The Chronicles of Shizu was the oldest myth known to mankind, also the most famous one.
It was the sacred text of cultivation wrote by a mysterious Supreme Immortal lord, passed down generations throught generations worldwide.
In The Chronicles of Shizu, chapter one, it stated:
When the universe was just formed and life began to flourish, gods and beasts roamed the land while deities walked the earth.
It was the best of time, it was the worst of time.
In the center of the universe, in a land unknown, deep in a rainforest was a giant gourd tree.
This gourd tree was gigantic, with roots longer than the longer than rivers and trunk bigger than a dragon, the top of the tree pierced through the cloud as if reaching for the heavens itself.
Hanging from the tree were many gourd fruits, each one bigger than the other, with the smallest one being the size of a house.
When a gourd becomes ripe, it will drop down bit by bit until it touches the ground. If one were to look at it, one would notice that there are many such ripe gourds on the ground, unmoving.
In the peaceful and still area, suddenly there was movement, there was changes.
It was a gourd cracking, opening a huge hole, something seems to be crawling out of it.
This creature has no thick hairs like monkeys or bears, no sharp claws like tigers or eagles, no sharp teeth like wolves and sharks. Instead it resembled a hairless monkey with long flowing black hair on its head.
It called itself human.
He called himself Yi Ren, the first human.
In the first few years, Yi Ren was puzzled, everything was new and dangerous to him. All he had was a knowledge of this language he didn't create, with no other survival skills, living a very difficult life.
To survive in the forest, he had to eat raw meat to appease hunger, drink blood to quench thirst, hunting at day just to eat at night.
Over the years he learned to make tools and lit up fire which helped him in his hunts, but it wasn't enough.
The more he hunted the more he realized of how vast the world was, of where he belonged in the food chain. Gradually, he realized a more devastating news, he was getting old.
On one fateful day, Yi Ren's luck has hit rock bottom as he is chased by a horde of wild beasts. These beasts loved his smell, they wanted to tear his flesh and drink his blood.
Yi Ren ran barefoot for his life under the pressure. He stepped on twigs and blade grasses on the way, sharp rocks piercing his roots, but he never stopped running. For if he stopped, it would be the end of him.
He ran from day till night, exhaustion threatened to claim him while those beasts chased him relentlessly. When his legs were about to give out, he heard a voice, it said:
"Human, do you want to live? Listen to me and head North, you will find a cave full of glowing blue grasses deep in the mountains. Go and hide there, these beasts won't be able to do anything to you."
Yi Ren looked around but found not the source of the voice, he could only gritted his teeth and changed direction, following the voice.
Finally he found the cave and used all his strength to dashed in with all he had.
The cave was bigger than expected, Yi Ren stumbled on the field of glowing blue grasses with shapes like gingko leaves, lying down with exhaustion, feeling quite comfortable.
Yi Ren looked outside the cave where the beasts were. Now that he finally had the chance to take a look carefully, he noticed that these beasts did not have a fixed shape or form. They were like dense, dark black shadows with glowing red eyes that sent a chill down his spine.They were circling the mouth of the cave, watching him with hateful eyes and expectations of a delicious meal.
"What are they…" Yi Ren muttered to himself.
"They are Despair Beasts." A voice replied to him not far away.
"Despair beasts…?" Yi Ren muttered as he turned around to look at the owner of the voice.
It was a point of light, looking quite small yet bright, incredibly colorful.
"Who are you?" Yi Ren asked.
The point of light replied, "I am Dream Meng."
"Dream Meng… What are despair beasts? How do I get out of here? Why are my traps and tools not working against them in the slightest?"
The colorful point of light sighed and replied:
"Oh human, you cannot escape them, for death comes for every living being, you are no exception."
It then continued in a slight mocking tone, "Death cannot be outrun, naturally it cannot be harmed by your trap and tools. All you can do is struggle for your life. You are old, human, sooner or later you will have to face it. This is your greatest fear, your despair."
Upon hearing this, Yi Ren became disheartened. He was indeed old and afraid.
"As for how to get out of here, I naturally have a way." Dream Meng said nonchalantly.
Yi Ren's head shot up in expectation as he listened intently to the words of Dream Meng.
"To defy death, one must continue to live. That is the basic rule of nature. Conversely, once you die, you stop living." The Dream Meng spoke matter-of-factly.
Yi Ren frowned weakly, of course he knew of this logic, but how would this help him solve this predicament?
"Human, you should have felt the changes in your body by now? Three cun below your naval, deep in your abdomen, there is a point of light, exactly like me. That is your life's accumulation gathered together into tangible form, your Life Core Essence." Dream Meng paused, then continued in an approving tone, "You are the first, and the only living being in this universe that I've seen to possessed this quality."
It then floats down to eye level with Yi Ren, speaking to him in serious tone.
"Human, take me up, and I shall help you deal with this Despair. Give your one breath to Dream and you shall not fear Despair no more. For when you have a dream that you can give your life to, what is there to fear?"
Yi Ren was amazed by Dream Meng's words, his eyes were full of determination as he stood up and took Dream Meng into his heart.
He was captivated by this Dream, utterly convinced. Unknowingly, he already gave his heart to it.
He inhaled for a long while, then exhaled deeply through his mouth at Dream Meng.
Dream Meng then emitted blinding, colorful light.
"It's the Dream Meng, run! We Despair could not hope to defeat Dream."
The Despairs beasts outside quickly closed their eyes and screamed, each fleeing in different directions.
The Despairs retreated fearfully. Yi Ren laid there on the spot, speechless. From that day on, whenever faced with Despair, he always gave his one breath to Dream.
For he had a dream, and need not fear despair anymore!