"Ah, you're welcome. It's just a pity that these youkai were too slow in coming. Otherwise, I could have added a huge pile of firewood all at once, let the barrier of The Reckoning spread across all of Japan, or maybe even larger. Who knows, I might have been able to clean up the whole world," Chen Li said with some regret.
During The Reckoning, killing a creature tainted by sin would increase the barrier's area of effect, but the coverage would also shrink over time, as maintaining the barrier required energy.
The Miracle Card's description was right. Because the youkai arrived too slowly in the later stages, the increase and decrease in range cancelled each other out. He could only maintain the barrier's size, not expand it further.
As a result, Chen Li had only managed to cover half of Japan with the barrier of The Reckoning.
It would have been even better if Japan's geography wasn't so long and narrow, but more regular in shape.
He had even wanted to help the people of China by killing some evil youkai for them, but he didn't even touch the border of the neighboring country.
If he had been able to cover the entire world, the Crystal reward might have been even greater.
This proved that piecemeal tactics were not suitable for the Longbow of Peace. Going all-in was the path of wisdom!
However, as he slaughtered more sinful creatures, the cost of maintaining The Reckoning would decrease over time.
He had tested its area-of-effect capabilities. Next time, he would try out its "pinpoint assassination" abilities.
"…" Standing beside him, Kikyo, who had dedicated her life to slaying demons and occasionally performing heroic deeds, felt that Chen Li was far too extreme.
And this was precisely why she felt this bow was a source of disaster.
Thank goodness only a good-hearted person can use it.
"My youkai friends, bring over the first batch of collected items," Chen Li called out to the youkai who were helping him.
A short while later, a large, empty space in front of him was filled with all sorts of strange and unusual items.
Although the youkai's bodies had been burned away by the flames, the items they carried had not.
These were all excellent materials for extracting Entries.
"Thank you for your hard work. But I'll have to trouble you a little longer. Continue collecting. I'll be back tomorrow. Of course, you can also choose to run," Chen Li said, gathering the materials and giving the youkai a friendly smile.
The youkai shivered in unison and nodded repeatedly.
Although these youkai had been judged as relatively benevolent, the fact remained that they had dared to approach him. Making them do a little manual labor couldn't be considered bullying.
"I'll be leaving then. See you tomorrow, Kikyo," Chen Li said, bidding her farewell.
He didn't have the time to stay here forever. If some other evil youkai who had escaped the slaughter came running all this way to steal his spoils after he left, Chen Li wouldn't mind helping Kikyo refill the Longbow of Peace with evil souls a little faster.
"Yes, see you tomorrow." With a complicated expression, Kikyo watched as Chen Li vanished from this world.
---o---
"I'm back."
"Welcome ba—" Tonghua, who had been brewing tea for herself, looked up to greet Chen Li, but her pupils contracted the moment she saw him.
"What about the '-ck'? Why did you only say half the word?" Chen Li returned to the living room, sat on the sofa, and started sending a text to Elysia to let her know everything was fine.
"What did you go and do? What kind of damned thing did you provoke?" Tonghua asked, her voice unsteady.
"Huh? Oh. I almost forgot that you also count as a demon, ghost, or monster," Chen Li said, quickly understanding after a moment of confusion.
As an Evil God, Tonghua was obviously not normal.
"Demon, ghost, or monster" was just a catch-all term for strange things, and an Evil God was certainly a strange thing.
"How does it feel? Were you scared?" Chen Li asked curiously.
"A… little," Tonghua nodded.
As an Evil God, concepts like sanity were meaningless to her.
But even an "Evil God" had to hold "Miracles" in reverence.
The intimidation effect from the Miracle Card was something not even she could ignore.
"What did you see?" Chen Li grew even more curious.
"Countless youkai, their faces twisted, wailing and struggling in the flames of sin. What in the world did you do? You were only gone for half a day," Tonghua said succinctly.
Right now, Chen Li seemed more like an Evil God than she did, at least in the eyes of other monsters.
After getting his answer, Chen Li tossed a Miracle Card to Tonghua, who was still holding her teacup.
Miracle Cards could be lent to others for viewing. While viewing, they could also see the actions that had led to Chen Li obtaining the card.
Tonghua stared at the information recorded on the card. After a long time, she finally let out a breath and looked at Chen Li with a complicated gaze.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Aren't you an Evil God? You've never seen a scene like this before?"
"It's not that I couldn't do something like this, but you're still just a weakling. The Little Red Riding Hood I summon could kill ten of you with a single punch, yet you used a Curio to slaughter half of Japan's youkai… It seems I've underestimated the effects of Curios," Tonghua said, propping her chin on her hand.
It was just as Chen Li had said: any normal person could create a miracle with a Curio. The only difference was the scale.
"You've been underestimating Curios from the beginning. And what I showed wasn't even the limit of the Longbow of Peace. If the initial quality of the evil souls hadn't been so poor, I might have really been able to cleanse that entire world. Then I could have stood there with my hands behind my back and said: 'This mortal realm has become filthy again.'"
"…"
"And this Curio can be enhanced. When I have more money in the future, I can strengthen it even more," Chen Li said, rubbing his chin.
"Enhanced? It can be enhanced further?"
"There are plenty of ways to strengthen it. For example, I could refine my own blood and add Entries for time, space, and fate to it. Maybe I could give it a 'reversing cause and effect' property, allowing it to follow the threads of time and space to kill the original sinner, erasing the sins they committed from existence."
"…"
"Or I could add the Abundance Entry to it. Maybe it could shoot a dead person back to life."
"…"
"But thinking about it, I don't have enough Entries. Tonghua, you see…" Chen Li said in a soft, gentle voice, sidling up next to her.
Without the Ejection Seat and compass that Tonghua had contributed, the Longbow of Peace might have turned out completely different.
A miracle! This Evil God is worth fleecing!
If he were truly willing to pay the cost, Chen Li could max out the brightness of a slaughter-type Entry. Piercing a star with a single arrow would be a small matter.
"I know what you want to say, and I can give you some of my special collection pieces," Tonghua said, glancing at him.
"But?" Chen Li felt she had agreed far too quickly.
"But you have to forge a Curio for me," Tonghua said.
"Emm…" Chen Li fell into thought.
"Are you kidding me? Li, you can accept commissions from total strangers, but you can't accept one from me?" Tonghua placed her hands on Chen Li's shoulders and shook him vigorously.
"That's true, but you saw it yourself. That person just now looked exactly like a character from an anime. It could be a projection across spacetime, or an information leak, but that's the situation. I know what will happen in their worlds, so I'm not worried about them destroying anything. But in the home world…" Chen Li sighed.
He wasn't worried about Tonghua herself. The main problem was that the situation in his home world was too complex and dangerous. He couldn't control the outcome..