Chapter 15: Lost and found.

"Master these people are?"

Qin Qianyu queried upon seeing five ruggedly dressed, tired and distressed young girls who were staring at the three tigers in disbelief.

Qin Qianyu calmed and assured the tigers, they just looked in the groups direction then moved their heads back into a comfortable position upon their front paws.

"They were being held captive by the poachers I had encountered while searching for you. I had smelt blood coming from this direction so I decided to check it out. I found your phone on the ground close to here, and . . I had thought the worst so . . I'm glad that a month's training was able to allow you to beat these twits."

"Hehe, awww! Thanks, it's all you! But in saying that, I did have help, Saan and Er took two of them out,"

"Huh!? Three and two?"

"Mhm, Bai Yi, Bai Er, Bai Saan."

Qin Qianyu says as she pointed out each tiger in turn. Grandpa Wú rolled his eyes at his own disciple's naming sense then eyed the tigers.

The trio flinched upon feeling the gaze on them and a shiver went down their spines.

The group of girls didn't notice anything, but Qin Qianyu did. She was a little shocked,

"Master that's enough! Stop creeping them out, look how terrified you made them. Your old face is too scary."

"I'm scary!? Dont you own mirrors at your house!? I'll scary your damn head! Hmph!"

"Pssh! . . There, there, the creepy old man isn't looking at you now. You're Tigers how can you be scared of an old man!?"

Qin Qianyu quipped as she stroked and used her words to pacify the tiger trio.

Grandpa Wú was livid, his face twisted up as he started sulking,

"I'm not scary! They're like that because they know and respect brute strength! They're just showing respect for the strongest alpha here, me! Beast like them have a keen sense to these kind of things."

"Oh! So you're saying that you're more of dangerous beast than these three are?"

" . . . "

"Pfft! Hehehe!"

The pair's conversation was broken into by a lithe laugh. The pair turned their heads in the direction of the group to find that the other girls standing behind the eldest of the girls.

"Is she the groups leader?"

Qin Qianyu asked herself, she looked towards grandpa Wú.

"Han Xiaoting, why are you laughing? Could it be that you also see this gentle, frail old man as a beast also!?"

"Mhm, yes! The way you took care of the other people that caged us was very beast like. It was very fierce. Not at all gentle."

" . . . "

"Hmph! Come rest over here, these little cats won't hurt any of you. Disciple, watch over them, I'll go make something for us to eat."

"Master, I'll do it, the poachers here had a camp already setup, let's go see what they have."

"Mhm, alright then,"

Qin Qianyu reached into her pockets and pulled out a small bottle and handed it over to Han Xiaoting.

"Take one each, it'll help with the fatigue."

Qin Qianyu noticed the look on the girls faces as they took a pill each,

"The seven forms pill!"

Han Xiaoting exclaimed and a few of the other girls mumbled. Qin Qianyu raised an eyebrow. She was utterly surprised because it was as they said.

Her Restart pills were indeed fashioned from the seven forms pill recipe in her apothecary book.

"Wait this isn't right, it is the seven forms pill, but it isn't, Big sister! Are you an alchemist too!?"

Qin Qianyu looked at her master with dark eyes. She leans in closer to the old man and whispered,

"Master, the gift you gave me, it couldn't have been stolen from these people right?"

"What nonsense are you speaking! Do I even need to steal!?"

Nonsense? The rejuvenation holy pill could be considered a coincidence, but if these girls are from the same group that the silver wolf went to rescue that I suspect to be the case and they also know of the seven forms pill it's no longer a coincidence."

"Well it's not, and I'm not! Hmph! If anything they could have stolen it from me! Did that even cross your mind!?"

"How could anyone steal from such a fierce beast like you!?"

" . . . "

Qin Qianyu turned to the girl and answered her question,

"I just know somethings, apothecary is among those things I know. Are you an alchemist Han Xiaoting?"

"I . . I'm still training, but I'm the best out of those that are being trained."

Qin Qianyu nodded and didn't ask any further.

The entire group moved towards the poachers camp, Grandpa Wú and Han Xiaoting led the girls. Qin Qianyu and her tigers led the last two remaining poachers.

When they made it to the camp, Qin Qianyu tied the poaching pair to a large tree and joined grandpa Wú and the others.

Qin Qianyu went through what food stocks the poachers had. After going through everything she made a decision on what to make.

Qin Qianyu started preparing the ingredients, Han Xiaoting joined in and helped as grandpa Wú entertained the younger girls.

The tigers were placid and a few brave girls found the courage to pet them in turn. Soon all of them, grandpa Wú included were petting the tigers.

The three large beast were enjoying the attention.

"Big sister is this good enough?"

"Big sister I'll do that!"

"Big sister, big sister, big sister,"

Han Xiaoting was very helpful to Qin Qianyu, she went as far as wiping the light sweat off of Qin Qianyu's brow.

Qin Qianyu was beside herself. As an only child she had always been alone so having another person calling her big sister felt a little foreign but insanely good to her.

Even when she was married to Song Zhaoge, his sibling never treated her with the adoration or respect of an elder sister.

She was basically just a slave to them in their eyes.

Suddenly a random thought crossed Qin Qianyu's mind,

"Maybe Mum and Dad should have a child, I mean they're still quite young."

Qin Qianyu searched her mind and thought of three pills, one was a stamina pill, this pill also had a boosting effect that would cause the users daily sperm count to quadruple.

The other was a pill designed to increase the release of ovules during ovulation.

And the final pill was a unique libido stimulus, but in reality, it's true essence was that it was an aggressive form of an already powerful aphrodisiac.

"They've been together for 5 years and still haven't had a child, I wonder if there's a medical problem with either of them? Surely they've been doing it, right!?"

Qin Qianyu asked no one in particular, she decided to have a talk with her parents once she returned from her road trip.

Hearing Han Xiaoting's voice brought Qin Qianyu's thoughts back to the present,

"Tingting, can you tell me about your situation? How did you five come to be here?"

Han Xiaoting became excited because of the familiar way Qin Qianyu had called her, so she then explained that they are all from a 100 strong northern nomadic tribe and were out foraging for medicinal herbs and plants when they were captured.

"I see, it must have been very scary. But don't worry I'll make some enquires for you and find out where your other members could be."

"Thanks big sister . . Ah,"

Qin Qianyu could see that the girl wanted to ask for her name. But unfortunately, she was still under orders of her master, even though she wasn't wearing her mask.

"Sorry Tingting, because of reasons I can't tell you my name, but big sister will do for now,"

She chatted with Han Xiaoting some more and it was indeed as she had surmised, these 5 girls were taken separately from the initial group that was taken. They were not sure if the the others were also separated. Qin Qianyu told them that she'd find out for Han Xiaoting after they've had their meal.

What Qin Qianyu was going to do was contact Xiaoling and enquire about her brother.

When the group were nearing the end of their meal, the phone that Qin Qianyu had dropped was being recharged with the equipment in the poachers camp began to beep.

Qin Qianyu checked her phone, besides finding the messages left by her master, a frantic message from Xiaoling also appeared.

[Dr Phantom Fox, I need your help! My brother is hurt really bad.]

Qin Qianyu showed the message to grandpa Wú, he saw it a whispered softly,

"Disciple, since when were you ever a doctor!?"

"Since the needle seller called me Phantom Fox! Besides it's only a matter of time, and it's all I've been learning so . . "

"Well what are you going to do?"

"I can't do anything unless I see the patient."

"Mhm, don't worry, I'll support you."

Qin Qianyu gave her master a knowing smile. She quickly typed,

[Location?]

Xiaoling sent a message with coordinates. Grandpa Wú saw this and his lips twitched.

"Shenlong Military Base!"

Qin Qianyu heard her master mumble, so she messaged Xiaoling to confirm,

[You're at Shenlong!?]

[Yes, Please come quick, the doctors here are useless.]

[Install this and don't turn your phone off. Oh and wait for me outside the building.]

Qin Qianyu sent Xiaoling an executable file it would send data and details from one phone to the other. It was essentially turning Xiaoling's phone into a tracking device.

"Master bring the girls, there's an 8 seater buggy among the vehicles here use it to bring them to Shenlong, that's where their other family members are."

"I'll go on ahead."

Grandpa Wú nodded he then reached into his bag and gave her a long hooded gown and her fox mask.

"Haha, master why do I feel like a masked vigilante while you're my humble servant?"

" . . . "

"I'll punch your face!"

"Hehe, I'm only teasing, wish me luck."

"Mhm, good luck."

"Big sister! Where are you going!?"

Qin Qianyu looked over at Han Xiaoting. She could see concern and worry in the girls eyes. Qin Qianyu patted the girls head and spoke softly,

"Seems our time has been cut short, Master will be bringing you guys to your families and friends, I'm going on ahead because another friend is also in trouble."

"Will I see you again?"

"If fate decides it we shall, take care of each other and don't neglect your training."

"Mhm, I won't, I train real hard so I can be just like big sister."

"Mhm you do that, I'll be waiting, Tingting."

Qin Qianyu got changed and donned her mask. The girls looked on in awe.

Qin Qianyu looked mysterious and cool in their eyes.

A smile formed on her lips as she looked towards them.

The girls started gushing out with excitement as if their favourite idol or celebrity had appeared in front of them.

Grandpa Wú just rolled his eyes at the gaggle of teens and called for all of them to load themselves onto the buggy cart.

Qin Qianyu gave them a wave and looked towards the tigers.

"Sorry guys this is the end of the road for the four of us, please look after each other well and try not to get caught again. Alright take care."

Qin Qianyu gave each tiger a loving cuddle then a few more pets before she left. However as she moved away the tigers started whining.

She turned to see that they weren't whining at her but rather with each other.

"Disciple, what's going on here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, maybe they're arguing with each other to see who gets to come with me."

" . . . "

If Qin Qianyu were able to understand what the tigers were communicating with each other, then she would be surprised because that was exactly what they were doing.

In the end, Saan was the one to follow her, and from that day forward he would stay with her for the rest of his natural life.