Armipotent

Chapter 2223: Loophole

The betrayal didn’t surprise Tang Shaoyang. He had a few encounters with them while building and expanding his empire. As lately, TEID took care of the traitor for him, so he didn’t need to step in directly.

The same with the Thousand Vows Pavilion. He expected there would be someone or even a pavilion to betray the Thousand Vows Pavilion. Though this didn’t count as a betrayal yet, as it just meant someone had broken the sacred agreement.

He also predicted that the one who would break the agreement was between the Sword Manor and the Nangong Family. Those two didn’t get to see his battle, after all.

The people in the room quickly turned toward the Origin Sword Pavilion, and nine representatives also turned their heads toward a man who sat among them. This man was clearly Nangong Huang, and based on their reaction, the people from the Origin Sword Pavilion didn’t know that one of them had broken the contract.

“Does he cancel the oath?”

This was the reason why Tang Shaoyang called Selena after finding out that a contract was broken. He wanted to know if the oath was still there. He had no way of knowing it, but Selena could.

Selena shook her head, “He still has the oath, but how? I thought they might have a way to bypass the oath…”

The Sacred Realm and cultivation were still unknown territory to them. If the System had an item to cancel the oath, it was not a surprise if the Sacred Realm’s people had their own way too.

“It means there’s a loophole in the oath, but it gets picked up by the contract,” Tang Shaoyang concluded.

He turned toward Nangong Huang, “You can confess and ask for leniency, or you can choose force. It’s your choice!”

“You are lying! I don’t and never break the contract!” The accused stood up and raised his voice.

The people from the Origin Sword Pavilion didn’t know what to do, not expecting the situation to escalate. The two Grandmasters, Nangong Xiang Yu and Nangong Hao, initially tried to negotiate about the punishment, but the situation has now escalated to someone from their side breaking the agreement.

If they had to choose, they chose to believe their own people because Nangong Huang was their family member, Nangong Hao’s cousin.

“You are using this as an excuse to set an example, so the other pavilions will obey you!”

He motioned at Selena, and she brought out two more contracts under different names. They were signed by Nangong Hao and Nangong Xiang Yu.

“You two come forward and check the contracts. You can check that you signed the same contract as your people!

Nangong Xiang Yu and Nangong Hao exchanged glances, nodded at each other, “Calm down, brother! As long as you don’t break the agreement, you will have us to back you up!”

The two Grandmasters checked the contract thoroughly, ensuring they had the same contract, word for word. They checked it several times, and everything was the same, yet only Nangong Huang’s contract was blood red.

It meant Nangong Huang did something that broke the contract while the rest didn’t. Nangong Hao tried to recall his interaction with his cousin and remembered something. His cousin frequently left the pavilion in the eighth month since they joined. It was a month after they had made progress in their family’s sword technique.

“Don’t bother to spout lies and nonsense, Nangong Huang! Didn’t I tell you that the contract is a measure to ensure you are acting on the Thousand Vows Pavilion and the vow is the one carrying the punishment if you act out against the Thousand Vows Pavilion’s interest!”

“So stop with your lies because we can easily confirm my words since I have a contract scroll. We can make a dummy contract to test out whether I am telling you the truth or not.”

Nangong Xiang Yu and Nangong Hao looked at the empty scroll that was placed in front of them. Everything that was said made sense, and they were now inclined to believe that Nangong Huang broke the contract.

Nangong Huang gritted his teeth, but it didn’t look like he wanted to confess or cooperate. Tang Shaoyang’s main objective was to find the loophole so they could modify the oath. As for the rest, he would handle it based on what Nangong Huang did.

Looking at his cousin, Nangong Hao let out a sigh. It was obvious his cousin truly did something that broke the agreement, and fortunately, it didn’t trigger the oath. Based on the oath, his cousin would be struck by Divine Lightning until he died.

“May I know how you are going to punish him, Sir?”

“It depends on what he did,” Tang Shaoyang didn’t give a definitive answer. He was not going to kill Nangong Huang for something trivial, but kicking him out was almost certain. Just like Nangong Huang mentioned earlier, he needed to set up an example for the ruler breaker.

“Can I have my time with Nangong Huang, Sir? I will persuade him to cooperate,” Nangong Hao didn’t want to lose his cousin if possible.

“There’s no need. I will speak!” Nangong Huang interrupted, “I share the technique we developed with our family outside!”

Tang Shaoyang and Selena exchanged glances, and so did the two Grandmasters from the Origin Sword Pavilion. That should be enough to trigger the oath, but Nangong Huang bypassed it.

“I modify the oath! My oath is not to share the technique I learned from the Grandmaster Codex, but what I share is not from the Grandmaster Codex, but our family developed with the technique we learned from the Grandmaster Codex!

Now it made sense how he managed to bypass the oath. The contract stated not to share the Thousand Vows Pavilion’s technique. It included the technique they developed under the Thousand Vows Pavilion. But the oath was certainly different.

Selena recalled the oath, but she didn’t really remember it because she had to hold dozens of oath ceremonies at once. Even if she picked it up, she thought it should not be issued since it was similar to the original contract, not seeing through the loophole until.

But this showed that Nangong Huang joined with an intention to help the Nangong Family, not because he wanted to perfect his sword.

“I did it just in case… in case our family outside is struggling after we left them. You are too focused on your sword that you forget about them, brother! Our family is falling apart; people no longer respect the Nangong Family after we left. We have to protect them, brother!”

Tang Shaoyang shook his head, “It’s irrelevant. The reason they fell off was that you guys left the family. Giving them the technique developed here will not elevate their status because what they need is not a new technique, but a cultivator to replace the previous family head. In fact, you just put them in a more dangerous situation by giving them the new technique.”

The current Nangong Family might fall off. However, what they needed was not a new technique, but another figure to replace Nangong Hao and Nangong Xiang Yu, a peak True God Realm, which meant time was what they needed. Giving them a new technique would just put them in danger because there was no governing body that could keep in check the other forces.

The Nangong Family might become a target if the news spread that they received a newly developed technique from the Thousand Vows Pavilion. Especially from the big faction that knew the history of the Thousand Vows Pavilion.

Giving the current Nangong Family a stronger technique just made them a target. They might have lost respect, but no one attacked them. But Nangong Huang just gave these big forces one more reason to scheme against the Nangong Family.

It seemed Nangong Huang had just realized what he had done was wrong. He truly didn’t think that much before taking action. It seemed like what Nangong Huang did was with pure intention, a genuine concern for his family outside the Thousand Vows Pavilion.

Tang Shaoyang started to tap his finger on the table, thinking about how to resolve the situation. The best way to gain the loyalty of the Origin Sword Pavilion was not to kill Nangong Huang, but he needed another punishment.

“You have two choices, Grandmaster Nangong Hao! First, make the people who have learned the technique join the Thousand Vows Pavilion. Second, eliminate whoever has learned the technique. The choice is yours!”

Nangong Hao didn’t object as it was a reasonable decision to make. He just needed to force his family, who had learned the technique, to join the Thousand Vows Pavilion.

“What about Nangong Huang, Sir?”

“How about we resolve this in Murim’s way, a trial by combat. If I lose the fight, you can kill me. But if I win the fight, I will leave the Thousand Vows Pavilion and will take an oath not to leak any techniques, anything about the Thousand Vows Pavilion outside as well!”

Nangong Huang made a proposal.