Dawn was just breaking.
The inn was silent, while a few more sounds of movement had begun to stir in the street outside.
In the room, Fan Qinghe lay asleep on her pillow, her hands folded over her waist. As she hovered between sleep and waking, a sound suddenly came from the doorway:
Tap, tap, tap...
"Shh~ Behave."
"Chirp..."
Fan Qinghe opened her eyes and turned toward the doorway, only to see the door being nudged open. The big Niao Niao squeezed inside and plunged headfirst into the bamboo hat on the table, immediately falling still. The whole sequence flowed like drifting clouds and running water, completed in one smooth motion.
Then Ye Jingtang walked in, carrying someone on his back.
Fan Qinghe looked them over briefly. Seeing that he was carrying Perfected Person Xuanji, a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes. She propped herself up and asked:
"What happened to her?"
Ye Jingtang pushed the door shut with his foot, carried the drunken Perfected Person Xuanji over to the bed, and set her down.
"Duansheng Ji and some people from the Thousand Mechanisms Sect ambushed her. She was hit by a Heart-Rending Needle. Take a look at her."
Hearing that she had been hit by a Heart-Rending Needle, Fan Qinghe's expression grew more serious. She took Perfected Person Xuanji's wrist and examined her carefully for a moment.
"Her pulse is unsteady, but she's mostly all right. She just needs rest... She was hit by a Heart-Rending Needle, and you still let her drink?"
Perfected Person Xuanji was merely tipsy, not unconscious. Hearing their conversation, she chimed in, sounding somewhere between drunk and sober:
"To live in drunkenness and die in dreams is a rare blessing. Besides, he can't keep me in line..."
As she spoke, Perfected Person Xuanji