Maybe My Soulmate! (GL)

"i respect you all as my elders," yubing continued, her voice now laced with the cold, hard edge of steel. "you have loved me and cared for me my entire life, and for that, i am grateful. but my future is something only i can decide. who i love, who i marry, who i spend my eternity with—that is a decision that rests with me and me alone. i am not asking for your permission." she paused, her gaze sweeping over the stunned, fearful faces. "i am simply announcing to you her status. she is my, su yubing's, dao companion. no one can change that."

as she spoke, yuxin, completely unfazed by the suffocating tension, leaned in and whispered into her ear, her breath hot against her skin. "so domineering. i love it when you order people around. makes me want to see if you're that bossy in bed, too."

a faint, almost imperceptible blush touched the tips of yubing's ears, but her expression remained like ice. she shot yuxin a look that was both a stern warning and a smoldering promise, a private communication in the midst of a public war. yuxin just grinned, her eyes sparkling with mischief, utterly fascinated by this powerful, unyielding woman who was declaring her love to the world and damn the consequences.

the brief moment of shock from yubing's aura-laced words faded quickly, and the elders, their pride wounded and their traditionalist views assaulted, simply refused to listen. their own arrogance and deeply ingrained beliefs were a shield against her authority. they were old, stubborn, and used to being in charge.

"ignore her? she's a child who doesn't know what's good for her!" su bo roared, his face red again, his fear forgotten and replaced by indignation. "her duty is to the clan! we must correct this folly at once!"

another elder, su li, a man known for his conniving mind, suddenly had what he thought was a brilliant, heaven-sent idea. "wait! why are we even arguing about this? why don't we marry yubing to that lin fan boy? weren't they engaged before?"

the name hung in the air like a foul, rotting stench.

"at first, we all thought lin fan was trash with no future and annulled the engagement," su li continued, warming to his topic, his eyes gleaming with cunning. "but now! for some heaven-defying reason, in the past year, he has reached the peak of the foundation building stage! he is the future number one expert of azure dragon city! we must secure that alliance! if we can get yubing to marry him, our su family and the lin family together would be invincible!"

a younger uncle, more cautious, hesitated. "but... wasn't there a three-year duel pact made when she annulled the engagement? it was quite humiliating for him. he hates us."

su li waved a dismissive hand, as if swatting a fly. "so what! details, mere details! we can just have yubing apologize to him, show some sincerity, and they can marry. their offspring would definitely be a heaven-defying genius! a powerful heir to secure our future for a thousand years!"

the words were getting more and more outrageous. they weren't just ignoring yubing's declaration; they were actively plotting to use her as a bargaining chip, to force her to marry a past rival she despised, and worse, to humiliate herself by *apologizing* to him. the disrespect was staggering, a slap in the face to her and the woman she loved. the servants, emboldened by the elders' stance, began to whisper amongst themselves, their gossip sharp and cruel, siding with the clan's pragmatic needs over what they saw as their young miss's childish, deviant fantasy.

mo yuxin's playful demeanor vanished completely. her eyes narrowed, and a dangerous, predatory light entered them. a killing intent, cold and sharp as a shard of glacial glass, began to coalesce around her. she was about to teach these ignorant old fools a lesson in respect they would never, ever forget.

but she never got the chance.

"enough."

the word was spoken by su yubing. it was not loud. it was not a shout. it was a low, thundering command that vibrated not in the ears, but in the very bones, in the soul itself. it was the voice of a god descending from the heavens, a shura emerging from the depths of hell, and it carried with it a will that would not be denied.

and then, the world ended.

it began as a pressure, a silent, invisible weight that slammed down on the entire su villa with the force of a collapsing star. it was the feeling of a primordial mountain suddenly materializing on your shoulders, of the sky itself cracking and falling down upon you. then came the cold. it was not the simple cold of winter; it was the absolute, soul-freezing cold of the void between stars, a cold that extinguished heat, light, and all hope.

from su yubing, the epicenter of this apocalypse, an aura erupted. it was not the subtle leak from before. this was a cataclysm. it was a silent, raging tsunami of power, so immense, so ancient, so terrifyingly vast that the foundation building cultivators in the room felt like ants before a celestial dragon. the air thickened, turning viscous like honey, making it impossible to breathe. light from the lamps seemed to bend and warp around her, the shadows stretching into grotesque, monstrous shapes that writhed in silent agony. the very structure of the great hall groaned under the strain. cracks like spiderwebs spread across the massive wooden pillars, and the stone floor began to fracture. dust motes, caught in the air, froze in place, a million tiny stars in a suddenly dark galaxy.

outside, the phenomenon was even more terrifying. the sky above the entire su estate darkened in an instant, a swirling vortex of black and deep violet energy forming a massive sphere that completely enveloped the premises. a low, rumbling tremor shook the earth, causing buildings across the estate to crack and groan. the vibrant sounds of the city died away, replaced by an oppressive, ringing silence. anyone in azure dragon city who looked upon that terrifying vortex felt a primal, instinctual terror that made them fall to their knees, their minds unable to comprehend the sheer scale of the power on display.

inside the hall, time had stopped. every single person—elder, cousin, servant, chef—was frozen solid. su bo was trapped with his mouth open, a half-formed word of outrage dying on his lips, his eyes wide with a terror that shattered his very soul. su li's hand was raised, his face a mask of arrogant certainty now frozen into a grotesque caricature of pure shock. a cousin who had been taking a sip of wine was locked in place, a thin trickle of crimson liquid suspended in mid-air as it spilled from his tilted cup. all the servants had instantly fainted, their bodies collapsing to the floor like puppets with their strings cut. the weaker cultivators among the family had also passed out, blood trickling from their eyes and ears. only the foundation building experts remained conscious, and they were trapped, their bodies rigid, their consciousness drowning in an infinite ocean of overwhelming might, their minds blank with a terror so profound it transcended thought. they could not move. they could not speak. they could not even scream. they were nothing more than statues in the gallery of a wrathful goddess.

only three people remained untouched.

mo yuxin felt the terrifying pressure wash over her, but to her, it felt like a warm, protective embrace. she recognized this power. it was the power that had shielded her from a ghost king's deathly wail, the power that had cleaved a mountain in two. she looked at yubing, her eyes shining with awe and an even deeper love. this was her woman. this was her queen.

lord and lady su were also shielded. they felt the sheer, world-breaking immensity of their daughter's power, a force so far beyond their comprehension it was like a mortal trying to understand the sun. but the wave of energy that touched them was gentle, a protective barrier erected by their daughter's love. they stared, their faces pale, not with fear, but with utter, earth-shattering astonishment. their daughter was not a foundation building cultivator. she was not a golden core expert. she was something else entirely. something legendary.

su yubing stood in the center of it all, her expression as cold and remote as a distant star. her eyes, usually calm pools of black, now blazed with a terrifying, violet light. her long black hair floated around her, defying gravity, each strand crackling with unimaginable power. she was no longer the young miss of the su family. she was a powerhouse, a pinnacle existence, a true ruler whose will was law. and her family had just committed the ultimate sin: they had disrespected her and the person she loved most.

after what felt like an eternity, the terrifying pressure receded, not vanishing, but pulling back just enough for the frozen cultivators to gasp for air, their bodies slumping in their chairs, drenched in cold sweat. the silence in the hall was now one of absolute, soul-deep fear.

it was then that the oldest elder in the hall, su mingde, a man who had lived for nearly two hundred years and was at the absolute peak of the foundation building realm, spoke. he had been silent throughout the entire farce, his ancient eyes watching everything with a deep, unreadable wisdom. his voice, when it came, was trembling, not with fear, but with an earth-shattering, mind-breaking awe.

.

.

.

To be continued.