"Something's wrong and we'd rather have you capable of running away than not that." 

Oh wow he appreciates that!!! Huaisang gets dressed and ready as fast as possible.

She opens the door. 

She closes the door. 

"Guuuuuys? I think we have worse problems than needing to check on Granny. Um. It looks like everyone else is awake too, and there's...something wrong with their faces...and it almost looks like they're sleepwalking...and they were all headed this way." 

Fuck. “You all should leave. I’ll go up and see what’s wrong with them.”

"Qing-jie, you're not really a fighter, do you think going all by yourself is a good idea?"

“I am the only doctor here. It’s my responsibility to fix whatever is wrong with them and none of you will be any use.”

"I can hold someone down without hurting them!" she says indignantly. "That's useful!"

“Wen-guniang, we will assist you.”

She chews her lip. “Being controlled in a group like that, like sleepwalking. That is within the capabilities of the Yin Iron. I hadn’t thought one fragment was enough.”

"I am going to beat Wen Chao into a paste." 

"How can we help them?"

"It has to be that stupid owl, you saw how it was smoking." 

"Run from them, try to find and kill the owl quickly," Wen Qing concludes. "Let's go now."

They head out the back door; there are more people converging on the front. They do not run towards the dancing goddess shrine, because Wen Ying may not have ever had the opportunity to become horror movie genre savvy but nobody here is stupid, even if Nie-gongxi likes to pretend to be. 

It isn't long before they can hear the sounds of minor property destruction behind them as their loved ones swarm through the house. 

Wen Ying gazes at the sky, barely looking where she's putting her feet. It's dark, dark enough for the owl to be well-camouflaged, but if it passes in front of a star or, better yet, the moon...

It doesn't do so immediately. 

"We need somewhere we can hide until morning, in the worst case scenario," she says, rubbing her nose. 

"There are caves, in the mountains," she pants. "We need to keep moving until we find something."

"Yep. And I am going to use a wind talisman to check any cave we're thinking of entering to make sure it doesn't extend all the way to the goddess statue somehow or something." 

They start circling back toward the mountain, taking a broad enough arc that the Yin-controlled villagers don't gain on them much. Wen Ying gnashes her teeth the whole way, her relatives' plight itching at her. 

"Ying-jie, what are we going to do if we don't find a good cave?"

"We get on our swords and hover out of reach until morning comes and we can find the damn owl to kill it. And before you ask why that's not Plan A, if we can fortify a cave we can rest there, hovering on a sword isn't that tiring but I don't know how long it'll be necessary for." 

Huaisang is already tired enough!! He huffs and complains but tries not to actually slow the group down.

She moves fastest, forging ahead towards the mountains.

"Er-jie... once you kill the owl, will everyone be okay?"

"They had better be." No, no, have to be strong for A-Ning. "Probably they will. If they aren't--if it has to be reversed deliberately, I will make Wen Chao do it." 

He's really, really scared for their family, but he nods and tries to be reassured.

They reach the mountain and start hiking up its forested slopes. Are any caves visible in the dark?

Not really. They can find a few once someone lights a fire talisman, though. 

Wen Ying checks the first one with a wind talisman, then when it's determined to be safe (relatively speaking) checks it out in person. It's damp and not the comfiest ever and a little small but it'll do. 

Once everyone's inside she starts doing things to the cave mouth and a barrier a lot like the ones at Cloud Recesses springs up.