Liuli looked at Yu Ke in surprise and asked in confusion, "Yu Ke, where did you all go? Why are you all injured?"
Yu Ke paused for a moment, then subconsciously turned her gaze to Li Molin.
Li Molin calmly withdrew his gaze, looked down at the pile of black iron stones in front of him, and said in a steady voice, "I asked you to investigate whether a rare treasure has appeared."
Yu Ke understood and continued, following Li Molin's words, "Perhaps the message sent back by the Demon Feather Bird was wrong. I did not discover any signs of the rare treasure's emergence, and I was injured because I encountered righteous disciples on my way back."
"Okay." Li Molin replied calmly, "Thank you for your hard work, Yu Ke."
Yu Ke bowed and said, "Young Master, you are too kind. This is all what I should do."
Li Molin nodded and said, "Since you are injured, there is no need to mine the black iron anymore. Go and rest."
"Yes." Yu Ke and the other twenty-odd people responded in unison, walked to the side, found an open space, sat down, and began to talk in hushed tones.
After a while, a dozen or so demons filed out of the mine, each carrying several pieces of black iron stone of varying sizes. They threw them on the ground and went back into the mine.
The pile of black iron in front of Li Molin and Liuli had grown even larger. Liuli pouted and said unhappily, "Ugh... there's so much more now. When will we ever finish dividing it all up..."
Li Molin smiled silently, clapped his hands, stood up and said, "Liuli, the rest is up to you. Thank you for your hard work."
Liuli was stunned for a moment, then threw down the black iron stone in her hand and said angrily, "Li Molin, you're not doing it anymore? And you're going to dump all the work on me? What gives you the right?"
"Sigh." Li Molin sighed and said quietly, "You released that monk just now. Although my men didn't say anything, they are probably dissatisfied. There's nothing I can do but say some nice things to appease them."
"Oh..." Liuli shrank her neck. Realizing she had done something wrong, she obediently lowered her head, picked up a piece of black iron stone, and examined it carefully. She said sweetly, "I understand. You can go now, Li Molin. Leave the rest to me!"
"Good boy." Li Molin chuckled and turned to walk towards the place where Yu Ke and the other twenty-odd people were resting.
Li Molin sat down next to Yu Ke, and the twenty-odd people immediately spoke up, greeting him in a chaotic manner.
Li Molin nodded lightly and said, "You've rested enough for so long. Go to work in the mine. Now that the righteous people have discovered this mine, the most urgent task is to mine more Xuan Iron as quickly as possible."
"Yes." Apart from Yu Ke, the other twenty-odd people responded in unison and got up to enter the mine.
Li Molin sat side by side with Yu Ke. He turned to look at Yu Ke and asked in a low voice, "Did you catch up with that monk just now?"
Yu Ke replied in a low voice, "We caught up with him, but just as we were besieging him, several righteous people happened to pass by. We were outnumbered and failed to kill the monk; instead, several of our men were killed by them. Young Master, we are incompetent."
Li Molin shook his head and said calmly, "It's not your fault. Yu Ke, send someone to the clan to bring more people over. Since that monk has escaped, righteous people will definitely come to attack. This black iron mine is extremely important, and we must defend it no matter what."
"Yes." Yu Ke nodded in agreement and said, "I will take care of it right away."
Yu Ke got up and left in a hurry. Li Molin then stood up, walked back to sit opposite Liu Li, and resumed his busy work.
Liuli looked up at him and asked cautiously, "Are you done talking? That was fast."
Li Molin glanced at her with amusement and said gently, "Are you done?"
"Oh." Liuli's eyes darted around mischievously, secretly glancing at Li Molin's expression, looking like a thief.
Li Molin caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye and found it extremely amusing.
--
Two days passed peacefully, during which demons arrived at the Xuan Iron Mine and joined in the mining. Even for the demons, who used magic to power their weapons, mining Xuan Iron was extremely difficult, so the mining process was very slow.
In just two days, over a thousand demons left the Northern Demon Realm and arrived at the mine. Originally, fearing that the large number would attract the attention of the righteous path, the demons only sent a hundred or so demons to secretly mine the black iron. Now that so many people had suddenly appeared, the mountain range gradually became noisy.
On the morning of the third day, more than a thousand disciples from both the righteous and evil factions arrived here, and Liuli finally understood why so many demons from the demon race had come here.
At this moment, with the arrival of the righteous disciples, all the demons who were busy in the mine came out of the cave and gathered on the open ground at the foot of the mountain, discussing among themselves and looking up at the streaks of light flying rapidly in the sky.
Holding Ahua and Langyuan in her arms, Liuli stood behind Li Molin and the other two. She glanced at the groups of demons around her, then at the righteous youths appearing in the fading light in the sky. A growing anxiety filled her heart. A great war between good and demons was about to erupt, and she was extremely anxious yet powerless to stop it. She knew that if she hadn't released Shichan several days ago, this great war wouldn't have happened. But if she hadn't released Shichan, he would surely have perished—neither outcome was what she wanted.
Liuli frowned deeply. She looked down at Ahua, her voice worried, and whispered, "What should we do, Ahua?"
"Meow." Ahua looked up and gently kissed Liuli's little face. She shook her head helplessly, her face full of resignation.
As one righteous youth after another appeared in the sky, Li Molin's face was ashen. He said to Ji Jue beside him, "Ji Jue, take a few people to protect Liuli."
Ji Jue nodded and replied, "Yes."
Upon hearing Li Molin's words, Liuli felt anxious and stepped forward to grab Li Molin's arm, frowning as she said, "Li Molin, can we not fight?"
Li Molin turned to look at her, his expression gentle, and shook his head with a sigh: "If I say we won't fight, will these people from both the Buddhist and Taoist sides agree?"
Knowing that there was no way to turn the tide of the battle, Liuli frowned and said helplessly, "Alright, then be careful."
Unwilling to witness the impending brutal battle, she carried Ah Hua and hid in the dark mine with Ji Jue and the others.
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