Edward and Robert moved through the vast green fields, towards Tulip Village. They were running, but not at full speed. Tulip Village was not that far, so it would be a matter of minutes before they reach there.

The sun was slowly rolling down the western horizon, and the sky was turning red, declaring the end of the day. Birds were returning to their nests, everything was slowly turning silent. Along the way, there were flower fields full of tulip flowers, which gave Edward a nostalgic feeling. Far into the western horizon, a village was slowly appearing in front of there eyes. It was Tulip Village.

By the time they reached the village, the sky had started to become dark, and the sun had just set. They finally entered the village. Edward looked around. The village was the same as ever. Nothing had changed. Same houses, same people, and same as ever, everyone was closing their doors and windows as no one in this village stays outside after sunset.

Edward slowly walked toward the direction of his house. It was exactly the way he had left it. Well, he did not expect things to change much, as no one would bother to go through his things or steal anything. To be honest, there was nothing to steal, he had nothing valuable in his house.

"Is this where you lived?". Robert asked.

"Yes. Why? Are you disappointed? Not everyone is born rich, you know?"

"No. Not really. I was just wondering.", Robert said.

Edward walked to the backyard of his house. There, he could see his parents' grave. In these few months, dust has gathered over their graves. Edward picked the sweeper beside the graves and started to sweep the graves. At this moment, Robert came behind him.

"These are my parents' grave.", said Edward.

"I could guess.", Robert replied.

Edward didn't say anything else. He sat in front of the graves in a meditative position. Before they headed to the Uncrossable Forest, he needed to check something out. Robert also didn't say anything and started meditating beside Edward.

Edward focused his mind to find the little seed that the lake spirit gave him. After concentrating for a while, inside his mind, he noticed that the small seed was orbiting his soul core. When he focused on the seed, he felt a kind of powerful energy flowing through. This energy was full of life and vitality.

"Is this the so-called Life Energy? It's so profound and powerful!", Edward exclaimed in his mind.

He tried to probe this energy with his physical essence. He slowly channeled his physical essence towards the seed. The moment his physical essence touched the seed, something strange happened. Edward's mind was pulled into a vortex, leading towards an unknown place. Suddenly, time started to tick in the opposite direction, and he was thrown billions of years back into the past as everything blacked out inside his mind.

When he regained consciousness within his mind, he discovered himself sitting somewhere else. The place was unfamiliar, yet it seemed familiar to him. After checking out the surroundings, he suddenly realized something.

"It's the lake! The Lake of Tears! How did my consciousness suddenly appear here?", he shouted in his mind and wondered.

At that moment, he saw a tall, handsome man sitting on the lakeshore, staring at the lake with eyes full of tears. Suddenly, tears appeared in Edward's eyes too.

"Huh! What's happening to me?", Edward couldn't realize what's going on. He could suddenly feel all kinds of feelings clouding his mind.

Suddenly, he could feel that he was pulled back in time. He saw many scenes. He saw the man by the lakeside in the past, when he was a boy, fighting powerful cultivators, taking down one by one. But soon, he was outnumbered and outmatched. When he was about to die, a girl came to save him. She was cute and beautiful, but she was also strong and brave. It seemed that the girl and that boy knew each other. They fought side by side, taking down enemies. Yet, the girl ended up taking a serious blow trying to save that boy. Slowly, the girl fell on his arms, as life drained out of her body. She slowly passed away, breaking the boy's heart, turning him mad. The boy went crazy and fought risking everything, yet he also fell. His enemies threw their bodies into the lake, thinking both of them were dead. They did not know that the boy survived.

Edward saw everything from the back view, so he couldn't see the boy\s face, he could see only his Back. Yet, his back seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't identify him.

Time passed. The boy somehow reached the other shore of the lake. Barely alive, he couldn't move. Yet, for some mysterious reason, he didn't die. The boy wanted to die, he wanted to die so badly yet he didn't, he couldn't. He was alive and for him, living was like a curse, eating away his heart. Somehow, Edward could feel those feelings inside his heart too.

All the boy could do was cry. He cried and cried, and cried and cried, thinking about his life, regretting his life. Regretting how weak he was, regretting how the love of his life died before his own eyes, yet he was powerless.

With a purpose to live, life is a blessing. But when that purpose is destroyed, life becomes a curse instead. Human life is very fragile, like a candle that could extinguish any time. Served by a great purpose that fulfills one's heart, even the shortest of lifespan can become blissful heaven, and without purpose, without someone to cuddle with, without a place to return home to, even eternal life can become eternal suffering. In the end, what is life? What is its purpose? Why does it have to end one day? The boy, crying at the lakeshore, asked these questions to himself again and again.

With endless waves of indescribable feelings in his mind, three whole years passed. Edward felt as if he also experienced these three years along with the boy. Time and time, in these three years, both the boy and Edward could feel that they were about to reach an answer, yet somehow it slipped passed their grasp. Finally, exactly when three years passed, the boy and Edward both opened their eyes. They suddenly discovered that they were sitting face to face. They looked at each other.

Both of them were shocked, yet they sighed as if they were expecting things to turn out this way.

The boy beside the lake from billions of years ago, and the Edward of today, sitting face to face, they were the same person!

Right now, Edward was finally meeting 'Edward'.