I wasn't sure how crying would solve this situation whatsoever. Especially if he found out her identity.
The only thing Xiao Yin had going for her was that Divine Data had no abilities naturally linked into it.
How was that important?
'Mana' naturally gave a person better spiritual senses. It harmonised the soul with the body.
'Internal Qi' vastly improved physicality passively on the condition your heart and mind balanced.
What did 'Divine Data' do?
Nothing.
Just like how a PC needed starting up before you can run a program on it, her 'Physical Amp' from before required activation first. If not, she would have a normal body with no irregularities at all.
"What are you planning?" I asked her through my monitor, only to see she got used to this System.
Able to send her thoughts to me in writing.
[Those who rely on force too much tend to forget how to 'fight' without that. Let me show you that.]
As if to prove herself, Xiao Yin looked up at the man with hatred in her eyes. Sincere malice.
Trying to punch him with her weak fist.
The situation from there went exactly as I'd expected from there. She was captured easily.
Wu Tong easily slipped behind her and subdued the woman. His eyes confused over everything.
Not knowing why she attacked…
"You killed my daughter! Let go of me…! I will never forgive you for killing her…" She growled at him.
My jaw almost dropped at how foolish her decision was. To think she'd go ahead and reveal herself.
Unexpectedly, the man didn't attack her.
Instead, Wu Tong seemed to have been shaken by the knowledge that he'd meet the girl's family here.
"I'm sorry for your loss, but it had to be done for the sake of peace." He tried to justify himself.
"Why…? What did she do?" Xiao Yin's acting was top-notch, but I didn't know where she was going.
It was obvious how this conversation would end.
"She practiced unorthodox arts. Her greed for strength had made her walk the wrong path."
"Greed?" (Xiao Yin)
"Yes. Although you may not believe my words, I have a few witnesses who saw her use demonic strength." It wasn't that Wu Tong was being shameless, the problem was his lack of flexibility.
Something my minion was trying to reveal herself.
"How did you prove she used an 'Unorthodox Technique'?" Rather than continue crying or getting angry, Xiao Yin suddenly became calm and asked him something a rational person would ask.
"An elder of our Sect sensed it. You should know the validity of the Northblade Sect and trust our judgement. We don't harm regular citizens." He used the same excuse made by countless others.
Something that sounded reasonable, but was actually no more than a threat hidden in plain sight.
"Are you saying I'd be going against your entire Sect if I doubted an elder?" Xiao Yin spoke scarily.
Her words even caused my hairs to stand on end.
What was she doing?!
Members of most Sects had grown up there their entire lives. They respected their teachers greatly.
Saying this much would obviously…
"T-that wasn't what I meant." Wu Tong blushed and turned his head away, which confused me a little.
Only to find the reason for this trying to 'peek out'.
It looked like appearance really changed how a person reacted to someone. She looked too nice.
Even though Xiao Yin wore ragged clothes, she was still a beauty with age and experience.
To the point even furious faces from her looked cute. It made the atmosphere a bit different.
What was supposed to be a heart-pounding clash of ideals suddenly turned into a chance encounter.
Was he a protagonist?
He better not be making moves on my minions. I'd rather destroy them than have them taken away.
Especially if it's for some useless romance subplot.
[Please quell your anger.]
Seeing that she sensed and understood my feelings from here, it looked like I was bullying her.
I coughed, then stopped my useless thoughts.
Watching how Xiao Yin made her first move in throwing this robot of a man off his usual pace.
"So what you're saying is… Nobody bothered to check or even ask how she attained her strength in the first place? It was an immediate sentence?" It looked like Xiao Yin had caught him red-handed.
"T-that's a disrespect to our great Elder! Can you be responsible for your words?" Wu Tong gave up.
Immediately trying to suppress her with the authority of the Northblade Sect like she was a foe.
However, the mother of the 'victim' didn't fight.
"Persuade me… If you can prove my daughter didn't die unjustly, then I will step back." (Xiao Yin)
"You would…?" (Wu Tong)
"Don't anticipate before saying anything. Can you prove that what you saw was indeed Unorthodox?"
"…Her strength-" (Wu Tong)
"COULD have been hard work." (Xiao Yin)
"That's impossible…!" Wu Tong put his foot down and didn't believe it at all. This was the reality.
Women in this era were only taught labour and cooking. Swordsmanship was made for men.
Therefore, it was impossible for a woman to defeat a man even if taught the same battle techniques.
"What is an Unorthodox Technique?" Xiao Yin asked a question that seemed completely useless.
"Why ask the obvious…?" (Wu Tong)
"As a man born of a good clan, one who probably went through a lot to become an Orthodox Northblade Martial Artist, what do you see as an Unorthodox Technique?" Xiao Yin was patience.
But I couldn't see where she was going with this.
"That's easy… The most Orthodox Method for circulation of energy can be bought and taught even at random stalls. Obviously, an Unorthodox Technique would be shunning those teachings."
Wu Tong brought forth an undisputed claim.
Whether it was right or not didn't matter. This strict regulation and obedience was Orthodox 'loyalty'.
And loyalty was an emotion that rivalled love.
Perhaps even the same thing from another perspective. However, it's details were different.
Love was born from attachment, while Loyalty was born out of a sense of responsibility in the heart.
It meant that nothing could shake his beliefs.
Not even the mother of a victim of an accidental homicide could break the loyalty to his Sect.
That was what I could see in his eyes.
Without strength, she wanted to move him?
Foolish…
Naive…
If impeachment was enough to change those who truly believed this nonsense, then it was pointless.
"Agreed. If my daughter did indeed discard the teachings of the Orthodox and righteous, then she would be deserving of death. However, you have been neglecting one particular thought." (Xiao Yin)
"That's impossible. What are-" (Wu Tong)
"Have you ever serious considered that my daughter was, perhaps… 'talented'?" (Xiao Yin)
As much as a robot as he was, even Wu Tong couldn't ignore that this was a valid point to give.
He put his hand on his chin with furrowed brows.
"Errr… Umm…" He started to think more.
Mostly because a goddamn tin man like him had only ever been a 'Yes Man' to other people's-
Oh, I started to understand what she was doing now. Why she asked a lot about his personality.
She found a weakness that wasn't physical…
"Why did you MURDER her?" (Xiao Yin)
"It was a formal execution. She was probably going to commit a crime or something. Yeah!" (Wu Tong)
"Did you see her commit a crime?" (Xiao Yin)
"S-stopped one before it happened." (Wu Tong)
"Did.you.see.her.commit.a.crime?" Xiao Yin's tone was gradually sounding much more oppressive.
Pressuring the poor tin man.
Was he finally finding what a conscience was?
"That's… She DID attack me." He brought up what happened, but gradually started to doubt his eyes.
From what he remembered, Xiao Man used a wooden sword to non-lethally subdue him and a few others. She hadn't come to kill. However, they still immediately executed her with clear prejudice.
"…Alright." Just as I thought she was going to put the nail in the coffin, Xiao Yin suddenly backed off.
"What…?" Wu Tong spoke what I was thinking.
"If she attacked you, then there must have been no choice but for you to retaliate." Her whole mood had shifted, and she seemed mournful… but no longer as furious as when she'd first met him.
"Yes. I'm glad you understand." Wu Tong wanted to believe he was on the right. It was a futile effort.
Xiao Yin grasped his hand and looked at the man in the eyes. A 'sincere' look directed right at him.
"You must have been hurt a lot in the process. I'd never known my daughter got involved with the wrong crowd. I'm sorry if anyone got hurt from her actions." The mother went back on all she said.
This only made Wu Tong feel conflicted. His heart started to destabilise the more reality had clashed.
Wu Tong remembered how he'd seen Xiao Man fairly often. She'd visited a few times to ask them.
Persuade that she was worthy.
It was only because they ignored her for a long time did she finally lose it and attacked him.
Does that make it his fault Xiao Man died?
I started to feel both proud and horrified by how my minion simply used words to cause him much pain.
Destabilising his mental state.
This internal disharmony affected his Internal Qi greatly. His guilt was causing his resolve to falter.
And he had no one around him to bring him to his senses when he needed it. A dire situation for him.
Just like how 'Intrinsic Insights' into Qi could be interrupted externally, so could 'Inner Turmoils'.
The former was something I was experienced in.
It took many enlightenments before I was able to create 'Divine Data'. Some big; some small.
The latter was something I saw for the first time.
From the look of it, Internal Qi was much more transformative compared to the Mana of Mages.
Sidmund Tailor never experienced any of this.
Or was his despair back then not strong enough?
Although I didn't need to check using Narration to see that the intensity of the emotions were similar.
Not as intense as finding out the woman you loved betrayed you, but Wu Tong's feelings were strong.
After all, his entire life was upheaved.
Everything he believed in were being disillusioned by her words… At it did least to a certain extent.
Xiao Yin merely watched as he started to look blankly, then slowly started to hold his head.
I've gotten quite the scary minion in my hands…
"What are you planning to do now? You could probably kill him at this point." Unlike what great enlightenments bestowed, Inner Turmoils of martial artists weakened the thickness of their Internal Qi.
In English: It could weaken or even kill them.
If we left him alone, then he would die.
"I've subdued a vessel-"
"Don't give me that crap. The more I look at this idiot, the more I feel it would be a waste to possess him." Even I had standards. Looking how he was so easily taken over means his Qi Centre is murky.
It's likely anyone could've destabilised him with a few words, and I'm not someone who took risks.
I knew my own mental state wasn't the best either.
If I was going to possess someone, it had to be someone who naturally possesses Internal Qi.
Not someone who 'worked hard' to create a barebones Qi Centre using a shabby technique.
But I could tell my minion would be disappointed if I just left it like this. This guy needed to suffer, right?
Fine. Let's get this done.
"Could you grab his head?" (Adam)
After I'd so politely asked, Xiao Yin grasped onto the head of Wu Tong once his eyes turned murky.
I immediately connected the System.
It was time to see what happens when I had a medium to reality. Could I maybe influence him?
Install a 'Virus' into his the software called his Qi Centre? Make this Wu Tong a slave to my will?
It's time to kick back and find out for myself.