Strength, Wisdom and Hope

In the world’s earliest age, wild beasts called Predicament hunt the first man, Ren Zu. He has no strong body and no sharp teeth, and his food is unstable. Three Gu offer to help him if he spends his life on them, and he agrees. He gives his youth to the largest of the three, and it grants him strength as strength Gu. With that strength he wins a stable food supply and beats many Predicaments, but learns strength must be healed and cultivated rather than spent at will, and cannot answer the whole group alone. He then gives his middle years to the most beautiful of the three, which becomes wisdom Gu, and wisdom paired with strength lets him overcome goals he could not reach before. ^{ch. 5}

Because he traded away his youth and middle years, Ren Zu grows old. His strength fails and his mind slows, and strength Gu and wisdom Gu abandon him for having nothing left to give. Predicaments surround him again, and too old to run or chew, he collapses in despair. The third Gu offers to save him, and though Ren Zu refuses to give up his remaining old age, the Gu asks only for his heart. When he gives it, the dim Gu blazes into endless light, and the Predicaments know it for Hope Gu and flee, crying that they fear hope above all else. From that day, Ren Zu answers every predicament by giving his heart to hope. ^{ch. 5}