Genesis Lake Bandit

 "We should be getting closer to the capital," Ryker said. They have stopped at several towns and a single city, but only stay for a day at any of the place.

 Since they wished to go to the Noble Garden, they needed to arrive as quickly as possible, hence the need to go as fast as they could.

 Thankfully, Mashia is a Genesis Spring expert, allowing her to defy gravity and fly. Currently, she used her qi to lift Ryker as they head for the capital.

 As they flew, Ryker could feel something monitoring them. 

 "I think some bandits are watching us," he told the dragon girl, who keep on flying.

 "Do you think they are a threat?" 3 days ago, she was forced to fight a bandit at the late stage of Genesis Spring, which almost resulted in her being defeated. Thankfully, they were able to escape, mostly because the others are inside the Hidden Ancient Mansion, and Ryker hitting him with a spear coated with Death qi, weakening the man and allowing Mashia to do the final blow.

 "I'm not sure, but be ready to fly as fast as you can," he used his Soul Sense to detect the strength of the bandits in question. Immediately, he regretted it.

 "Run! There is a bandit at the Genesis Lake realm!" he said urgently, causing Mashia's eyes to widen in horror before speeding up, flying as fast as she could. Naturally, the bandit took notice and chase after them.

-x-

 "Dammit! One of them have a strong Soul! Maybe he is a Soul Cultivator!" the leader of bandit growled, flying after their newest target.

 "Boss, are you sure about leaving the other behind?" one of her stronger underlings, a Genesis Spring cultivator, asked.

 "Yes! One of them is a Genesis Spring expert so, the items she carried should be worth a lot more than our previous raid," she insisted. Hearing this, the underling nodded before trying to speed up in hope of catching up to the woman. Besides, if they caught them, they would have a new toy, both for the men and their boss.

 She would especially like the man.

-x-

 "They are on our tail. It's a good thing there are no other bandits after us," Ryker exclaimed, his eyes on the bandits behind them. 

 While Genesis Spring expert could not hope to outrun a Genesis Lake expert, it is different for Mashia since she was from the Dragon Race, allowing her to fly faster than the other could hope to catch them. In fact, the only reason why she could not lose them is because the she carrying Ryker.

 Ryker take a other peek before using unleashing another wave of Soul Technique to slow them down. Soul Echo was particularly effective against the Genesis Source bandits, as well as weakening the Genesis Spring bandits. 

 Unfortunately, against the sole Genesis Lake bandit, it did nothing but annoyed her, making her fly even faster to catch the two pest.

 "If you surrender, we will treat you nicely," the Genesis Lake bandit, the boss no doubt, yelled at them.

 'Do you think I will believe that? I am not born yesterday,' Ryker said inwardly before donating some of his qi to Mashia. Since they have been flying at full speed, even if she only flew for 6 hours, it burn through a lot of her qi reserves.

 Since the other party is a Genesis Lake expert, she had more reserve than Mashia, so giving her his qi would allow them to have the advantage in terms of endurance.

 A look back also reveal that the other bandits aside from the Genesis Lake bandit was left behind, no doubt unable to keep up with Mashia and their boss speed, as well as their qi reserve being depleted in the high-speed chase.

 "How long can she keep up?" he muttered. While he could donate more of his qi, he don't think he could fill her depleted qi reserves despite his enormous reserve. He then take a look at the Hidden Ancient Mansion in its miniature form before and idea come to mind.

 "Mashia! ..." he whispered the plan, causing her to widen her eyes before nodding, agreeing with it completely. The dragon girl then flew to a nearby hill, the bandit following closely. As they head towards the hill, Mashia suddenly dive bomb to the hill, though her target was the forest next to it. 

 The bandit boss gritted her teeth but slow down her speed, not wanting to crash into the ground at such speed. Even if she could survive it, the excruciating pain and the momentary weakness is not something she wanted to experience.

 As she slow down, she soon arrive at the place she last saw the two. Except, she did not find anything. She looked around, trying to find the two cultivators but the result was the same.

 The bandit boss growled before blasting the area with her qi, unleashing her true strength in hope of finding the two. No such luck. Once realizing they are not in the area, the bandit boss growled in rage before flying away.

-x- 

 5 minutes later, she returned to place before using a powerful Martial Technique to destroy the area. After destroying an area equivalent to a small town, she seem to be calming down, though her eyes told something else.

 "If you are here,' she suddenly said, "I want you to know, that you have manage to pass me off. So, make sure we don't cross path, because I will make sure you regret it," she growled in the end before flying away, knowing they should have gotten away by now.

-x- 

 2 hours since the women had left, two figures emerged from shadow, both breathing heavily.

 "The plan worked, and she had already left," Mashia exclaimed in relief. Her heart was currently beating so hard she was afraid it would burst out.

 "Yeah, thank goodness it did," Ryker agreed, "that was too close for comfort. We should be more careful, and in fact, let's get to the capital as quickly as possible," Mashia nodded, but this time, she entered the Hidden Ancient Mansion while Ryker used Shadow Traversing Step to get as quickly as possible to the capital without any powerful bandits noticing them.