Fang Yuan watched the massive amount of Human Qi begin to coalesce and take physical form in that white void.
At first, it looked like a giant meatball - a meatball nearly as big as a mountain, floating off in empty space.
Then, shapes began to emerge from the huge, massive ball of flesh. At first, it was a hand, then a foot, then fingers, until finally, it took the form of a massive sphere that seemed to be made entirely out of human faces.
Young, old, men, women, children, beautiful, ugly, long haired, bald, short haired - human faces of nearly every kind sprouted out from all over the ball of flesh until they nearly and completely covered its entire surface. In some gaps between the faces, one could still see a human appendage, like a hand or a mouth poking out. But for the most part, it was just like a massive beehive, with each hexagonal segment occupied by a human face.
It wasn't just that the surface of the sphere was covered in faces; the faces would occasionally sink in, only for another human face to replace it, as if there were many more faces very deep within below the surface of this structure, taking turns to pop out.
The faces were not stagnant. Each of them was glancing around, blinking its eyes - assembled in this manner it looked incredibly uncanny; the very stuff that nightmares were made of.
Anyone else might have been struck by fear. In truth, even Fang Yuan felt his heart flutter a bit.
What was this creature?
It was one thing to deal with something that one knew about - that was why his mind, tempered by over 500 years of experience remained as calm as the surface of a lake on a windless day most of the time.
This though, was something beyond his understanding and comprehension completely.
It did not appear to be a tribulation or a calamity as the time for either to descend was not now, so what was it?
Fang Yuan felt a burden of Human Qi within his aperture decrease - to about a hundred times . The Heaven and Earth qi created by the small openings within this void came to join with this amount he had gathered in the space where his aperture used to be, beginning to form his Immortal Aperture.
And then, the thing which had formed in front of him spoke.
"Gu Yue Fang Yuan," it began.
When it spoke, every single one of its faces spoke all at once. Over a million human voices intoned, clashing against each other, and echoing all across this empty, white void. Their eyes were all focused on Fang Yuan.
"What are you?" Fang Yuan asked.
"You might know of us as the Goody Two-Shoes System," the faces answered.
"Well, to be more accurate," a voice said, overpowering the others within this mass of human faces. It was the face of Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable, who expanded until his face nearly covered a fourth of the surface of the sphere, pushing the other smaller faces to the side. "'The Goody Two-Shoes System' was my way of attempting to counteract your evil, Fang Yuan, which I thought was necessary if we were truly going to rely upon you for help."
"You still haven't answered the question," Fang Yuan said. "What are you? What is the system then?"
"We are Humanity," came the chorus of voices, every face in this huge mass speaking all at once.
"We are the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will," Paradise Earth said, his voice the loudest among the collection of faces.
"Humanity's Will?"
"Just like Heaven has a Will, Humanity also has its own," Paradise Earth explained. "Not just the will of a single person, but there is also a collective human consciousness which has existed in this world ever since Ren Zu, the first human, appeared. When humans die, their memories and knowledge do not entirely dissipate. Fragments remain as part of the Great Dao, and these droplets over time, have formed a massive ocean. Every human who has ever lived in the gu world - whether it be Otherworldly Demon or native - has contributed a bit to this collective of humanity's will. Many people were simply not able to understand it or detect it. However, those among us who were able to realize its existence were able to shape it much further than others could, such as myself and Genesis Lotus. The two of us have given far more to it than others have."
"Humanity's Collective Will is almost like a hive mind then?" Fang Yuan asked.
"In a way, yes, so even those of us who contributed a large amount cannot fully control it," Paradise Earth answered. "As you can imagine, Fang Yuan, throughout the years, we have amassed a powerful force within ourselves. You were suppressed by Heaven's Will and Fate Gu. However, after it was damaged, we had greater reign over the world, and we were looking for a candidate who would help us accomplish our ends."
"Your ends?" Fang Yuan asked.
"Tell me Fang Yuan, what do humans want?" Paradise Earth asked. "Despite our differences, what is the one thing we can agree upon?"
Fang Yuan thought about the question for a moment. Was it wealth, beauty, success, happiness? Looking back through his own experiences, he could answer only one thing that was the core at human nature, because it was true for all living things: to live.
"Indeed," Paradise Earth said. "Above all, humanity wishes to survive. However, this simple wish of continued existence will soon be put in jeopardy."
"And why is that?" Fang Yuan asked.
"Because our world is dying," Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable said. His face also began enlarging until it covered about a third of the construct, and then shifted over so that he was facing Fang Yuan. "You must have realized it in the future, Fang Yuan, before you regressed using the Spring Autumn Cicada. First, the walls separating the five regions will collapse and the Great Dream Immortal Venerable will arrive." Fang Yuan had experienced the first part even though the Great Dream Immortal Venerable had not yet come onto the scene before he had regressed. "Black Heaven and White Heaven will fuse together to form Gray Heaven." Fang Yuan did not know about that. "And then finally, Heaven and Earth will merge together before collapsing altogether, and the world will be no more."
Fang Yuan thought about what he had just heard.
Naturally, the end of the world was worrisome for Fang Yuan.
Because he was one of the people living in it!
"And that is why we have intervened," Paradise Earth said. "Going against Heaven's Will to aide one who could save the world..."
"Why is Heaven's Will opposing you, then?" Fang Yuan asked. "Surely Heaven does not want to see the gu world end, either?"
"Heaven may not want to see the world end," Genesis Lotus said. "However, Heaven obeys strict laws and norms. It cannot go outside of its role. If the gu world is ending in accordance to its own laws, there is a limit to how much it can do."
"And that is why," Paradise Earth said, "we needed a candidate - someone who was capable of preventing the destruction of the Gu world."
"And you've chosen me," Fang Yuan asked.
"An Otherworldly Demon, one with knowledge from the future using the Spring Autumn Cicada," Genesis Lotus said.
"We would have preferred someone without your nasty temperament," Paradise Earth admitted. "I was the last Venerable to live, and I had attempted to modify the system so that it would attempt to steer you towards the path of righteousness, something that appears to have failed, though."