Eagles ARE Chickens!

Hana harshly reaped three-quarters of the last two eagles' souls in the last two 'Blessing Bestowal' Ceremonies, just like how she treated Kreemore and Semut. However, she didn't kill them; she knew they were the strongest from the Silver-banded group besides Lady. The Serpent's Lair sorely lacked personnel; one example was good enough. 

These eagles were of an opposing faction from Lady as they sided with the other wives of the late Silver-banded Eagle Monarch. Granted, the most offending wives had been culled previously, but the family members were still there. There were still a few 'mild' ex-wives present too; Lady wasn't clear of their allegiance, hence they were spared. These white lotuses were the ones who insinuated the assassination attempt on the Lord of the Serpent's Lair to remove Lady Eagle and the new acting Lord, Lord Pii. 

Namely, these chicks tried to kill her.

"Kolo, Bunny, Mondok." Hana closed her eyes and called for her pets.

A giant mud-colored Water Crocodile, a brown Earth Rabbit, and a Fanged Mole moved forward from the crowd. These were the new members of the Soul Brethren.

"Pull off all the feathers and wash this... chicken in the stream nearby. I will be cooking it after this."

The rest of the eagles and onlookers across the clearing, O__________O|||||

So ruthless!

"Lady, bring King and Pii with you to kill off these... Wives, of the late Monarch. Bring their carcasses over, there's a lot to cook today. We will have a feast later."

The terror-stricken creatures across the clearing shook like a leaf during a thunderstorm.

The image of an ever-smiling benevolent Goddess crumbled in their minds. 

Reality hits hard on every creature's head. Kuro and Shiro were the ones who knew how capricious the 'Goddess' behaved most of the time, hence, only they could adjust themselves well to Hana's spontaneous craziness.

A battalion of twenty-two Silver-banded Eagles (with one additional Gold-banded Eagle baby strapped to Lady's head like a barret) with ten-thousand strong General-tiered Elemental Fiends of the fire and lightning attributes led by the Elemental Fiend King, and their new star advisor, Gramps Alpy, was deployed on the spot, baffling the onlooking creatures.

They were so efficient, that they gathered within fifteen minutes!

From the previous investigation, the Silver-banded Eagle clan had about three hundred clansmen, where eighty percent of them were Early-staged Noble-tiered spiritual beasts or less. The rest were the Monarch's direct subordinates cum warriors of the clan with lofty statuses within the clan. Half of them had sided with Lady after the Monarch's demise, while the other half were just enslaved to the Serpent's Lair Leader leaving only a few scattered old croons; wives of the late Monarch.

The Gray Rock Mountain would be surrounded and swallowed in no time! The Serpent's Lair's advantage of numbers was too overwhelming!

"Bring back all creatures over Noble-tiered for Bestowal Ceremony. I will not tolerate missing a single one of these birds, even baby chicks."

Hana's gentle yet solemn tone reverberated through the Soul-links, reaching her battalion.

Treacherous clans should be tightly controlled before they can bite you back. At least, this was how it worked based on the period dramas Hana read. A single survivor would produce a cliche protagonist and a cliche ending. She would cut it from the roots.

Once her little private army moved, Hana told Shiro to bring the talented ones amongst the Soul Brethren to learn from him how to cut the bird into small pieces following the common method Hana used to chop chickens she learned from Madam Shaza. She would impart the knowledge later; she was confident that her star student, Shi-chan could immediately grasp the technique!

A housewife who didn't know how to at least chop chickens herself isn't seasoned enough!

After all, an eagle was a bird, and a bird was essentially a chicken.

Hana's three pets dragged the lifeless bird away carefully without making any noise. Blood flowed along the stone pavement towards the stream, reminding the others not to cross the not-so-benevolent Goddess. 

She was kind, sweet, and benevolent to creatures who made her smile.

But she was ruthless to the ones who offended her.

...

Meanwhile, Arash finally reached the edge of the Bateq's Village with the Tok Batin. 

Message signals kept beeping non-stop on Arash's smartphone. He knew the majority of it must be coming from Ed, his test subject. He was curious how the young man turned out with the starter fund and the gentle 'push' he provided.

When Arash tried to swipe open his smartphone, Tok Silihan kicked his butt to pull his attention.

"Boy, you know what you must say, and what you mustn't, right?"

Arash stopped walking and respectfully kept his phone in the pocket. "Can you enlighten me on what to say and not to say, Tok?" He was truly clueless about what the elder meant. 

Tok Silihan sighed heavily and knocked the boy's head a few times exasperatedly.

"Never tell anyone about the Reawakening Ceremony. Never tell anyone you can harness the energy of the Heavens and the Earth. Stop getting curious about your Boss and the Expert beside him. Just work, make money, feed your kids." Tok Silihan generously reiterated one by one.

"But, but, I still need to find Hana..."

"Do it yourself! With your own power! Don't depend on others! Never trust anyone! Learn to use the Talisman pendant properly before you dare to snoop around and get yourself killed like a wild chicken!! These people are bad news. You won't be safe if you keep on sticking around them."

"Oooh, okay, Tok. You're too paranoid lahhh" Arash was helpless. The advice was a little too late. He already promised Boss Alan he was willing to work his a*s off for him as long as the Boss helped him with whatever he needed to find his wife. He practically sold himself to the Boss already TT____TT

"Say that again!!" Arash unfortunately received a punch to his abdomen, making him vomit.

"If you find the next Gate, tell me. I will help you." Tok Silihan snorted as he dug his nose unhappily with his pinkie. The Boy was so weak, yet he dared to play around with high-level Experts who could kill him with a finger! Tok Silihan wouldn't be able to save him anywhere else except in this forest! 

The elder casually flapped his mouth without giving eye contact, not feeling guilty at all for abusing the poor Arash. He even sounded haughty. But Arash knew how big a promise that was to him.

Tok Silihan was such a tsundere! 

Arash was deeply touched and nodded. His light chuckle earned him another round of kicks on the butt.

Their return was received with great vigor by the whole village with scattered wildflowers thrown in the air. It was truly an overkill. Even Arash felt it was a little too much and blushed heavily facing the judgemental stare from his Boss and the tag-alongs.

Arash was carried over by the shoulder by many enthusiastic young men; he wasn't given the option to decline. Strangely, no villagers dared to touch the Spiritual Healer; they gave him a wide, respectable berth and only a slight bow. When the elder snorted, it was some sort of an acknowledgment, the rest quickly dispersed to crowd over Arash and continue fussing over him. 

The Tok Batin walked with a long cane while his other hand was placed behind his back, totally unaffected by the pomp.

It felt like Arash was the one being celebrated rather than the Tok Batin who just returned from a short seclusion. To the villagers, the Spiritual Healer went out to cultivate, while their good brother Arash was there as a lackey, serving the capricious elder and enduring his abuse in their place. Hence, the 'celebration' was a way to express their thanks as well as an unspoken apology.

"You're finally back, Arash. You're really popular here."

His Boss greeted him with an amused grin. 

Arash grinned awkwardly as he scratched his head with a guilty look. "Sorry for the wait."

...

Hana walked toward the Crystal-veined stream accompanied by Shiro to wash her blood-soaked fishy self. Outwardly she looked emotionless, but within, she was trying hard not to gag and was crying rather pitifully inside, once all the anger evaporated, that is.

She regretted slicing off the bird's jugular and let herself be drenched. She was just too pissed off at that time, okay? How dare a chicken prey on her who loved to eat chicken?! Trying to kill her to reduce the Serpent's Lair to ashes?! Not on her watch!

She was going to cook so many birds until all the other birds eternally feared her!

After a good scrub in the gentle stream, it's time to teach Shiro how to cut chickens like a pro!

In the Soul Hall Domain, Hana merged with Shiro to share her knowledge and teach the Mirrage Fox personally. 

Hana projected her memory in the kitchen to Shiro...

A big cleaver, a pair of heavy-duty scissors, a large kitchen knife...

A big slab of polished chopping board made from a tree trunk...

Dug in with a bare hand to pull entrails and organs out gently yet skillfully... 

The lung, the heart, the liver, the spleen, the gizzard, the duodenum... Every single organ slid out in perfect form. 

Shiro already sweated with such a gory move. He couldn't believe his weak-willed Mom could really do such action effortlessly without crying.

Cleaved to two over the mid-section with a single chop after skillfully carved the meat over the waist area...

Cleaved to four following the spine...

Cleaved to eight, two parts per piece...

Another two times, to reduce the size to slightly larger than bite-sized...

The whole chicken turned into 5 to 10 cm cubes in less than five minutes.

It was precise and efficient. 

Ahh, it turned out, Mom was actually capable of dismemberment. She even enjoyed it a little since he heard a faint happy hum. Shiro could feel her memories vividly; as if it was his own. It wasn't just a projected image, but also a full immersion, hence he could feel Mom's emotion at the time of the event within the memory.

There really was a big difference between being identified as a piece of meat slab and a lovable fluffy animal in Mom's eyes.

Shiro could only feel slightly sorry for the pitiful Silver-banded Eagles as he observed the trio busily pulling the feathers of the dead bird under the brindleberry tree. They got what was coming for them.

Mom already called them chickens multiple times.

...