Shiranui Asuka immediately found herself in a difficult position.
Shuten was right. Xie Yujiao was, at most, her friend, not his.
Asking him to step in and settle this really was inappropriate.
"In that case... I'll help Sister Xie Yujiao myself!"
Asuka strode forward indignantly and shouted, "Hey! If you want to kill Sister Xie Yujiao, you'll have to get past me!"
Cowherd looked helplessly at the little shorty before him. "Miss, please don't make this difficult for me. There's no enmity between us, and I don't want to hurt you by accident."
"You... you... I won't let you!" Asuka planted her hands on her hips and stood imperiously before Cowherd.
Shuten was also caught in a bind. Every grievance had its source, every debt its debtor. If the man had come for revenge, they had no grounds to stop him. That would violate the code of honor.
But Xiao Xiang standing out front and provoking him like this was hardly appropriate, either.
In that case...
"Hey, brother," Shuten called.
"Hmm?" Cowherd turned to look at Shuten.
"Why do you want this woman's life?" Shuten jerked his thumb toward Xie Yujiao.
"For revenge," Cowherd answered firmly.
"Revenge for what?"
Cowherd reached out and gently pulled A-Xiang aside. "For killing my wife, Weaver Girl!"
The name "Weaver Girl" sounded familiar to Shuten, but he simply couldn't remember who she was.
The Great Tengu froze. "Your wife is Weaver Girl? You're Cowherd?"
Cowherd turned to look at the man with a pair of black wings. "Indeed, I am Cowherd. None of you look like people from China. You know of me, too?"
"Cowherd!" Shuten's jaw dropped in shock. He kept pointing at Cowherd as he turned back to the monsters. "So he's the Cowherd from the Qixi Festival!"
"Shuten," the Great Tengu