Chapter Three: The Three Brothers

"Master, dinner is served! You've returned just in time! Hahaha!" Three men entered the village entrance. The leader had a thick, bristly beard and looked incredibly imposing and robust. Seeing Master Tianji bringing food out from the house, he spoke loudly.

Master Tianji set the food down and said, "You three brothers are always so punctual when you return! Sit down."

"Oh? Master, why is there an extra set of bowls and chopsticks today? Could it be that someone else has been fortunate enough to stumble upon this immortal's new abode?" asked another man, a very handsome young fellow.

"Hehe, Brother Duan is indeed observant. That’s right, a young friend arrived this morning. He just ascended, which is truly a rare event in ten million years, haha!" Master Tianji laughed.

"Then where is he? Why don't we see him?" asked the third man, who looked quite conventional.

"Second brother, I suspect he’s still holding out hope and is off somewhere wasting his immortal energy! Let’s eat first. After we’re done, we still need to process what we gathered this morning!" the bearded man said.

"Understood, eldest brother! Let’s eat."

Just as they began to eat, a human figure appeared beside the stone table.

"Wow, eating! You didn't even call me. Hmm, what are these things? Wait, hold on. Isn't this the Immortal Realm? Aren't you all immortals? Why do you need to eat?"

The person who appeared was Tang Yi. Seeing Master Tianji and the others eating, a series of questions bubbled out of him.

"Hehe, little brother, no rush. Sit down and eat first; we can chat while we eat," Master Tianji invited.

"Let me introduce you. This is our new little friend, named... ah, I forgot to ask for your name. Oh, Tang Yi, these are three sworn brothers: the eldest, Xiao Feng; the second, Xuzhu; and the third, Duan Yu..."

"Wait, Xiao Feng, Xuzhu, Duan Yu! Isn't that a bit exaggerated?" Tang Yi suddenly shouted.

"We three brothers are a bit exaggerated? What do you mean by that?" Xiao Feng asked, puzzled.

"Well, don't tell me you all ascended from Earth? I’m from Earth too. We’re fellow countrymen!" Tang Yi thought for a moment and said.

"Oh? How did you know? We’ve been very low-key. Not many people from Earth know about us? Could it be... no, that's not right, did our master ascend even earlier than us?" Xuzhu asked in surprise.

Tang Yi chuckled, "That's too simple. I just know. Hehe, let’s not talk about that for now. Right, Master, you still haven't told me why immortals need to eat." Tang Yi secretly used his psychic powers to make the four of them ignore his previous question. However, this drained almost a tenth of his energy. "Damn it, immortals are no joke. Just four of them used up a tenth of my energy!" Tang Yi cursed inwardly. One had to know that if he used that same amount of energy against someone on the level of the old Zhang Sanfeng, he could have knocked out a massive crowd—and a "massive crowd" started at ten thousand people.

"Hehe, who said immortals don't need to eat? Besides, look at where we are. Not eating here is just waiting for death!" Xiao Feng replied without looking up from his food.

"Alright, little Brother Tang, let me explain it to you. Immortals in this realm do need to eat. Of course, unlike the mortal realm, immortals don't need to use the restroom. Let's put it this way: immortals can survive by absorbing the immortal energy from the world, but they are constantly consuming it. If they don't eat, they have to constantly meditate to absorb that energy. So, under normal circumstances, immortals often eat, though not necessarily three meals a day like mortals. Of course, the food in the Immortal Realm is different; once it enters an immortal's stomach, it continuously converts into energy for our use until it's fully processed. As for this place, alas, there's no choice—there isn't a shred of immortal energy here, not even a trace of spiritual energy. We can only rely on constant eating to maintain our energy levels." Master Tianji sighed deeply.

"Oh!" Tang Yi nodded, then looked at the food on the table and asked again.

"Is this all you eat every day? It seems to be all vegetarian."

"You're new, so I won't blame you. This hellhole only has a few things that can be used as immortal food. We’re lucky we gather enough every day for the few of us. Starting tomorrow, you’ll have to join the gathering, or we’ll run out of food with an extra mouth to feed," Duan Yu said in a slightly disgruntled tone.

"Hmm, surely there aren't just the four of you here? Master Tianji said this 'Immortal Cage' has been discovered for over a million years. It can't just be the four of you!" Tang Yi asked again.

"Fine, I'll explain it all at once!" Duan Yu put down his chopsticks and said, "From the time it was discovered until now, it has been exactly 1,860,000 years. We three brothers have been here for nearly five hundred years, and Master Tianji has been here for about 1,800,000 years, right? This 'Immortal Cage' is very strange. Everyone sucked in here stays in this area—within a radius of four million miles. No one has ever gone beyond this range. This is the center point, and only this area has these immortal ingredients. Alas, a natural prison."

"Well, after all that talk, where are the others?" Tang Yi asked again.

"I wasn't finished, what's the rush? Actually, over all these years, including you, there have been a total of 9,999 people. We’re one short of ten thousand."

"Right, after all that, where are the others?" Tang Yi was getting impatient. In truth, Tang Yi had tried to use his psychic powers to probe their thoughts, but their spirits as immortals were too strong; he couldn't move them in the slightest. He could only listen to them.

"I told you I wasn't finished, why are you in such a hurry?" Duan Yu glared at Tang Yi, then went back to drinking his soup in silence.

"Hehe, Brother Tang, please forgive him. He hasn't had the chance to speak this much in hundreds of years, let him talk," Xuzhu said, cupping his hands toward Tang Yi.

"My apologies, I was too eager. Brother Duan, please, take your time," Tang Yi gestured for him to continue.

"That's more like it," Duan Yu pointed with his right index finger toward a stone forest in the northeast. "The others are actually hibernating there. If they didn't, the resources here wouldn't be enough to support everyone. In two years, we three brothers will reach our five-hundred-year limit, and then we can go in for a good sleep and not have to work ourselves to death every day."

"Oh, how does that work?" Tang Yi asked, confused.

"Let me explain that, Brother Tang. It’s like this: gathering food here is very strenuous. Especially since there's no immortal energy to replenish us, we can't use our immortal powers at all, and our storage rings won't open. So we have to gather everything by hand. Basically, what one person gathers is only enough to sustain one person's consumption. I assume the Master told you about this already?" Xiao Feng finished eating and took over the conversation.

"I know that. I went up to take a look earlier; this place is indeed quite perverse. But don't worry, I think I have a way to get us out of here." Tang Yi nodded.

"Pfft!" Duan Yu was unimpressed. The others felt the same way, as they had all had the same thought when they first arrived.

"Let's not talk about that for now. Let me finish. The hibernation method was Master Tianji's idea. He discovered that stone forest. It's a unique place where sleeping consumes almost no immortal energy, so in theory, one could hibernate there for hundreds of millions of years."

"Oh, I see. You rotate every five hundred years, with four people on duty to wait for new arrivals. In two years, your time is up, and you can wake up the others to take your place. No wonder there are so many houses but only four of you," Tang Yi thought he understood.

"Half right. Four people in a group, five-hundred-year cycles—that's correct. But the Master has never rested," Xuzhu said.

"You're kidding, Master? You haven't rested in over a million years!" Tang Yi looked at Master Tianji in disbelief.

"Hehe, little Brother Tang, no need to be surprised. It is simply because of the techniques I cultivate. This environment is actually a rare and excellent place for me," Master Tianji laughed.

"That's right. Only the Master's 'Heavenly Extremity Technique' allows for such patience and tranquility. People like us can't do it; five hundred years is our limit. Enough talk, let's go organize the supplies after eating, otherwise, there won't be a next meal." Xiao Feng stood up, picked up what they had brought back, and headed toward a house. Xuzhu and Duan Yu followed suit, picking up their items. Master Tianji cleared the bowls and chopsticks, and Tang Yi had no choice but to follow Xiao Feng into the house.