After spending five rewarding days in Wudang, Chen Jue exchanged contact details with Taoist Huang Shizhen and obtained the phone number of the Uncle-Master Luo he had mentioned. Then Chen Jue set off on his walking journey once again.
Leaving Mount Wudang, he headed northwest, walking more than a hundred kilometers a day. He passed through several towns, experiencing the local customs and ways of life, and finally reached the Mount Hua Scenic Area in Huayin City on the fourth day.
He found a hotel in the city and washed off the dust, then went shopping for a pair of shoes that fit.
Since leaving Beidu to measure the land with his feet, Chen Jue had traveled nearly two thousand kilometers. The heels of the hiking boots he had bought in Gongshan had been worn completely flat.
The sportswear and outdoor jacket he had brought, on the other hand, still looked as good as new. After all, he had not been trekking through mountains and forests, but following routes through towns. Apart from wearing out his shoes, he had suffered no other wear and tear.
He found a premium outdoor store and bought another pair of well-fitting boots for three thousand yuan, then stopped at a street-side eatery to try some authentic mashi.
Mashi took its name from its staple noodles, which looked like coarse hemp ropes. With plenty of other ingredients added, both meat and vegetables, it smelled wonderfully fragrant and tasted tangy and tingling, with a distinctive flavor of its own.
But Chen Jue had been burning plenty of energy walking day after day, and he was something of a foodie himself. After trying the mashi recommended online, he bought two roujiamo from a roadside stall.
They were not far from Xidu, the ancient capital of six dynasties,