As long as the members of that faction are marked with collective Merit Points, they will be immune to attack during the protection period. Any aggressor will be penalized with a deduction of their own Merit Points.
However, this fourth point also has limitations. If anyone abuses this protection to commit misdeeds, their protection period will be shortened, and the offender will have their personal Merit Points gradually deducted. Furthermore, any protected individual whose Merit Points drop to zero or become negative will be stripped of their protected status.
This was basically another version of "probation." 'Just try committing a crime while on probation and see what happens.'
Considering the ways to earn them and the scope of their use, Cheng Zongyang believed that neither individuals nor factions could afford to ignore these Merit Points.
He had also added negative Merit Points to establish that good deeds and bad deeds could not simply cancel each other out.
