion destroyed. Zhuang Wangu settled at the Northern Peak Imperial Palace, and elsewhere Yu Qing knocked Yu Jing unconscious before leaving.

• The Behemoth Legion withdrew into the jungle after losing more than twenty thousand warriors.
• Wudi returned to the main camp temple after the monster legion had ceased to exist.
• Zhuang Wangu reached the Northern Peak Imperial Palace and planned to rest there for two months before the gathering of the heavenly emperors.
• Deva Path Pain unleashed Shinra Tensei and knocked the other Pains to the ground.
• Yu Qing struck Yu Jing on the back of her neck, leaving her unconscious in his arms.
• The thousand-odd demon cultivators fell silent at the mention of Great Sage Tianpeng and scrutinized the yellow-haired demon cultivator who had cheered for Zhu Tianpeng.

Xia Haoran warned against approaching a tower and the mist around a valley, while other scattered encounters involved concealed news, threats, and deadly attacks. Feng Yuanchen impaled a burly man, and a Void Spirit Sect disciple died after floating into the air.

• Xia Haoran warned against approaching the enormous tower or the hazy mist around the valley.
• The group decided to withhold the news from Old Madam Li and explain it gradually on the road.
• A leading disciple of the Eight Great Families urged Lin Feng to use the Lin Family's secret treasure.
• Feng Yuanchen stabbed a burly man to the ground with his divine spear.
• An Emei disciple flew toward an unauthorized entrant with a longsword.
• A Void Spirit Sect disciple with the lowest cultivation floated into the air and immediately fell back down dead.

Xu Xiuxiu comforted her frightened children after cannon fire, while separate clashes involved the Dawn Army, Wang Tiezhu, and Mu Jinxi. The account then shifted to Su Yunxi's porcelain bottles and gifts of meat, ending as designers recalled Nan Wan's connection to Yina.

• Xu Xiuxiu gathered the crying twins into her arms and soothed them after cannon fire.
• The Dawn Army and the government troops attacked the corpse people from opposite sides and slaughtered them.
• Yin Jianzhong prepared an ambush with Yu Xuejing, Wang Jun, and Sun Jinghui when Team Two's four members appeared.
• Wang Tiezhu survived three spear wounds after thirty men protected him, and he later locked weapons with Murong Ling.
• Mu Jinxi beheaded a black-clad man's companion and later took silver marked with the character "Xu" from a money pouch.
• Aunt Aju refused the meat and ribs Su Yunxi brought her.