Chapter 398: Make it up, keep making it up!

"Lord Shen, this subordinate is incompetent, I beg you to save the common people of Chengzhou!"

He knelt toward Shen Yu and knocked his head heavily against the ground several times; after just a few strikes, Ma Mingchang's head was already dripping with blood.

Afterward, Ma Mingchang took a deep breath, held the dagger he had prepared in his hand against his own throat, and then exerted force suddenly; fresh blood sprayed out instantly, staining the ground red.

He had prepared this dagger long ago, but he had never had the courage to actually do it. Now that Shen Yu had arrived, he had no choice left.

He admitted that he was a coward; there were some things where if you retreated one step, you would have to retreat step by step in the future, until finally, there was nowhere left to retreat.

But a person must take responsibility for their own actions; cowardice is not an excuse.

"Husband, husband!"

Heart-wrenching cries rang out immediately. Shen Yu looked over subconsciously; by this time, Ma Mingchang had already collapsed in a pool of blood.

He sighed softly. Perhaps Ma Mingchang had not defected of his own volition, but his cowardice had caused the entirety of Chengzhou to become the backyard of the Baicao Sect at an extremely rapid pace.

Countless commoners had died because of this, and who knew how many white bones had been added; he could not shirk responsibility for any of this.

After taking one last look at Ma Mingchang, Shen Yu left this place and, in an instant, arrived at an extremely vast courtyard.

Here, pavilions and towers rose and fell with magnificent momentum, not a whit inferior to those of the top-tier families.

At this very moment, a wedding was taking place here. From the memories of Cheng Moshu, Shen Yu knew that the ones getting married today were the Young Sect Master of the Baicao Sect and the eldest daughter of the Ning Family, the number one family in Chengzhou.

At this time, basically everyone of status in Chengzhou had come; everyone had to give the Baicao Sect face.

There was no help for it; when one is under the eaves, one must bow one's head. Under the control of the Baicao Sect, whoever dared to say even half a "no" could just wait to have their home broken and their family destroyed.

Looking at it this way, Cheng Moshu, the first person to surrender, did not have as much power as one might imagine.

In the eyes of others, he was just a dog, perhaps not even as good as a dog.

He didn't even have the qualifications to attend the marriage between the Baicao Sect's Young Sect Master and the Ning Family's eldest daughter in this city; he couldn't even get through the door.

It was no wonder he felt resentful and went to Ma Mingchang to find a sense of existence. Perhaps only by bullying his former superior could he vent the frustration in his heart.

It was no wonder there was basically nothing core in his memories; it turned out he had never entered the core circle at all.

When he was being trampled underfoot, he still put on a posture of wanting to trade secrets he knew for his life, but in reality, he was just bluffing. In fact, he knew nothing; he would lie as much as he could and live for as long as he could.

From beginning to end, the Baicao Sect was only using him; once he was used up and had no more value, they would just kick him aside.

Even if he acted as loyal as possible, the people of the Baicao Sect dared not include him in the core; they simply made arrangements and shelved him.

After all, for someone who could betray at the drop of a hat, everyone feared whether it would be their turn one day.

During these days, Cheng Moshu had only been using the Baicao Sect's power to bully Ma Mingchang, the Prefect who was trapped in the State Yamen and knew nothing of the situation outside.

If he tried to bully anyone else, see if they would give this fringe figure any face.

With a light chuckle and a shake of his head, Shen Yu walked in leisurely. At this moment, his perception enveloped the entire mansion; basically all the top figures of Chengzhou were gathered here.

Moreover, the high-level members of the Baicao Sect were all there; the Sect Master of the Baicao Sect, the Young Sect Master, and their Elders were all present.

This Baicao Sect's strength was quite high; it was more than a little higher than the experts of the various major forces in Chengzhou. Only the people of the Ning Family were more or less worth looking at.

In terms of strength, the power of the Chengzhou Ning Family was second only to the eight great families of the world. Unfortunately, they were still utterly defeated when the Baicao Sect moved in and had to submit to the Baicao Sect.

And at this moment, the two families were even becoming in-laws. The biggest local snake and the powerful outsider that was the Baicao Sect had combined; from now on, Chengzhou would likely be completely under their control.

At the same time, the eldest daughter of the Ning Family patriarch, Ning Wushuang, was marrying the Baicao Sect's Young Sect Master, Bai Jincong; it was unknown how many people would be unable to sleep tonight.

Ning Wushuang was hailed as the number one beauty in Chengzhou; not only was she devastatingly beautiful, but her own strength was also outstanding among the younger generation, making her peers feel ashamed.

Such an excellent person was naturally coveted by others; countless people were crazy about her, and it was unknown how many people's dream lover she was.

Rumor had it that a scholar once caught a glimpse of her and was deeply attracted, unable to extricate himself; from then on, he had no appetite for tea or rice and grew thinner by the day.

Whether this rumor was true or not, Ning Wushuang's beauty and charm were universally acknowledged.

How many people wanted to marry her and bring her home, only to be politely refused by the Ning Family one by one. Now that Ning Wushuang was in her twenties, for people of this era, if she didn't marry now, she would be an old maid.

Some said the Ning Family was broad-minded and willing to let Ning Wushuang choose her own husband. Others said the Ning Family was biding their time, wanting to use Ning Wushuang as a stepping stone to marry into even stronger families or sects.

Now, Ning Wushuang's marriage had finally been settled, but it broke the hearts of countless admirers; their chance was gone.

It was just that the legendary Bai Jincong of the Baicao Sect was a complete, good-for-nothing playboy. For a woman like Ning Wushuang to marry Bai Jincong was like a fresh flower stuck in cow dung.

Aside from not being very good at literature or martial arts, there was nothing he wasn't proficient in, such as eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling.

Ever since the Baicao Sect occupied Chengzhou, there wasn't a single famous courtesan in the brothels of Chengzhou that he hadn't spent the night with.

It was said that any family or major faction in the city that had a woman with even a bit of beauty was coveted by this shameless person.

In short, he was the scum of the scum, the dregs of the dregs.

Bah, he was just relying on having a good father; if it weren't for his father, what did Bai Jincong count for?

While countless people gnashed their teeth at him, they also wished they could take his place; they wanted that kind of life too.

Especially when the news came out that Ning Wushuang was going to marry him, it was even more shocking; people just wished they could kick him to death and take his place.

At this moment, after Bai Jincong finished toasting the people around him, he couldn't wait to rush back to the rear.

Everyone watched this scene with great understanding; presumably, the Young Sect Master must be feeling extremely hot-headed right now, wishing he could immediately pin that legendary, talented, and beautiful eldest daughter of the Ning Family beneath him.

Then again, many people had seen this eldest daughter of the Ning Family; her temperament, her appearance, and her figure were far superior to those courtesans in the brothels, simply making people unable to resist.

It was good to have a good father; beauties that others could only look at and drool over, he could marry home just by saying so. And as for them, besides envy and jealousy, they could only covet her.

Seeing his son leave in a hurry, the Baicao Sect Master cursed "Nonsense!" under his breath, but otherwise let him be.

He knew what kind of character his son had; scolding him wasn't enough to make himself angry.

And Shen Yu also followed the footsteps of this Baicao Sect Young Sect Master inside, wanting to find out something from this Young Sect Master.

The reason he didn't make a move against the Baicao Sect Master was also because he was afraid that there really was someone behind him; once he made a move against him, it would be easy to alert the enemy and scare away the person behind the scenes.

What he wanted to do was to catch them all in one net; if he let the real mastermind run away, that would not be beautiful.