Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

Gou An became increasingly frightened the more he thought about it!

A strong sense of unease drove him to continue rowing in another direction.

This time, Gou An did not approach any of the islands he encountered along the way; whenever he saw an island, he would deliberately stay away from it.

After rowing for an unknown amount of time, Gou An even began to experience severe hallucinations.

In the gray fog, I saw myself rowing everywhere—around me, in all directions.

When one turns their head, they turn their heads too; when one rows, they row too.

The same movements, the same rhythm, one after another.

Gou An felt dizzy and lightheaded, so he gave up rowing and simply lay down in the wooden boat to gaze at the night sky.

But the sky was overcast and nothing could be seen clearly.

Gou An felt a little tired, so he slowly closed his eyes and fell into a half-asleep, half-awake state.

After rocking for an unknown amount of time, the wooden boat bumped into something again and came to a stop.

Gou An, who was lying in the cabin, suddenly sat up and looked up to see another island.

But it's a new island!

However, it's more like a large reef than an island.

You can see the entire area at a glance.

Gou An moored the wooden boat and went ashore, when he suddenly noticed a figure sitting on the other side of the island.

"Who! Who's there?"

Gou An didn't dare to get close, but just shouted in that direction.

But there was no response; the figure remained motionless.

So Gou An became bolder and quietly went over.

Only then did they realize that the person sitting on the shore was an old man with white hair. He had his head down and looked very old.

"Hey, are you still alive?"

Gou An asked another question, this time with even more force.

"Cough cough cough!" The old man suddenly coughed a few times, then slowly raised his head to meet Gou An's gaze.

When their eyes met, Gou An's pupils suddenly contracted.

The old man in front of him looked remarkably like himself, and had a horrifying scar on his face.

The angle was exactly the same as when I slashed the red-eyed dog demon!

"You!" Gou An was so surprised that he couldn't speak.

"That's right!" the old dog said weakly, "I am you from the future!"

"Impossible!" Gou An exclaimed.

"Here, nothing is impossible except getting out!" The old dog shook his head helplessly. "You can't get out. The harder you try, the more you'll get trapped in an even bigger cycle. It's useless!"

"How could that be?" Gou An asked, puzzled.

The old dog coughed again, then said, "To break the cycle, do nothing... do absolutely nothing!"

After saying this last sentence, the old dog's body stiffened, and he didn't move at all.

"Hmm?" Gou An frowned immediately and walked over, only to find that the old dog was no longer breathing.

he died!

"How could this happen?" Gou An was dumbfounded.

If this old dog really is my future self, then doesn't that mean I'll also grow old and die here, never to get out?

Thinking about this, I suddenly felt utterly disheartened.

"No!"

Suddenly, Gou An came to his senses again; he was not prepared to give up so easily.

Isn't it just a loop?

If you are careful and remember to do completely different things when facing a cycle, wouldn't you be able to break the cycle?

For example, you might want to go back and stop your other self from lighting the lighthouse pillar, but instead of hunting them down, you choose to cooperate with that other self.

Wouldn't this prevent the same thing from happening again?

Although he didn't know if it would work, Gou An was still prepared to give it a try, which was much better than sitting and waiting to die.

So Gou An boarded the boat again and continued rowing towards the distance.

And they headed in the direction the lighthouse was shining.

On the island where the lighthouse shines, different versions of yourself from different times coexist.

By breaking the existing cycle, one can change the past, change the future, and break the cycle.

Having made up his mind, Gou An quickened his rowing pace.

After successfully reaching the shore, Gou An had just landed.

But then they suddenly discovered that the lighthouse on the mountaintop had gone out again.

"Is this not the first island I've ever landed on?"

Gou An felt uneasy and immediately turned to leave.

If it's not the first time you've landed on an island, it means that there might be other cycles on that island at this time.

We can't go up there! We can't go up there!

So Gou An quickly rowed away, looking for the next island with lights on.

But once you find a mountain, the lights on the mountaintop will immediately go out as soon as you get ashore.

The island where we first landed seemed to have vanished suddenly; we couldn't find it anywhere.

I tried several times, but it was the same every time.

Gou An suddenly felt agitated and restless, as if he had a strange, unquenchable anger.

But as soon as he realized that he might lose control of his emotions, Gou An immediately took a deep breath to calm himself down and avoid turning into a red-eyed state.

After calming down, Gou An boarded the island.

Sure enough, the lights on the mountaintop went out again as soon as we landed on the island.

So Gou An quietly moved forward, making a vow in his heart.

If you encounter a similar situation this time, you must do the opposite to avoid getting caught up in a new or old cycle.

Having calmed himself down and walked out, Gou An soon saw a figure running towards him.

Gou An immediately became alert and drew his sword, but fearing that the person opposite him might be himself, he shouted at the figure, "Don't be impulsive, we're on the same side!"

But as the figure drew closer, Gou An finally saw it clearly.

The figure running towards him was a red-eyed dog demon who had just been slashed in the face!

"Hmm?" Gou An immediately understood his current predicament.

This is the island from before, where there exists a version of yourself fleeing in terror, a version of yourself who successfully launched a sneak attack, and a future version of yourself who is driven mad with red eyes.

Gou An tried to stop the red-eyed mad dog, but the red-eyed mad dog was no longer listening to anything and started attacking Gou An with his knife.

Gou An could only raise his sword to defend himself, parrying as he tried to persuade, "Stop fighting. If we keep fighting, we'll all be trapped in this cycle. We need to unite all of ourselves so that we can change everything."

But the red-eyed mad dog only shouted, "What do you know? You know nothing!"

In the middle of the fight, the red-eyed mad dog suddenly turned and ran away.

Gou An wanted to chase after it, but the red-eyed dog demon was already out of control, and its behavior was even more violent after being stabbed, making it completely impossible to communicate with.

What Gou An didn't expect was that the dog-eyed demon's ultimate target was the wooden boat that he had just moored on the shore.

He jumped onto the wooden boat and rowed away.

At this point, it was too late for Gou An to stop it, so he could only take a deep breath and try to calm himself down.

We must remain calm at all times, otherwise we may end up in a state of rage and repeat the same mistakes!

Therefore, staying alert is very important.

Don't get red-eyed, don't get red-eyed, don't get red-eyed!

Gou An kept telling himself that he had to stay calm.

After mentally preparing himself, Gou An continued climbing the mountain.

There shouldn't be any other versions of myself on the island now.

The red-eyed one stole the boat and ran away, while the one who had ambushed the turtle had already left.

Now I just need to be careful and not create a cycle.

Everything stemmed from this island, so to uncover its secrets, we must thoroughly understand this island!