That feeling of being watched grew stronger, sending shivers down my spine.

I felt uneasy.

Subconsciously, I glanced back.

Nothing there. I was just imagining things.

I don't know why, but I suddenly felt relieved. I wiped my face with a towel and looked up, unconsciously seeing the reflection in the mirror. The painting had been hung on the wall opposite the mirror at some point, and the painting was now completely blank.

This was getting eerie. I looked it over and over, but the painting remained blank.

I was too busy and muddleheaded. The boss called again and asked me to come back. Although I felt something was wrong, the work issues were too pressing. I put the painting back where it was and rushed off to work. As I worked, I gradually forgot about it. When I fell asleep at home, I felt a coldness on my forehead.

I groggily opened my eyes and saw something blowing air towards me, or maybe inhaling.

My body grew colder, and I couldn't fully wake up.

This went on for days. On the last day, it wasn't as cold anymore. I could barely open my eyes and saw a 'person' as tall as the house blowing air at me. I saw my mom standing in front of this person, blocking him for me, but the 'person' was too tall, and my mom couldn't block him completely.

My heart ached, and I finally woke up.

After waking up, I felt something pressing on my chest, making it hard to breathe.

I turned my head.

The woman in the painting was painting on the wall by the window, wearing a red dress, her eyes looking at me.

Only three steps away from me.

Then, she seemed to smile.

………………

An Shengming's voice trembled slightly.

Clearly, this incident had left a deep shadow in his heart. Wei Yuan sketched a calming talisman with his finger to soothe An Shengming's emotions. In his mind, he was thinking about what An Shengming had encountered. An antique, and a situation similar to an evil spirit, reminded him of the mirror spirit from before.

Both involved antiques, both nurtured evil spirits, and both affected those who had come into contact with the evil spirit.

Could there be a connection between the two?

Wei Yuan pondered for a moment and asked, "Forgive my intrusion, but your mother, she..."

An Shengming said, "My mom is fine, just old and a bit weak, often sick."

"This time..."

He couldn't go on. Thinking of his mother blocking that evil thing for him, his nose stung, and he wiped the corner of his eye, unable to speak.

He was the most ordinary and common type of person in Shenzhou, filial to his parents, good to his children, but somewhat neglectful of himself. If this hadn't involved his mother, he would probably have endured it and carried on until he really couldn't bear it anymore.

An Shengming composed himself and pleaded in a low voice:

"Curator, can you take this thing here?"

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "Yes, I can."

After a pause, he asked, "Is that painting still on the wall now?"

An Shengming shook his head and quickly replied:

"No, it has returned to the painting."

Wei Yuan nodded. If An Shengming's description was accurate, this should be an evil spirit. Even if it wasn't related to the previous mirror spirit incident, it could bring in a reward of merit, which was more than enough for him. Mountain Lord should have received merit, but because his divinity was extracted, the merit was gone.

Wei Yuan now understood a little bit about the principle of the Crouching Tiger waist badge.

Merit was actually like some kind of energy. Many functions of the Crouching Tiger Token required this energy to support them, and the power consumed by the process of extracting divinity and turning it into a seal was paid for by the merit represented by Mountain Lord himself.

This also led to Wei Yuan now having only a measly ten merits left. Compared with those ancient treasures worth thousands, it was a drop in the bucket. At this time, even the simplest evil spirit shone with the light of merit in Wei Yuan's eyes.

He thought for a while and said, "Mr. An, please sit here for a moment. I'll go find a helper."

An Shengming still had a trace of joy on his face and nodded.

Wei Yuan walked out of the museum, raised his hand, and tossed three copper coins, performing a golden coin divination to confirm that An Shengming was not lying and that there was indeed a remnant of evil spirit aura on his body. Then, he put the three copper coins away and walked towards the flower shop across the street.

He was injured and couldn't exert his full strength.

The materials for the Heavenly Master's Mansion jade talisman hadn't been delivered yet, and he couldn't use the divine seal to create an edict to borrow power.

To prevent things from going wrong, it was better to go with Jue.

He politely knocked on the door and waited for Jue to respond before pushing the door open and walking in.

He saw that the girl's dress today was more boyish, with a mixture of androgynous beauty and heroic spirit. She looked up, and Wei Yuan's voice paused slightly. He shifted his gaze and briefly explained what An Shengming had encountered. Before he could say that his injuries hadn't healed yet and that he hoped Jue could go with him, the girl seemed to understand and raised her hand to signal him to stop, smiling:

"I understand, you want me to be your assistant, right?"

"Assistant?"

The girl replied, "Yes, like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson."

There was a sense of eagerness in her eyes. Then, she paused, looked at Wei Yuan, and asked:

"Or do you prefer a combination like Detective Dee and Li Yuanfang?"

Wei Yuan: "…………"

I know that the Celestial Maiden learns very quickly, but isn't this acceptance speed too fast? The corner of Wei Yuan's mouth twitched, and he felt that he needed to worry that such a fast acceptance speed might be affected by the various complex information of modern times…

No, Jue is at least a Celestial Maiden, and she has learned all kinds of knowledge from ancient times to the present, so there is no need to worry about this.

Wei Yuan's thoughts turned. He saw that the girl seemed very interested and had summoned a detective hat and a pair of large horn-rimmed glasses. Combined with her deep khaki overalls and white shirt today, she looked very much like a detective. Wei Yuan knew that the Celestial Maiden was taking into account his possible 'self-esteem' and didn't let him say that he wanted her to help protect him. Instead, she saw his needs and found another reason to go with him.

Wei Yuan sighed in his heart, imitated a gentleman of the misty capital, reached out and stroked his chest, bowed slightly, and joked:

"I have to rely on you to protect me today."

"So, my dear Miss Watson, can we set off?"

"The client is still waiting for us."

The Celestial Maiden was slightly stunned, then clenched her fist against her lips, coughed lightly, and replied in a serious manner:

"Of course, Detective Holmes Yuan."

Then she added, "Also, this is common sense, my friend."

"Common sense?"

"Yes, common sense about how to judge that a partner is ready."

Is she addicted to acting?

Wei Yuan was speechless. Looking at the Celestial Maiden who was seriously immersed in the role, he felt relaxed for some reason, suppressed the corners of his mouth from turning up, made himself look formal, pointed outside, and walked out with the Celestial Maiden Jue. He saw An Shengming, who was still a little nervous, over there. When An Shengming saw that the helper Wei Yuan had found was actually a girl with fair and slender wrists and beautiful eyes, he was stunned and subconsciously looked at Wei Yuan, his eyes suspicious.

Wei Yuan explained: "This is my partner. With her here, I'm more confident."

"It can be said to be foolproof."

His voice paused slightly, and then he realized that he seemed to have said that eating soft rice so freshly and refined. He shook his head and laughed at himself. An Shengming had driven here today. Wei Yuan and Jue sat in the back seat, silent all the way. After arriving at the place, An Shengming said in a low voice: "My parents are here today too."

"My dad seems a little unhappy because I moved his painting."

Wei Yuan nodded to show that he understood. When getting out of the car, he took out the three copper coins and performed another golden coin divination. He simply analyzed the divination image and was slightly stunned. The divination image showed that the evil spirit was gone, or to be more specific, the evil spirit seemed to have been eliminated.

Only a little bit of aura remained here.

Wei Yuan pondered for a while, feeling that although the evil spirit had disappeared, he still had to go in and see the situation for safety's sake. So, he followed and walked into the entrance, seeing An Shengming take out the key to open the door. The decoration in the house was relatively old-fashioned and ordinary. On the sofa sat a man with gray hair, and also……

There was also a young woman wearing red clothes, with bright red eye corners.

Her appearance was soft and delicate, as if she had walked out of a painting.

Wei Yuan saw An Shengming go forward to greet her, said Dad to the old man, and then turned to the young woman in old-fashioned red clothes sitting on the sofa, and then, naturally said:

"Mom."

ps: Today's first update... Thank you Chen Zhou for the 10,000 reward~ Thank you·

It seems that this chapter's comments section has been restored, but those before zero o'clock yesterday have not been released yet, it should be fine in a day or two~