Maybe My Soulmate! (GL)

Chapter 261: Harbour city 2.

Su Yubing’s ears turned faintly pink at that, even after everything they had already been through together, even after the wedding, even after months of actually being married. She still was not used to how easily Mo Yuxin said things like that out loud, especially in public, especially with so many strangers around them close enough to hear. "People are staring," she whispered.

"Let them stare," Mo Yuxin said, completely serious. "It is not my fault you are the most beautiful person on this entire dock. If anything they should be thanking me for giving them something nice to look at."

"You are ridiculous," Su Yubing said, but she was smiling when she said it, and she did not pull away.

They had already arranged passage on one of the larger sect ships heading out toward the southern continent, a heavy black hulled vessel called the Tide Dragon, jointly sponsored by three second rate sects that wanted safety in numbers for the long crossing. The journey across the vast ocean was supposed to take a few months if the weather cooperated, longer if it did not, and everybody who had ever made the trip before said the same thing, that the open water past Yanhai was full of monsters and worse things than monsters. Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing had registered under plain sounding names and let the dock officials assume they were somewhere around Core Formation stage, since flashing their actual cultivation this early in the trip tended to invite more attention than either of them wanted, at least for now. It was easier to let people underestimate you a little, especially when the two of them barely had to try in order to look unassuming, given how young they both still looked despite everything they had lived through.

The registration official, a tired looking middle aged cultivator with ink stained fingers, barely glanced up as he stamped their travel talismans, until his brush paused for just a moment over the blank space where cultivation base was supposed to be estimated. He frowned slightly, glanced up at both of them, glanced back down at the parchment, and then simply wrote Core Formation without asking any further questions, apparently deciding it was easier not to think too hard about why his instincts felt so uneasy standing this close to two people who looked barely a day over twenty five.

"Enjoy your crossing," he said, a little too quickly, and waved them through toward the gangplank without meeting their eyes again.

Mo Yuxin snorted softly once they were out of earshot. "That poor man is going to have nightmares tonight."

"Be nice," Su Yubing murmured, though she was hiding a smile behind her sleeve.

........................

Near the base of the gangplank, a heavyset man in merchant robes had set up a small folding table, loudly advertising protective talismans at what he claimed were discounted prices for anyone brave enough to cross the vast ocean without proper wards. He had already managed to talk two nervous looking young cultivators into buying overpriced paper charms that would probably do nothing more than catch fire the first time they were actually needed, and he turned his attention hopefully toward Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing the moment they got close.

"Fine looking young cultivators, you two," he said, spreading his hands over his display. "The ocean crossing eats people alive who go in unprepared. I have here genuine Sect Elder blessed talismans, guaranteed protection against sea beasts up to Foundation Establishment grade, very reasonable price."

Mo Yuxin glanced at the talismans, then at the man, and did not say anything at all. She simply looked at him for a moment, the same unbothered, faintly amused look she might give a child trying to sell her a rock and claiming it was a spirit stone, and something about the weight behind that look made the merchant’s confident smile falter almost immediately. He suddenly found something very interesting to look at on his own table and did not try to stop them again as they walked past.

"You did not even say anything," Su Yubing said, once they were a few steps further along.

"I did not need to," Mo Yuxin said. "Some people just know when to stop talking."

........................

By the time they made it up to the main deck and found their assigned cabin near the stern, one of the better rooms on the ship, paid for with spirit stones neither of them particularly needed to worry about anymore, the Tide Dragon had already begun the slow process of loading its final passengers and cargo. Down on the lower deck, a young woman in pale green Cloudmist Sect robes nearly tripped over her own storage bag on the gangplank, catching herself at the last second with a slightly panicked burst of qi under her feet. She looked maybe seventeen or eighteen by appearance, her hair tied back in two short braids, and she laughed at her own clumsiness before glancing up and immediately freezing when she noticed exactly who was standing nearby watching.

"Sorry, sorry," she said quickly, bowing a little too fast. "I am Ruan Xue, Cloudmist Sect, outer registration for the southern crossing. I did not mean to block the gangplank."

"You did not block anything," Mo Yuxin said, amused. "Watch your footing though, the wood gets slippery near the middle where the tide splashes up."

Ruan Xue nodded fast, clearly a little starstruck for reasons she probably could not fully explain to herself, since the tall woman in front of her had not done anything except speak a few plain words, and yet somehow the air around her still felt different, heavier in a way that made your instincts sit up and pay attention even if your own cultivation base could not tell you exactly why that was happening. Behind her, a young man in matching robes stepped up, more composed, clearly the senior of the two.

"Chen Hao," he introduced himself with a proper cupped fist salute. "Ruan Xue’s senior brother. Forgive her, she gets excited easily around new people."

.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED.