Under one person: I, Zhang Zhiwei, the arrogant Zhang.

Although Zhang Huaiyi had lost his Qi in the inner space, his foundation from years of rigorous cultivation remained.

He lay down the moment the shells came, dodging the deadly shockwave and most of the stray bullets. As debris rained down, he quickly rolled and dodged, relying on his keen intuition to avoid most of the attacks.

However, although he narrowly escaped death, he still suffered serious injuries in the process, with his body covered in blood from cuts and slashes from the rubble.

Just as he was catching his breath and secretly relieved to have escaped a disaster, the artillery fire began to extend backward, and the enemy's charge began.

A group of soldiers dressed in khaki uniforms and wearing pointed helmets, carrying rifles, surged towards them like a gray tide, crossing the no-man's land repeatedly turned over by artillery fire.

This is the Storm Commando; they're here to clear the battlefield.

"Da da da da..."

A dense hail of bullets swept over, and Zhang Huaiyi stood alone outside, without any trenches for cover. Even though he was good at dodging, he was still riddled with bullets in the dense barrage.

……

Then, the souls of the fifteen people slowly rose into the air once again.

They watched expressionlessly as the ground below was stained red with blood, and the soldiers on both sides were engaged in the most primitive and savage life-or-death battle in the mud. Their mentality had completely changed; they no longer had the detached attitude of outsiders, and they began to cheer up.

The next moment, my gaze flashed again.

Once again, all fifteen of them appeared intact and unharmed in that familiar trench.

"What do we do?! Huaiyi, what do we do now?!"

All fourteen people turned to look at Zhang Huaiyi. After all, he was the one who had survived the longest.

"I...I don't know either!"

Although Zhang Huaiyi possessed some cleverness, in this unimaginably brutal steel battlefield, any cleverness seemed pale and powerless.

He stammered, "We...we should get out of here first! Let's get out of here first, that's all! Staying here is just waiting to die!"

So, the fifteen people scrambled out once again.

Immediately afterwards, the artillery barrage roared again, and huge shells rained down like raindrops.

This time, relying on their previous experience, they rolled and dodged amidst the gunfire, holding out a little longer. But in the end, none of them survived. It was still too difficult for a group of people who had lost their abilities and had no combat experience to survive in such a meat grinder-like battlefield.

……

They reappeared in the trenches, still somewhat bewildered despite having died several times already.

There was nothing they could do; they were just a bunch of battlefield novices, completely clueless.

The series of deaths made Zhang Huaiyi give up his playful thoughts. After a moment of thought, his eyes suddenly lit up!
"I've got a plan! Have you noticed? Those most powerful cannons usually don't bombard the same spot twice in a row! We can do this: first, crawl out and find a place to hide! After the first round of shells lands, we immediately hide in the newly created crater! This way, we can avoid subsequent shelling and use the crater as cover!"

"Once those foreigners rush up, we'll ambush them in the pit! Absolutely no running out! It's a hail of bullets outside; without cover, we'll be sitting ducks!"

Everyone agreed that Zhang Huaiyi's words made a lot of sense, and immediately did as he said.

However, the plan was ambitious, but reality was harsh. During the transfer, half of the personnel were lost due to various unforeseen circumstances. In the end, only seven people, including Zhang Huaiyi, successfully held out until the enemy launched a ground offensive.

They then took cover in the newly created craters and exchanged fire with the enemy.

But after shooting down a group of enemies, they were met with several bursts of raging flames that roared from the enemy's position.

Enemy flamethrowers poured thick, sticky oil into the crater where they were.

The entire crater instantly transformed into a scorching inferno. The remaining few were completely engulfed in flames…

A moment later, the group's consciousness rose again, and they ascended into the air. Looking down at the battlefield below, a chaotic mix of poison gas, fire, and bullets, everyone deeply understood the extent of its cruelty.

During the series of deaths, they discovered a pattern: the fifteen of them seemed to be a single entity.

As long as one person is alive, the bodies that are killed will not immediately ascend to the air. Instead, their consciousness will transfer to the surviving person, observing their every move from a third-party perspective.

Only after everyone has perished will their consciousness rise together, ascending into the air until they disappear into the clouds, and then begin again.

After several deaths, they began to truly cooperate. They started to carefully observe how those around them acted, how those who survived long lives dealt with crises, and then constantly reflected on and improved themselves.

In this process, their combat skills improved rapidly at an incredible pace.

But at the same time, they became increasingly immersed in the battlefield, and even gradually forgot some things.

To be precise, some things were overlooked. For example, they were originally extraordinary people who knew magic, they were disciples of the Celestial Master's Mansion of Longhu Mountain, and they entered here after participating in the trials arranged by their senior brothers.

This is the terrifying aspect of inner visions; they can subtly influence people, making them forget that it is just an illusion.

Just like most people don't realize they're dreaming when they're dreaming, but rather become completely absorbed in it.

Zhang Huaiyi and his group weren't the only ones to experience this; their fellow disciples also entered the Guiyuan Formation one after another. Their training was all overseen by the "National Preceptor." Since they all used the same template, it didn't make much difference to the "National Preceptor" whether there was one team or dozens of teams.

After throwing everyone into the inner realm, Zhang Zhiwei stood in the main hall, his eyes flashing with golden light. From between his brows, blue light threads extended, connecting to each of the operating Returning Origin Formations like optical fibers.

Immediately afterwards, everyone's performance in the interior scene was clearly imprinted in his mind.

He watched carefully for a while and found that the best performers were still the older generation. After all, they were all seasoned veterans with plenty of experience in the martial arts world, and some of them had even participated in boxing matches back in the day, possessing firsthand battlefield experience.

However, their experience was still somewhat immature and ill-suited to the meat grinder-like battle of Verdun. But they were growing rapidly, adapting to this new and brutal mode of combat. "Tap, tap." At that moment, footsteps came from outside the door.

"How did it go?" Zhang Jingqing asked as she walked in.

“Everything has been arranged,” Zhang Zhiwei said. “While this kind of training in the inner realm is not beneficial to cultivation, it can still broaden one’s horizons.”

The inner world is omniscient and omnipotent in a sense, but the mental space that an individual can access is limited by themselves.

Without Zhang Zhiwei's assistance, allowing them to train in the inner realm on their own, the inner realm would only reflect their inner desires.

As for honing battlefield experience, that's impossible, because the inner world can't contain anything beyond your own comprehension.

They had never seen a battlefield of this scale before, so naturally they couldn't possibly construct one.

It can be said that the reason they were able to undergo this kind of training was because they were connected to Zhang Zhiwei's inner world, and everything was arranged by Zhang Zhiwei.

Zhang Jingqing nodded, looked at her disciples and fellow disciples sitting cross-legged in the main hall, and lingered on Zhang Yi and Yi Qian for a moment.

At his age, he still can't stay still and has to act like a young man, showing off his abilities recklessly.

Thinking of this, he felt a strange sense of envy. In fact, he also wanted to participate, but a wise man avoids dangerous situations, and his duty as a Celestial Master prevented him from taking such risky actions.

At this moment, he noticed that Zhang Yi, who was sitting cross-legged in the Guiyuan Formation, suddenly changed his expression, sometimes with a fierce look, and sometimes with a look of great fear.

He immediately became curious and asked Zhang Zhiwei, "Can we see their performance in the interior scenes?"

Zhang Jingqing still remembers that when the leader of the Wuhou Sect came to the Celestial Master's Mansion to practice the Tiantong Qimen and got trapped in the inner realm, Zhang Zhiwei set up a projector and projected his image in the inner realm, allowing everyone to watch the show for several months.

"Projection?" Zhang Zhiwei was taken aback for a moment, then grinned and said, "Of course that's possible. With so many people here, Master, whose projection would you like to see?"

Zhang Jingqing looked around and waved her hand, "I want to see them all."

"Adults don't make choices, they want it all, right?" Zhang Zhiwei thought to himself, but respectfully replied, "In that case, project it all out."

For Zhang Zhiwei at this point, this kind of operation is just a minor skill; it might be a little cumbersome to execute, but it's definitely not troublesome.

Zhang Zhiwei began casting his spell, and a faint ray of light shot out from between the eyebrows of everyone in the Guiyuan Formation.

Within the radiant light, countless figures and objects seemed to be blooming, but they were blurry and indistinct, like a CD with etched images. However, as Zhang Zhiwei cast his spell, as if adjusting the focus, the image became clearer and clearer, but there was no sound.

After making the adjustments, Zhang Zhiwei cast the spell again, waving his hand to unleash blue light that entered the center of everyone's forehead.

Then, each person in the Guiyuan Formation shot out a clear beam of light, which connected in the air to form a series of light screens. The light screens were further divided into fifteen small squares, each square representing their respective scenes within the inner world, much like a live surveillance broadcast in later times.

Zhang Jingqing looked at each one carefully, paying particular attention to Zhang Yi and Yi Qian.

When he looked over, he saw Zhang Yi crouching down, running around and dodging amidst the raging gunfire, before being knocked unconscious by the aftershock of a heavy artillery shell. He was then killed by enemy ground troops who charged up with bayonets.

Seeing this, Zhang Jingqing tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and looked like he couldn't bear to look at him. He thought to himself, "It's one thing for others, but you old codger, you're supposed to be a seasoned veteran, how can you be so pathetic?"
Then, he looked at Yi Qian. Zhang Yi was just an old hand, but Yi Qian, in his youth, had secretly participated in boxing with him and had actually fought in real battles; he shouldn't have...

Before the word "trouble" could even be uttered, trouble struck. Yi Qian did indeed have battlefield experience and was extremely well-prepared in every aspect, but he had no chance to use it at all. The enemy's first volley of heavy artillery took him and his carefully prepared hiding place away.

Yi Qian was gone, and Zhang Jingqing looked at her junior brother Zhang Yushan, only to find that he was long gone.

Zhang Shoucheng, who had never been on the battlefield before and rarely traveled in the martial arts world, persisted for a relatively long time.

He hid tightly in the trench, and he seemed to have a unique way of hiding in the trench. In the same trench, his teammates were all killed by the bombs, but he was completely unharmed, except that the hem of his clothes was slightly dirty.

However, although he managed to dodge the artillery fire, he couldn't escape the advance of ground troops. After a desperate struggle, he was ultimately killed.

Then, everyone inside the formation "ascended to heaven" and started anew.

After watching for a while, Zhang Jingqing couldn't help but start commenting:
"Junior Brother Shoucheng is good at maintaining the status quo, but he's too inflexible! In this situation, he should escape from the trenches and rejoin his ground troops. What's the point of holding out there?"

"And Zhang Yi, that old geezer who's all age but no brains, what's he doing running around like that? They're setting off firecrackers, do you think it's New Year's firecrackers?"

"And Yi Qian, what kind of hero are you trying to be? When the enemy launches a charge, you charge back at them. You're on the defensive. Are you going to switch from defense to offense and take on the entire battlefield by yourself? Do you think this is still like the old days of boxing?"

After watching for a while, witnessing the disciples and junior brothers repeatedly die in battle in all sorts of creative ways, Zhang Jingqing glared at Zhang Zhiwei with annoyance:
"What kind of battlefields did you choose, kid? They're too brutal! Without any skills, in unfamiliar territory, and without communication with the main force, who can fight like that?"

“Master, your thinking is too conservative,” Zhang Zhiwei said. “Although this was a battle known as the ‘meat grinder,’ it has been twenty years since then. The weapons are now more powerful, and I think the intensity may still be insufficient and needs to be increased.”

"We need to strengthen it further?" Zhang Jingqing asked in surprise.

"Yes, we need to strengthen it."

"Then they probably won't be able to leave these battlefields," Zhang Jingqing said.

“If you can’t get out, it means you’re not capable enough. You should stay on the mountain and cultivate in peace. Don’t come down to your death,” Zhang Zhiwei said matter-of-factly.

What you said makes some sense.

After Zhang Jingqing finished speaking, she stopped talking, stood there for a long time, and then said, "Do you think the Japanese pirates' offensive was stronger than what's shown in the picture?"

"I think it's probably not," Zhang Zhiwei said.

Zhang Jingqing breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave the main hall. (End of Chapter)