After Lin An joined, the seven of them began signing up for seven-person team battles at the Suotuo Great Soul Arena.
The early days did not go smoothly. Their rather strange team name, "Shrek Seven Monsters," coupled with their far-too-youthful appearances and mismatched clothing, drew plenty of disdain from their opponents and boos from the spectators.
Their clumsy coordination was even more fatal. Their control chains frequently broke, their attacks fell out of sync, and their support could not keep pace. They suffered several defeats in succession, and their points briefly sank to the bottom of the Soul Elder division.
Mockery and doubt surged over them like a tide.
Inside the Spirit Arena, the other teams looked at them with pity or contempt.
But the Shrek Seven Monsters—or rather, the Shrek Seven Monsters forged together under Yu Xiaogang's iron fist—had a stubborn streak in their bones.
Defeat did not crush them. Instead, it became the best means of honing their teamwork.
After every defeat, Yu Xiaogang would use his icy tone, together with footage recorded by an image-recording Soul Tool, to mercilessly dissect every mistake and every lapse in coordination.
Extra training late into the night became routine.
Although they did not get along well, none of them liked losing.
Tang San and Dai Mubai studied how to link powerful assaults with control; Lin An and Zhu Zhuqing explored how to use speed and area control to create lethal openings; Cinderella and Oscar experimented with the stacking and timing of support Soul Skills; and Ma Hongjun practiced weaving his explosive power into the team's rhythm.
Pain, exhaustion, and arguments came hand in hand with rapid growth.
Gradually, their defeats grew fewer and fewer.
When the seven first executed a seamless combination on the arena floor—Dai Mubai drawing attention with a