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."

The chains come at them again, and Wen Ying lashes out with her sword in a sort of twisting motion, and manages to get the entirety of one of the chains wrapped around her sword's sheath and under control. 

--Which means she's VERY DISTRACTED when the other one catches her around the neck and slams her into a tree. 

OH NO

Lan Zhan realizes too late, lunges after her and dives through the mist -- she needs to go faster -- "Wen Ying!"

"I'll be fine! I can handle this! Go after the owl!"

No.  She zooms onward - can see Wen Ying's shape, now, through the mist -- 

An arc of blue light slices out from Bichen and smashes into the chain, Lan Zhan reaching the tree a second later.

The chain drops to the ground, and the mist starts to clear, revealing Wen Ying smirking with a struggling, smoke-spewing owl in her hands. 

"Somebody's going to take us back to his master," she coos dangerously to it. She looks up at Lan Zhan. 

"I really was fine," she says apologetically. 

Relief.

"Your neck?"

She shifts her grip on the owl so she can hold it with only one hand, the other probing at her neck. 

"A little sore. I'll ask jiejie for a more detailed diagnosis when we get back." 

The imprint of the chain is outlined in red, but there isn't any bleeding or immediate bruising.