Recaps

Jiang Han faced Yu Sitong in the tournament and expected her superior strength and reserve tactics to carry the match. Jiang Han crushed Yu Sitong in the opening round with her Cat Gambling Tactic, leaving the match underway.

• Du Lingxuan opened champagne before Jiang Han entered the arena, prompting Jiang Han to worry that it might bring bad luck.
• Du Lingxuan and the coach cats advised Jiang Han to test Yu Sitong with the Cat Gambling Tactic because Jiang Han had more strength and tactics in reserve.
• Jiang Han and Yu Sitong exchanged compliments before the match, while privately sizing each other up.
• After the referee started the match with a slow ball, Yu Sitong fired two Armor-Piercing Missiles, but Jiang Han dodged them and summoned the Rainstorm Giant Cat Lamp.
• Yu Sitong's Howling Sea lost to Jiang Han's Boundlessly Spreading Tide, and Yu Sitong was swept away in the first round.

Jiang Han defeated Yu Sitong 2:0 after Yu repeatedly used lightning spells against Jiang Han’s storm, charging her giant cats instead of harming them. Jiang Han and her team prepared to keep using the same strategy in the next round.

• Jiang Han returned to the lounge, where Cat Dula, Mao Philia, and Cat Gernis watched Yu Sitong’s baffling tactics.
• Yu Sitong cast enhanced Chain Lightning into Jiang Han’s storm, charging Giant Cat Lamp and putting it into Fully Charged State.
• Jiang Han used Storm Claw to hint that Yu Sitong should avoid lightning magic, but Yu dodged it and continued attacking with lightning spells.
• Jiang Han’s charged giant cats cast a series of buffs, helping her defeat Yu Sitong with a spell differential of 10.00 and win 2:0.
• Jiang Han returned to the lounge, and Cat Dula suggested they keep using the strategy in the next round.

Yu Sitong abandoned her ineffective opening and began fighting Jiang Han more carefully, but Jiang Han baited her into casting Lesser Steel Guard and killed it with Finger of Death. Jiang Han led 3:0 as Yu Sitong’s steel addiction undermined her disciplined play.

• Du Lingxuan and the Dorothy sisters urged Yu Sitong to adjust her strategy and take the match seriously.
• Yu Sitong used armor-piercing shots, pushing spells, and a Force Wall to interrupt Jiang Han, but Jiang Han dodged and gained a spell differential.
• Yu Sitong switched to a defensive setup with Skeleton Traps and Force Nova Traps while Jiang Han summoned the Rainstorm Giant Cat Lamp.
• Yu Sitong countered the resulting weather with Angelite's Weather Signal Flare and began casting Miss Rainflower's Sea Call.
• Jiang Han summoned two Cat Tanks, baiting Yu Sitong into casting Lesser Steel Guard, then struck it with Finger of Death to make the score 3:0.

Jiang Han consulted her giant cat coaches about whether to keep using Weather: Torrential Rain against Teacher Yu, then abandoned it when Yu’s opening pressure proved difficult to handle. She won the round-of-64 qualifying match 4:0 with a transformed heavy-artillery Giant Cat Lamp and advanced to compete for the top 32.

• Mao'er Lite massaged Jiang Han while the giant cat coaches reviewed Yu Sitong’s spell pool and discussed her limited counterplay options.
• Cat Dula and Mao Philia advised Jiang Han to keep using a winning tactic until her opponent actually countered it, explaining tactical value, form value, and willpower value.
• Teacher Yu opened game four with a force-field wall and pressured Jiang Han, who switched from Weather: Torrential Rain to a Holy Relic-transformed heavy-artillery Giant Cat Lamp protected by two bodyguard cats.
• Jiang Han defeated Teacher Yu 4:0 in the round-of-64 qualifying match and advanced to compete for a top-32 spot.

After recovering from their matches, Jiang Han and her giant-cat coaching team faced a crowd of witch reporters eager to interview them. Jiang Han answered questions about her tactics and Cat Lamp Style, then learned that Teacher Ji had won and worried she might face her again.

• Jiang Han and Teacher Yu restored themselves in the arena's medical room, where contestants could also receive massages from Massage Beavers.
• Jiang Han changed into her usual dress and led the giant-cat coaching team out, where reporters and eager cats awaited them.
• Mao'er Lite and another giant cat organized the reporters and protected Jiang Han as they began the interviews.
• An Eastern Isles reporter asked how Jiang Han had prepared to counter Yu Sitong, and Jiang Han praised Yu while describing her tactical adjustments.
• A French reporter asked Jiang Han for advice on contracting high-level Cat Lamps, and Jiang Han shared some tips and secrets.
• Jiang Han learned that Teacher Ji had won and worried she might be paired with her in the next round.

Jiang Han, Du Lingxuan, and Teacher Yu discussed Maria’s erratic tournament performance and her match against Kitano Shinchiko, a resourceful Archwitch who had advanced as a dark horse. The match began with a questionable serve that gave Maria little time to react, and she chose to defend while warning the referee not to repeat the trick.

• Du Lingxuan and Teacher Yu bickered before joining Jiang Han to mock Maria’s drawn-out group-stage matches and unpredictable form.
• Jiang Han and the others described Maria’s prideful public image and speculated that she had concealed tactics during the group stage.
• The commentary introduced Kitano Shinchiko, whose transformation magic, wrestling skills, and ties to Cat Lamps had helped her reach the knockout rounds and defeat Ignis.
• Maria and Shinchiko faced each other, and the referee served a spinning fireball that obscured its first bounce from Maria.
• Maria accepted the small reaction window and prepared to defend, warning that she would seek a fine if the referee repeated the serve.

Jiang Han watched Maria dominate Xin Zhizi with relentless forward pressure, revealing a level of reaction speed and spell control that stunned the spectators. Maria swept the match 4:0, and Jiang Han realized that overcoming forward-pressure opponents was essential to clearing her challenge.

• Jiang Han and the others discussed Maria's unpredictable form and her crossbow-and-gun fighting style.
• Xin Zhizi opened with an armor-piercing shot, while Maria advanced using Cat's Greased Soles.
• Maria dodged Xin Zhizi's sonic-speed force-field shove with a precisely timed dimensional leap, astonishing Jiang Han and the other spectators.
• Maria overwhelmed Xin Zhizi with rapid spells and attacks, building a 2.00 spell disadvantage before killing her to take the first round.
• Maria won the match 4:0, and Jiang Han recognized that she needed to improve her discipline against forward pressure.

After Maria’s 4–0 victory, she joined Jiang Han and Du Lingxuan for a livestream interview, where she and Jiang Han traded taunts and challenged each other. Jiang Han learned that her next opponent would be Kasha Fieldlist and prepared to practice defending against forward pressure.

• Maria appeared on the livestream after her match and joked with Du Lingxuan and Jiang Han about her aggressive tactics.
• Maria named Cat Han as the opponent she wanted next, and Jiang Han accepted the challenge while trading insults with her.
• Maria and Jiang Han praised Xin Zhizi before ending the call.
• Teacher Yu discussed Giant Cat contracts and upcoming changes to Cat Lamp abilities while preparing to take a cat for a walk.
• Jiang Han learned she would face Kasha Fieldlist next and decided she needed to practice defending against forward pressure.

Jiang Han sought advice from Teacher Ji and Teacher Yu about Kasha Fieldlister’s fighting style and how to counter her forward pressure. Teacher Ji began to offer a suggestion, but the chapter ended before she revealed it.

• Jiang Han went mountain climbing with Teacher Ji and Teacher Yu to learn about the Kasha sisters.
• Teacher Ji and Teacher Yu described Kasha Fieldlister as a formidable champion who used Abjuration, Conjuration, and Prophecy rather than Transformation.
• Teacher Ji explained that Kasha relied on forward pressure in most of her matches and tested her opponents’ reactions and reflexes.
• Teacher Ji recounted how Lin Zhaojun dodged fifty-nine of Kasha’s spells before defeating her in one wave.
• Jiang Han admitted she struggled against forward-pressure tactics, and Teacher Ji began offering her advice.

Ji Haijun proposed a mobile tactic for Jiang Han to counter aggressive forward pressure by retreating while using Giant Cats to buy time and maintaining flexible spellcasting. Jiang Han tested it with Lin Zhaojun, who called it very Counter-Strike, then claimed she had never lost a Bo7 against Kasha.

• Ji Haijun explained that Jiang Han could retreat to trade space for time by relying on her Giant Cat reserves, tough physique, and flexible use of Weather Flow.
• Yu Sitong questioned the tactic, and Jiang Han agreed it was worth trying despite its reliance on Giant Cats to delay pursuers.
• Jiang Han failed to recruit Cat Vilinde, whose mountain cat nest was closed and who only left the mountains once a week.
• Jiang Han invited Lin Zhaojun to the training room and practiced the new tactic against her.
• Lin Zhaojun called the tactic very Counter-Strike and said she had never lost a Bo7 against Kasha.

Jiang Han and Kasha watched Dinesha defeat Loya, then took the arena for their own match. Kasha provoked Jiang Han before the fight began, and Jiang Han struck back at Kasha’s lack of championships just as the referee started the match.

• Jiang Han met Kasha in the contestants' lounge, where Kasha said Loya was her preferred opponent and explained that Loya had studied Anjie's evocation metamagic.
• Dinesha defeated Loya after both witches had exhausted much of their strength and tactics.
• Kasha asked Jiang Han to cheer for her after their match, and Jiang Han recognized why Kasha was nicknamed early-era Dorothy and early-era Du Lingxuan.
• Jiang Han entered the arena and used her anger to fuel a state of Rational Fury.
• Kasha criticized Jiang Han's reliance on anger, and Jiang Han retorted that Kasha had no championships before the referee began the match.

Jiang Han fought Kasha Fieldlister and lost after Kasha’s relentless pressure culminated in Fieldlister’s Rain. After reviving, Jiang Han reviewed the battle with Cat Dula, who urged her to try the new tactic she had practiced for only two days.

• Kasha used chained Evocation, Transmutation, and Conjuration spells to overwhelm Jiang Han and widen her spell deficit.
• Jiang Han spotted a flaw in Kasha’s timing, activated a Locking Dimensional Anchor, and cut off her escape route.
• Jiang Han summoned a giant cat and launched a counter-push, but Kasha used Dimensional Leap to appear before her and unleash Fieldlister’s Rain.
• Jiang Han lost the round, making the score 0 to 1.
• Cat Dula reviewed the replay and advised Jiang Han not to waste spells countering Kasha’s wind and fire, and to use her new tactic in the next round.

Jiang Han lost the first two rounds to Kasha, whose cautious forward-pressure style and powerful Fieldlister's Rain overwhelmed her. Using the cats’ prediction about Kasha’s approach angle, Jiang Han deployed Sandstorm Weather to take control of the third round and cut the score to 1:2.

• Kasha defeated Jiang Han in the second round by rushing into close range and finishing her with Fieldlister's Rain.
• Jiang Han and the cat coaching team analyzed Kasha’s rhythm and decided to gamble on using Force Push toward her front right.
• Jiang Han opened the third round with a fast ball and a rightward Force Push, but Kasha evaded it with Dimensional Leap.
• Jiang Han summoned a Giant Cat and unleashed Sandstorm Weather, catching Kasha off guard and creating room to build an advantage.
• Jiang Han used the sandstorm to widen the distance, then surged forward and struck Kasha after she used Dimensional Leap, winning the round 1:2.

Jiang Han battled Kasha in a decisive match, enduring repeated uses of Liszt’s Rainstorm through defensive preparation and sandstorm tactics. The score reached 3:3 before Kasha unleashed Liszt’s Final Storm, which destroyed Eightfold Island and ended the match in a brilliant final attack.

• Jiang Han defeated Kasha in the third round by predicting her charge and casting a legendary spell, while the cats identified Light Wing Form’s lower-than-expected lethal threshold.
• Jiang Han countered Kasha’s opening burst in the fourth round with Energy Absorption, then fortified herself and her giant cats against Liszt’s Rainstorm.
• Kasha unleashed Liszt’s Rainstorm, but Jiang Han survived with defensive buffs and sandstorm support, tying the match at 2:2.
• Jiang Han won the fifth round with a retreat-and-buff strategy, but Kasha took the sixth round and tied the score at 3:3.
• Jiang Han used Mouse Han and a dual-spell setup in the deciding round, but Kasha unleashed Liszt’s Final Storm at full power and blasted Eightfold Island beneath the waves.

After her tournament victory, Jiang Han’s fame brought new contracts, rare-material offers, and work to her studio. She arranged to obtain phoenix feathers for life-extending medicine, then spent the afternoon completing paperwork and writing about Cat Lamp Style.

• Jiang Han teased Chen Ligu while Chen negotiated better sponsorship terms and resources for her.
• Chen Ligu told Jiang Han that her tournament performance had boosted the studio’s business and offered to secure phoenix feathers for her potion.
• Jiang Han explained that she wanted to make life-extending medicine to trade with another world’s ruler for a valuable crystal.
• Jiang Han spent the afternoon in Gu Bao’s office, filing a report and writing a paper on Cat Lamp Style.

Jiang Han spent her free time playing games with Chen Ligu instead of preparing for the next match. The Round of 32 draw named Eve Harkins as Jiang Han’s opponent.

• Jiang Han asked Chen Ligu to help with her paper, and Chen Ligu offered to make her coffee.
• Jiang Han mistook Chen Ligu’s question about training as an invitation to spend time together, and they agreed to play games.
• Jiang Han ignored the draw ceremony and played Marite Racing with Chen Ligu while the draw streamed nearby.
• Jiang Han’s next opponent was drawn as Eve Harkins.

Jiang Han welcomed her draw against Eve Harkins, then streamed and commentated on a Giant Cat Basketball game with Chen Ligu and Gu Bao. The broadcast continued as Jiang Han explained the teams’ strengths and watched Cat Liya score amid the brutal play.

• Jiang Han and Chen Ligu assessed Eve Harkins as a favorable opponent for Jiang Han, who had practiced fighting Ghost Witches.
• Jiang Han and Gu Bao started a livestream of the Giant Cat Basketball regular-season game, and Chen Ligu agreed to monitor the comments.
• Jiang Han introduced the Bad Cat Archipelago Team and the Wilhelm Ascetic Cat Team, describing giant cats and Wilhelm’s morale advantage.
• Ten giant cats collided during the opening tip-off, knocking the armored witch referee off the court as an Ascetic Cat gained possession.
• Cat Liya kicked and elbowed opponents out of her way, then scored with a floater while Jiang Han explained modern giant-cat basketball tactics.

Jiang Han and Chen Ligu prepared for a Ghost Castle gala, where Jiang Han was tasked with recommending cat nests, scouting five Ghost Giant Cat teams, and dancing the opening dance. They arrived at the banquet hall and found Eve Harkins receiving a lich giant cat.

• Jiang Han watched the Bad Cat Team win a Giant Cat Basketball game, with Cat Lin Kaluoya scoring 48 points and no assists.
• Chen Ligu told Jiang Han about her three assignments at Ghost Castle, including scouting the five Ghost Giant Cat teams for Eileen.
• Jiang Han tried on formal dresses, then chose the sleeveless white dress Chen Ligu preferred.
• Jiang Han and Chen Ligu traveled to Ghost Castle's central keep and entered the gala banquet hall.
• Eve Harkins received a lich giant cat whose phylactery was its tail.

Eve Harkins led Jiang Han and Chen Ligu through Ghost Castle and explained her past as a hero and Pseudo-God of Justice who became a witch to overcome ignorance. She revealed that she sought to make every intelligent creature in the multiverse a witch, leaving Jiang Han to grapple with the castle lord’s unsettling ideal.

• Eve Harkins welcomed Jiang Han and Chen Ligu to her dinner party, where Jiang Han joked that she had taken twenty crates of desserts from the castle.
• Eve Harkins summoned the Great Ghost to host the guests and guided Jiang Han and Chen Ligu through Ghost Castle’s maze of mirrored corridors.
• Eve Harkins explained that Ghost Castle’s monthly ghost appraisal assembly gathered the castle’s ghosts, and outsiders could attend only with immediate family.
• Eve Harkins revealed that she had once been a hero and a Pseudo-God of Justice who became a witch because she believed witches could overcome ignorance.
• Eve Harkins said she wanted every intelligent creature in the multiverse to become a witch, ushering in an age of pure good and perfect civilization.

Jiang Han explored the immense corridor of Eve Harkins’s Ghost Castle and learned about Eve’s ambitions and philosophy. Inspired to stop holding back in the dueling tournament, Jiang Han decided to use her strongest style, then told Eve that the castle’s land was unsuitable for giant cats.

• Eve Harkins explained that she devoted two days a week to pursuing her ambition and argued that people had to seek their own happiness before leading others toward it.
• Eve admitted that she could have returned home using a spacetime beacon if she had not met Olivia, then showed Jiang Han the vast primeval galaxy inside Ghost Castle.
• Eve explained that Ghost Castle contained expanding fragments of otherworldly planes and that she had built mirrored corridors to contain them.
• Jiang Han reflected on her tournament prospects and resolved to use her Cat Lamp Merman Style rather than save her strongest tactic.
• Jiang Han told Eve that Ghost Castle was not suitable for giant cats because it was too close to the gym and too far from the cafeteria.

Jiang Han faced Eve Harkins in the arena and used close combat to conceal her real strategy. She tricked Eve with Zhang Luer’s transformed giant cat and gained the first point with Boundlessly Spreading Tide.

• Jiang Han and Eve Harkins exchanged words before beginning their match, each expressing excitement about facing a resisting opponent.
• Jiang Han dodged Eve’s opening fireball and engaged her in close-range lightsword combat.
• Jiang Han used the fight to obstruct Eve’s senses while summoning Zhang Luer’s giant-cat form and recovering magic.
• Eve cut down what she thought was Jiang Han, but it was a cat-tail decoy held by a Cat Lamp.
• Jiang Han cast Boundlessly Spreading Tide and took a 1:0 lead over Eve.

Jiang Han and Zhang Luer pressed Eve Harkins with Scorching Sun weather and coordinated close combat, but Eve’s resistance and swordsmanship turned the second match into a draw. The score stood at 1:1, with two of four matches completed.

• Cat Dula congratulated Jiang Han and the giant cats on their first-match win, noting that Eve’s side would now be more cautious.
• Jiang Han used Scorching Sun weather and confirmed that Eve Harkins could retain her ghost form despite her resistance to holy attributes.
• Jiang Han and Zhang Luer pressured Eve together, but Eve escaped, attacked with animated branches, and nearly struck Jiang Han with a thrown lightsword.
• Zhang Luer hurled Jiang Han forward, and Eve disarmed Zhang Luer before launching a counterattack that sent her flying.
• Jiang Han faced Eve one-on-one but could not block her, and the second match ended in a draw with the overall score tied 1:1.

Jiang Han and Xu Fangying probed Eve Harkins’s hidden tactics during their third match, forcing her to reveal a powerful combination of Necromancy, Transmutation, and Illusion spells. Eve won the round 2:1, but Jiang Han left with crucial intelligence about her opponent’s spell pool.

• Jiang Han and the Cat Lamps planned to fight Eve at range and use the match to uncover her spells, since they lacked information about her private tactics.
• Jiang Han and Xu Fangying opened the third match with combined ice spells, but Eve used Frozen Ghost Form to withstand them.
• Jiang Han and Xu Fangying repeatedly attacked with spells and summoned Zhang Luer as a Mammoth Giant Cat, forcing Eve to reveal her undead-summoning Necromancy tactics.
• Zhang Luer triggered Greater Disrupt Undead against Eve, creating an opening for Mammoth Han to attack with her wok-tossing spell.
• Eve countered Mammoth Han with Phantom Web, Dusk Curtain, and displacement magic, and Jiang Han recognized that Illusion was one of Eve’s dominant schools.
• Eve won the round 2:1, while Jiang Han gained intelligence about Eve’s reserve tactics and spell pool.

Jiang Han used Cat Dula’s Sunshower tactic to exploit the Ghost Giant Cats’ tendency to doze in warm rain, defeating Eve Harkins and taking the lead. The Harkins sisters’ familiar strategies failed, while Jiang Han advanced to the top sixteen and the Chen Ligu sisters prepared to renegotiate their contracts.

• Cat Dula advised Jiang Han to use Sunshower to make the Ghost Giant Cats sluggish and create openings against Eve Harkins.
• Jiang Han’s team exploited the cats’ brief yawns, allowing Mammoth Han to batter Eve and bring the score to 2:2.
• Eve realized the Ghost Giant Cats had collectively undermined her strategy, but her late attempt to change her summons could not prevent Jiang Han from taking a 3:2 lead.
• Eve returned to the lounge sore but composed, then questioned the Ghost Giant Cats about whether they had taken dried fish from Jiang Han’s side.
• Eve’s prepared Ghost Cat Lamp tactics proved unusable, and Jiang Han won 4:2 to advance to the top sixteen.
• The Chen Ligu sisters, having won their match, planned to rewrite their contracts with even more favorable terms.

Jiang Han took Chu Yujun and Eve Harkins to view Giant Cat nests after Chu Yujun decided to spend her windfall on a home. They inspected Olivia’s natural, stream-of-consciousness design, which Harkins judged beautiful but unsuitable for living in.

• Chu Yujun admired a property near Long-Haired Cat Clawmark Island, while Eve Harkins criticized its lack of cat nests and recommended a home with Hot Spring Mountain.
• Jiang Han offered to show them premium nests made by Ovi, and Chu Yujun agreed to look.
• Jiang Han explained how Giant Cats remodeled, sold, and profited from their nests as the group traveled through Cat Sea Grand Cathedral.
• Jiang Han told Harkins that Giant Cats made up most of the students at Ghost Witch Academy, alarming the castle mistress.
• Jiang Han brought Chu Yujun and Eve Harkins to Olivia’s small hot-spring island nest, and Harkins said it was not suitable for people to live in.