"We just want a nice sweet bun," said a man who had eaten about five,"is there a possibility that you have any more in the back?"

The man in question had arrived after me. I patted my buns affectionately. Inside of my custom Moon clan swag bag they were safe from the masses of hungry men.

"No one is taking you from daddy," I whispered,"My precious."

"You're a little possessive of your buns. No one is coming for them," Moon Lee said.

"Alas, if only someone was coming for my buns. But no I can only wish for that kind of attention, where my contemporaries all seem to have the opposite problem. Also you showered attention on your delicious savory treats."

"You're getting enough attention as is. Between Sect Recruiters and passerbys your curly hair has really been getting attention. It's become quite noticeable."

I paused to palm a meat bun into my mouth before eating it whole. Yes it was a better taste with their salty seaside sauce.

Yes I had grown a thick luscious mane in the time I had been here and yes, it made me stand out as much as my veil kept me from drawing attention from other cultivators. Any other time, I would have been overjoyed to be able to both grow a beard and have a man bun, but now it was like wearing a Taylor Swift shirt at a Run the Jewels concert.

"You should really take my offer of a trip out to the outside. You would be able to see how well you can fight against a real spirit beast, present company excepted. We could get something worth selling, or more likely something that we could use to help in your cultivation. A little trout told me that there was a herd of Bhederas passing through. Their fur alone would be worth the trip. It's their migration month according to the airship reports as well."

She had been dropping hints about a nature tour or walk. If she thought it would be fine for me, then I would almost certainly be fine, but I didn't know what I didn't know.

"Bhederas? I'm unfamiliar, but Min could probably fill me in."

"They're large pack animals. Quadrupeds, covered in silky fur. They are cousin to the Yaks from the northern continent."

I nodded. My pockets, unlike my heart were full. The gingham moon clan pouches in my swag bag were overflowing. Mama might have raised a neurotic obsessive child, but she didn't raise someone who turned down meat folded into dough. At least I thought that was one of my strengths.

"Can we take the girls?"

"Of course we can take the girls we will need their support anyway. Both of them are near to needing closed door cultivation in the near future. Xueyie in particular, has been scouting for a replacement heavily. Did you know that it took them three days to find an understudy? That seems a bit long when every member of the Jin clan has several sons and daughters."

I had heard the complaints about how long it was taking. I had my ear talked off about how they were slow walking the decision. Let's just say that they had more than enough talent and less than the requisite amount of decisiveness.

"One way or the other it will be settled. I'm excited to see them fight!"

"Yes, both are growing in ways they can compliment our fighting styles. Their speed is exceptional at the level that they have achieved. I have a feeling that the three of you have done enough drills and you need to embrace the real thing."

"I'm ready. I feel ready."

Moon Lee blinked.

"Bhederas at least are a good start. All we have to do is what we have been doing with a little bit of carrying the creature back to where it can be cut up into useable parts. There's even a helper service that I have gotten a quote for that will only take a five percent cut of the proceeds."

It was probably of the smaller unions in western jewels, but the butchers Union was one of the more specialized places we would be visiting. If we were going to bring so much back from the outside, we would probably need to bring it someplace specialized in that. The helper service was an outgrowth of the butchers Union and I was excited to see what they would be doing once we bagged and tagged our Bhederii.

There were a few shops on the outskirts of the city and Moon Xiru had gone through and vetted some of them. It was on us to do our final decision after we were done. Most of the offer is where within a narrow range of what I would call acceptable. There was a lot of inherent violence in this job and I was just here to make sure the girls didn't get the brunt of it.

___

It was a crisp clear morning when we left the confines of western jewel. Egiya gave us an easy pass through the barrier and like that we were outside. She deftly opened a passage through the wards, letting us through one at a time. I made her explain how to do it in case shit went sideways, as it had too often recently. Turns out I needed a fair bit of practice to nail it, but I was confident before we moved on.

There was a subtle shift in the pressure outside of the wards. That little difference was all unrestricted aura bouncing around. Egiya and Xueyie both took a minute to acclimate under our careful watch.

We ran East, away from the city proper to an area known for its flooding and woodlands. We of course didn't know about the flooding until we felt the squish. Whatever had roamed in had receded just as fast. It took some time to pass to the expected grazing grounds before we had to start tracking them from a distance.

And then we were there on the edge of a forest, checking the savannah out. The rolling hills were dotted with ginormous shaggy silver herd beasts. Each one was at least twice the size of a buffalo and had horns and a face to match. I had never gone hunting before but the thought of dragging one of those back gave me pause.

"Moon Lee, how are we going to take one of these back, assuming we are able to catch one? This seems like something that we should have talked about a bit more."

"Ah Joe, ever the pragmatist. I have a guy for that," she said.

"You have a guy for this? I understand having a meat bun connection and a tea guy but you have a guy for moving meat outside of the wards?"

"He has his own airship custom built for problems like this."

"I don't mean to complain but I envisioned something a little smaller. At least the girls are keeping up."

"I. Heard. That," Egiya said finally reaching our tree,"How. Dare. You?"

"Great now she can initiate the world's sleepieat duel. Egiya take five you're going to need your strength for this next part."

Xueyie for her part had kept pace with us but only just that. Egiya had been in my peripheral vision but I'm not one to mention that someone is holding us back. She was a valued member of the team, her cardio just sucked.

"You're going to have to run with us in the mornings," I said, "You, me and whoever else from the Moon clan is leading the mornings run."

"I guess," she said, leaning against a large maple tree. The distinct red brown leaves cut a contrast against the yellow grain nearer to the Bhederii.

"You know I said something about needing time to process what we think the Red Fang is doing, Lee but did you want to talk with both of them about this?"

Xueyie perked up, taking an active position against the oversized roots she sat on.

" I think they understand my suspicions about what they're trying to do. Do I know if we can stop it? Or more importantly, are we the ones that should be stopping it?"

"Joe, you had problems with the two men that we probably should have killed and dumped the bodies of," Xueyie said, " taking on a Sect like this it would mean war."

I want to come back at her with a quip about how everything's fair in love and war, but it felt a bit hollow so I kept that one to myself.

"We are already at war. If we are right, they went after your cousin. If we're the only ones doing the right thing then I can accept that. Cultivators should be heroes, right? I don't see any real cultivators so I'm going to have to step up."

She nodded. I had an inkling that she was ready to follow me to hell and back and that warmed my heart.

Egiya on the other hand was still leaning heavily on her tree.

"You just come here. You start shit. You want to take on none other than the most widely known criminal Enterprise in our city. Well fuck it, I'm in if you let me advance first," Egiya said, "being out of breath like this is the pits."

" It's part of the reason why we tool you out here. Our generous and gorgeous benefactor," I nodded to the blushing auntie in the clearing, "believes in you both. As do I. I think you have both made a breakthrough in therapy and you're both moving past whatever mental block has kept you from moving forward."

"So, what you are saying is that we won therapy?" Xueyie said.

"Yes. You won therapy. Now for your final exam, let's catch one of these so we can get some materials to sell. I heard that their liver can make a potent pill or two."

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Both women bowed and we briefly went over a plan to use a pincer attack on one that had wandered a fair bit from them.

When my girls were little I taught them to ride their bikes. Courtney as the oldest daughter, of course loved it and took to it immediately. Rachel had a tougher time. Perhaps it was seeing it but there was a time where she was still working with her training wheels and it felt like we had been going back and forth for a while. Then, Rachel barreled forwards and yelled, "Daddy, I don't need you anymore!" Just like that, the my heart broke a little bit.

I had a whiff of that feeling as Xueyie and Egiya ran in and picked a target. Pride wasn't the right word for it. Satisfaction might be a bit closer.

Xueyie unleashed her weapon, a large sword fly whisk that looked a bit like a large paintbrush. Not the wide kind, the long bristle kind. I had to admit that the Taoists house weapon had a flair of its own.

Not to be outdone, Egiya brought out a thick longbow. She began to fire arrows around the Bhederii aiming to hit one in the leg.

Xueyie yelled causing the large beasts to scatter. Several moved away from our group but three of four moved towards Egiya.

She took that moment to fire a volley of arrows meant to cripple one or two of the four.

That was when Moon Lee and I sprang into action. She was faster than me, quickly got to the other side of it. In this way we had those four surrounded. Each beast was the equivalent of a first realm cultivator or greater, and we only needed one. It just wasn't going to be a good day for these guys.

It took them a second to realize what was going on. One of them stomped it's fore hooves before lowering its head towards Egiya. Two of the others followed their hearts running away from us, but the last was clearly hurting.

We had talked at length about what we were going to do, even going so far as to run a mock raid in my dreamscape. Of course we won every time there and of course it was good training but in that moment I was uncertain.

Thankfully it didn't fall solely onto me. Moon Lee made a bee line for the one most likely to be an easy target.

She landed on it with a savage blow. Her weapon of choice, of course was a glaive. It had to be one of the more dramatic reveals like the woman was a Final Fantasy character. I half expected her to get her sleek black hair done up special for this fight, but she kept a utilitarian top knot in place through all of her flawless movements. If you have ever seen a master kung fu practitioner do a flawless execution of their form, then you might be confused as to how they could ever hope to mimic her grace.

Moon Lee twisted the glaive slowly as Xueyie tried to drive the remainder of the Beherii down. The creature bucked and kicked until it Moon Lee was holding onto just the tip of her glaive.

"Go hunting, they said," I said, coming between the beast and my companions, "You can fight like a real cultivator, they said."

The first Beast propped itself back up and surveyed the scene.

Min jumped forward, her small body about the size and shape of a bobcat. She had intended to draw the beast out but instead got a taste of how being smashed into now muddy ground and long grass felt.

I winced as I kept my focus on the Bederas in front of me. That would hurt it's ego thoroughly, but it would be fine.

It had wanted Egiya, who was still firing arrows in its direction, but it could feel my unveiled power. The beast, looking to the world like it wouldn't be able to choose between two things it was highly ambivalent about instead chose to try to run me over.

"Oh no you don't, keep your eyes on me."

It juked trying to hit us both, but I went straight for the open palm pushing it both off course and center. The proud beast keeled over. On one side, violently rocking to a rest is based it's teeth, grunting loudly.

It fought to get back on it's feet. The powers that be-me and my posse-were having none of that. The other one was down and out.

Xueyie and Moon Lee converged on me. I left them to it and after giving it a few more choice punches. They were doing pretty well for themselves. I moved on keeping myself between the beasts and the girls. In the back of my mind I was thinking about what it would be like if we could take two or three down more than the two we already had. Those two hadn't ran that far. Had they? They're about a football field away, give or take a yard.

In this situation I thought for a split second about if I was going off script or not. Or alternatively if I was improvising on an already solid plan. Our overwhelming force was sufficient for those two we had already hunted, but feeling that elation made me want more.

"Lee?"

"I can see you itching. We will be fine. See if you can take down a third one on your own."

That was all I needed to hear. I went all out clearing the distance in ten heartbeats. The main pack was further still.

The girls could handle what I left behind. I zeroed in on the two still running Bhederii. One would be a feat. Two would make me satisfied.

There wasn't any rhyme or reason to their stride. I was going to use that to their advantage.

I could juke left or right around the two, but being the dumbass I tended to be around attractive women, I went right for it. Come to think of it, I had been unreasonably level headed since coming here- could that have been a side effect of my brain cancer? I should-

*Whump!*

One of the Bhederas attempted to gore through me, instead hitting me with the force of a mother scorned. I flew twenty feet, then left a nasty rut on the ground where I had been unceremoniously pushed.

"It wasn't like I kept your daughter out past midnight-"

I dodged the predictable follow up attack. Pack animals didn't have time for monologues. When they wanted you dead and they had the will, they went straight for it. It kept moving past me, the silver fur cascading forward.

I dropped into empty stance putting most of my weight on my back leg and pulling my fists back to my sides. My front foot lightly touched the ground as I breathed in, gathering aura.

The beast stopped short, its turn showing the difference between agility and speed.

A quick glance showed it's partner long gone. That was fine. This time I would see it coming.

With one foot firmly planted, for the first time I could feel the little ripples that it made while running. It felt like a mini earthquake.

It breathed out earth Qi, a thick ground coffee shop smell, as it charges right into my area.

I wasn't going to go force on force, seeing how the beast had basically had it's way when I wasn't paying attention. What I was going to do was to redirect that motion.

I jumped up to land a heel kick right in the beasts forehead, directing it to the path I wanted it to take.

That just so happened to be towards the center of the earth. A night unstoppable force met and immovable object and the Bhederas got it's while head and shoulders underground before I was able to subdue it.

I stoop up, three my arms up and whooped.

I should have known that it had a very friendly buddy. Before so was able to call the girls over, it's partner in crime rose up from the Earth and point blank body checked me thirty meters into a rolling hill.

"Hey! I do not appreciate having to buy new clothes! Not come over here and fight so I can use your fur for a pullover sweater that no one will ever want to wear."

It was a blow as low as they went. The beast didn't seem phased as it tried to pry it's buddy free. I was tempted to say that they were a mated pair, but they both had horns so maybe they were roommates?

Regardless, I was not going to stand up and take this kind of abuse.

"Hey, Joe let the girls handle this. Ladies?"

Egiya and Xueyie charged the beast, causing it to panic. It was no match for them.

"I think I'm satisfied here. This was unusual but it was a good start. Oh Xueyie is great with that weapon. I couldn't imagine using something like that."

"Min didn't make it long. Perhaps she was a bit too eager. That didn't work in her favor. Usually it takes me a bit to reform mine after something like that. Be thankful that she has an incorporeal form she can revert to."

I pulled out a bun, raising the sweet savory treat to my mouth. It smelled like victory. I held out another one, offering it to Moon Lee reluctantly.

"I used to take a little bite of some things and call it the 'Dad tax'. It was a way to have a little fun with them."

"That seems a bit mean."

"Does it? They didn't always eat what I gave them, and if they were hungry I would always make them something else to eat. There were a bunch of times where I had them up late at night after a volleyball practice and I was just making some comfort food, so it wasn't like I left them hungry. Did you want one by the way?"

"I will take one. Gratitude.You told me about parents who just fed and clothed their kids and little else, how dealing with that absentee parenting left them feeling like the missed something. This isn't that?"

"It wasn't like that. It was-it was something that we would both laugh about. I always tried to be present with them and attentive to their needs. It's what I would have wanted Maxine to do in my absence."

"But you hate each other?"

"As much as we now hate each other, we both committed to doing our best for the girls. It was one of my non negotiable things when we divorced. We might have fought each other tooth and nail especially when she wanted to keep all of her business and claw some of mine out, but on the girls we were in lock step together."

"That is admirable. Part of the reason that I never let the clan dictate who I chose to marry was wanting to do my own thing. The other part was being strong enough to push back on their courtship plans for me. It's hard to say no to someone getting close to forming their core."

"That's what's happening next? You're forming a core?"

The two girls had finally paused then tagged the beast. Both were sitting back to back leaned towards us. It was as if coming closer to us was a bit more than they had energy for at the moment.

"That's what's next. You should be working on yours. You want to keep up with the girls, I assume?"

Fighting the Bhederii felt a bit like wrestling a teenage girl-it wasn't difficult unless she knew what she was doing. The gap between our power was wife enough that I could confidently not go all out. The girls were both coming up on an **advancement** to second realm though.

I had a little twinge of remembrance of wanting to be the guy who absolutely dominated my kids in any physical contest. Even well into my twenties. It's why I kept up the Tai chi and did all of those damn fitness classes. I definitely wanted them to keep up with me, but a little part of me wanted to utterly dominate them in anything, especially a sprint.

"Yeah. A little bit."

She gave me the look and I grinned like a madman.

"Alright. What do we need to do to tag these things?"

A hand went up from the silver haired beasts side.

"I need to activate a script so that the concierge service knows to send the movers," Egiya said,"They knew to expect this, so I think a five minute wait would be good. I'll tag this one, then get the other two."

"This is a good haul," Moon Lee said,"But don't let this go to your head. Stronger cultivators than I have fallen for the trap of thinking that they're the strongest girl on the block."

"I'm just training to be stronger than my ex wife," I said,"Honestly."

"Can you really-Joe sometimes I see why she divorced you," Moon Lee said.

"What?"

"What?"

"Also Joe told me that he bet he could reach the other two Bhederii faster than either of you and that whoever beats him gets free dinner for a week at *The Farum Collective*!"

"Hey! Wait a second!"

They were off, hooting as if Moon Lee has offered her front row seats to a Taylor Swift concert.

God I missed my girls.

Just not enough to let either of them win.