Inside a hotel in Soto City.
This was the temporary residence rented for the Shrek students.
To make it easier for the Shrek Six Monsters to participate in Spirit Arena matches, Flender reluctantly spent the money to rent this place after Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang strongly insisted.
Five straight wins was not a huge number, but for the current Shrek Six Monsters, it had greatly boosted their confidence.
Unfortunately, the team was still missing the final piece. Without a seventh member, they could not truly begin complete team training.
The most ridiculous incident happened during Shrek Team's second match. Since they still could not find a seventh member, Yu Xiaogang had no choice but to personally join the fight with the strength of a peak Grand Spirit Master.
The Spirit Arena had no rule stating that contestants had to be of the same age group, so Yu Xiaogang participating did not violate any regulations.
However, the audience did not see it that way. An older man fighting alongside a group of teenagers looked absurd.
As expected, Yu Xiaogang was heavily mocked in that match, and after that he never participated in another team battle again.
With that lesson learned, when they searched for substitute players in the Spirit Arena, they could only look for people around the same age. Those experienced older veterans who spent all their time in the arena would never join Shrek Team.
After all, Shrek Team's teamwork had already begun to take shape. If an outsider joined, it was inevitable they would fail to coordinate with the group and become the enemy's weak point.
Anyone who stepped in was bound to get beaten badly. Only a fool would agree.
Every seventh member they invited fought with them once, then refused to have anything to do with them afterward.
Flender was deeply troubled by this.
The enrollment season had long passed. If they wanted to recruit suitable talented students now, they would have to poach them from other academies.
But stealing a core student from another academy was easier said than done.
Dai Mubai could not help sighing.
"What a pity. If Wu Qi and Changkong had joined Shrek Academy back then, we wouldn't be in such a passive position now."
When this matter was mentioned, both Flender and Yu Xiaogang silently chose not to respond.
They had both personally tried to recruit the two, but were rejected.
Ma Hongjun did not care at all.
"Hmph. Those two failed to recognize a good opportunity. Missing out on Shrek Academy is their loss."
What he did not know was that if Wu Qi and Changkong had joined, Yu Xiaogang would have absolutely benched him permanently.
As an assault Spirit Master, his Spirit Power Level was even lower than Oscar's. He was always lazy during training and constantly complained. Yu Xiaogang had long grown dissatisfied with him.
Tang San also felt regret.
"What a shame. If they were here, under Teacher's guidance, Shrek Team would definitely go much farther."
As he spoke, he looked toward Yu Xiaogang.
"By the way, Teacher, have we found someone for tonight's team match?"
Yu Xiaogang shook his head.
Shrek Academy was poor to begin with. There was no way they could pay someone to fight for them.
Finding a fool willing to do it for free was not easy. They could only rely on luck.
Dai Mubai scratched his head, glanced at Zhu Zhuqing, then said.
"I do know some friends in the city. Why not ask them to help?"
Zhu Zhuqing's expression changed immediately.
What kind of friends could Dai Mubai have? Most likely former girlfriends.
Dai Mubai looked innocent and spread his hands.
"I'm thinking of everyone here. I'm making a sacrifice for the team. Otherwise, where are we supposed to find someone?"
Yu Xiaogang's eyes lit up.
This suggestion could kill two birds with one stone.
Dai Mubai's former girlfriends would definitely not fit in with the team. During battle, they would naturally become the focus of enemy attacks.
Once they got beaten black and blue, Dai Mubai would naturally lose interest in chasing women.
At the same time, seeing this would likely improve Zhu Zhuqing's opinion of him.
Yu Xiaogang had confidence in Dai Mubai's charm. Those women would surely follow him devotedly.
That way, Shrek Team would also gain a long-term free substitute.
With no one interfering, Yu Xiaogang's plan naturally went smoothly.
As expected, Shrek Team achieved their sixth consecutive victory that night.
As they were about to leave the Spirit Arena, they ran into the badly defeated Mad Battle Team.
Just like in the original timeline, Shrek Academy's first team battle opponent had still been Mad Battle Team.
Although Shrek had won that match, it was by no means easy, and Mad Battle Team had not looked nearly this miserable afterward.
Mad Rhino, the captain of Mad Battle Team, looked at the youthful faces of Shrek Team. Then he remembered the terrifying strength of the Emperor Battle Team and let out a long sigh.
"You'd better stop competing for the next few days. Emperor Battle Team is charging in hard. If you run into them... sigh..."
Shrek Academy had needed a quarter of an hour of fierce fighting to defeat them.
Emperor Battle Team had crushed them in only a few minutes.
By comparison, Shrek Team was clearly no match for Emperor Battle Team.
There were not many teams in Soto Grand Spirit Arena. When there were too few participants and matches needed to proceed normally, a high-point Iron Spirit Badge team could sometimes be matched against a Bronze Spirit Badge team.
Mad Rhino's warning only stirred Shrek Team's competitive spirit.
Tang San clenched his fists.
"A strong enemy... Teacher?"
Yu Xiaogang's expression shifted uncertainly.
Defeating a powerful enemy would naturally strengthen the unity of Shrek Team.
But would the Emperor Team be so easy to defeat?
The title "Emperor" was not something just anyone could use. He had already roughly guessed their background.
As the team of the Heaven Dou Empire, every member of that squad was bound to be extremely strong.
While Grandmaster was still thinking, the manager of the Grand Spirit Arena personally approached them.
Kuang Xi and the others tactfully turned and left.
"So you are the Shrek Academy Team? On behalf of the Grand Spirit Arena, I would like to invite you to compete against the Emperor Team…"
His explanation was mostly the same as in the original timeline.
Nothing more than saying the Emperor Team had won too much money, and they wanted to win some back.
But was that really the truth?
In the original timeline, Shrek Team was already famous, so the manager approaching them made sense.
But now?
Shrek Team had only just begun to show promise. How would the Grand Spirit Arena dare to casually arrange such a match for them?
And besides, would those Heaven Dou Empire nobles easily allow match manipulation?
At the root of it all, Qin Ming was the one secretly pushing everything.
Behind him stood many nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire. Using their influence, he pressured the Grand Spirit Arena into arranging this match. In truth, it was to create an opportunity for contact with Flender.
He knew that mediocrities could never enter Shrek Academy's team. His junior schoolmates had to be strong.
The Emperor Team was the perfect whetstone.
Flender refused without hesitation.
"Sorry, we're not interested."
Tang San, however, did not want to miss the chance to face strong opponents.
"Teacher, Dean, agree to it."
"Only by constantly facing stronger enemies can we truly grow. This is a perfect opportunity. We absolutely cannot miss it."
"But Xiao San, have you considered this? If you lose, how great a blow would it be to your morale?"
The belief of being undefeated was easy to build, just keep winning.
But once they suffered a crushing defeat, everyone's mentality would inevitably suffer backlash.
Grandmaster was unwilling to take the risk lightly and intended to refuse.
Director Ao then offered terms that were difficult to reject.
"As long as Shrek Team participates in this match, you will receive a reward of ten thousand Gold Spirit Coins. If you defeat the Emperor Team, the prize money will be multiplied by ten. What do you think?"