They pile inside. Wen Ning huddles against Wen Qing, shivering.

"Thank you, A-Ying."

"You're welcome." 

The barrier is transparent. 

This is useful for looking out to see if the fucking owl is visible yet. 

It is less useful for morale when the villagers show up. 

"Granny..." He scoots closer to the barrier, trying to catch her attention.

Granny makes no perceptible response to him. 

"Wen Chao is going to pay for this," Wen Ying snarls in a low voice. 

"You can't kill him. Not while we still need to appear loyal to Uncle."

"I know. Unfortunately. I'm not going to kill him yet, but I am going to hurt him." 

"Please be careful, Er-jie."

Lan Zhan examines the villagers closely. "The marks on their neck, what are they?"

"Marks of the Yin Iron. Those cracks on their faces are the same as Uncle's experiments. White eyes are the same also."

"You do not believe this to be permanent?"

"No! No, they're, they're still there, Lan-guniang. Right, Jie?"

Nod. "They are still alive. The owl must not carry enough of the Yin Iron's power to rob them from their bodies entirely."

"I want to clarify that while I can't kill Wen Chao over this now, when I do eventually kill Wen Chao I'm dedicating it to this night." 

Well, Wen Qing certainly hopes Wen Chao won't do anything worse than this before he becomes strategically killable. She doubts it.

If it comes to it she can kill him over multiple things. 

The sky gradually lightens. When she can make out the faint movement of an even-darker shape, Wen Ying grabs her sword and hops on it.

Lan Zhan instantly draws Bichen and follows her lead.

("Ahhh, I'll just - stay here.")

The two of them pass through the barrier with no incident. The owl sees them and dives towards the forest. Wen Ying grits her teeth and puts on a burst of speed. 

Lan Zhan swoops down after her, bracing herself to swerve through the treetops. Cold wind stings her face.

The mist grows thicker around them. Eventually they lose track of the owl, and shortly after that are forced to dismount lest they run into a tree. 

Wen Ying grits her teeth and closes her eyes and listens for the damn owl. 

Instead she hears a rattling clank that alerts her just in time to deflect some kind of chain with her sheathed sword. 

"Wen Ying!" Lan Zhan darts through the mist to Wen Ying's side, sword drawn. "Hurt?"

"I'm fine, it's just WEN CHAO BEING A BITCH AGAIN," she yells the last part.

shnkshnkshnkshnkshnk another chain this one aimed at Lan Zhan. 

She leaps into the air, striking the chain with Bichen as she twirls out of reach.

The chains come at them again, forcing the two of them into an intensely homoerotic literally back-to-back fighting style. 

"I've seen him do this before," she tells Lan Zhan. "I just need the right moment..."

"Mm."