The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#145 - Elderly registrar

Waking up, Lu Jing's spirit and stamina were fully restored.

The only downside was that his inner strength had also recovered along with them.

However, Lu Jing was already accustomed to this kind of thing. He washed his face and practiced the legwork of the Wind and Cloud Change in the courtyard for a while.

After Nada made breakfast and they had eaten their fill, they were caught in a new round of sandstorm.

Under the admiring gaze of the female shopkeeper, Lu Jing resolutely walked out the door carrying his Zen staff.

Afterward… he secretly took in another batch of goods.

This time, having experience, Lu Jing took down ten armored warriors in one go, while his own inner strength was only depleted by two-thirds.

And after returning, without much rest, he pulled Nada to visit the registrar at a gallop.

Ayub had been the registrar of Marasal Khan since he was twenty-seven years old. He was now almost seventy, having worked in this position for more than forty years, diligently and deeply loved by the residents of the city.

But he was, after all, old. His legs and feet were no longer as nimble as they were in his youth, and most importantly, his mind was not as sharp. So, although he was still the registrar of Marasal Khan, in reality, most of the work was now being undertaken by his two assistants.

After Lu Jing and Nada arrived at Ayub's residence, they deliberately lingered outside the door for a while, waiting until the sun was high in the sky before knocking.

As a result, the registrar had only just put on his clothes with the help of his third wife.

Hearing that Marasal Khan's current hero had come, Ayub's family quickly opened the door and welcomed the two in.

After a while, Ayub also came out accompanied by his wife.

However, his steps were very unsteady, the skin all over his body was wrinkled like orange peel and covered with age spots, full of senility, and his eyes were somewhat dull.

After sitting down and listening to his family introduce Lu Jing and Nada, he just nodded blankly, as if he didn't know what these two names meant at all.

And after sitting for a while, a trace of saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth. His wife quickly wiped away the saliva with a handkerchief.

Seeing the registrar in such an old and frail state, Nada's heart sank, but she still opened her mouth with a try-it-and-see mentality.

"Lord Ayub, we know that you are extremely familiar with every household in the city, so we want to inquire about a surname."

As a result, Ayub did not react in any way when he heard this.

Nada didn't know if there was any need for her to continue speaking. At this moment, she heard the registrar's wife say, "I'm sorry, Ayub is not in good health and now has difficulty communicating with people."

"When did he start being like this?" Lu Jing asked.

"About seven months ago. In fact, his body has always been very strong compared to his peers. He usually exercises regularly, but seven months ago, our family was sitting together eating dinner normally. Ayub ate very quickly, but after he put down his knife and fork, he suddenly fainted on the table for some reason."

"When he woke up again, he became like this. Now even eating requires someone to serve him," the registrar's wife sighed.

Listening to her description, Ayub seemed to have suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage. It was already a blessing to survive. The current motor and cognitive impairments were also within the scope of several sequelae of cerebral hemorrhage.

The old registrar's illness occurred seven months ago, which didn't seem to have anything to do with the disaster currently happening in Marasal Khan.

Finally, Ayub's wife added, "Although Ayub is still the registrar, the work of household registration management has actually been done by his two assistants for three years. If you have any questions, asking them is the same."

"When you came in, I already asked someone to call them here."

"Thank you," Nada said.

Soon after, two young men walked in from outside, one named Kaf and the other named Badres. As soon as they entered the door, they saluted the registrar and his wife.

Then they expressed their respect to Lu Jing, saying that they were willing to fully cooperate with the two's investigation, but when Nada told them the ancient surname that Lu Jing had found on the murals, both of them frowned.

After thinking hard for a while, they didn't immediately deny it, but cautiously said that they needed to check again to confirm. Then the two went to the room on the second floor where the household registrations were stored.

Nada also went up with them. The three stayed inside for a full hour, but when they came downstairs, Nada's face was very disappointed.

She said to Lu Jing, "We searched through all the household registration files in the city and couldn't find anyone with that surname."

"Are there any missing or altered household registrations?" Lu Jing put down the candied fruit in his hand and asked.

"No," Nada shook her head.

"Are there any people who once used this surname and then changed it?"

"No, there aren't."

"So the ancient family behind this surname has completely disappeared into history?"

Similar things were actually not surprising.

After all, there are very few things in this world that are eternal. Nobles are indeed more likely to continue their families than commoners, but there are still many surnames that were once prominent that have lost their inheritance, not to mention a surname that has already declined.

However, Lu Jing still wanted to make one last attempt.

He asked Nada to ask the registrar's wife if they could spend a short time alone with the registrar. The registrar's wife hesitated obviously when she heard this.

"It's hard to say, I can only try," Lu Jing said truthfully.

Cerebral hemorrhage, as the name suggests, is the rupture and bleeding of blood vessels in the brain.

In Lu Jing's previous life, the sequelae of cerebral hemorrhage were also difficult to completely cure, let alone in this era, with no related medical equipment or suitable drugs on hand.

So all Lu Jing could do was place one hand on the registrar's back and infuse his true energy into the latter's meridians, slowly reaching his brain.

Then he tried to repair his fragile meridians and dissolve a small portion of the blood stasis.

Lu Jing was very careful, because he could feel that Ayub's own vitality was already low, and his meridians had also aged and atrophied, becoming riddled with holes.

So Lu Jing could only infuse his true energy little by little, for fear of accidentally shattering the old man's meridians.

This is also why very few people in the martial arts world are willing to transmit their power, because it is an extremely dangerous thing. Otherwise, those top sects wouldn't have to bother cultivating the next generation of young disciples. The sect leader or senior uncle would just step up and infuse them, one after another.