Chapter 152: To be healthy and live longer
Chen Jue stayed in Wudang for five days and gained a lot. He exchanged contact information with Taoist Master Huang Shizhen and got the phone number of Uncle Luo whom he mentioned. Chen Jue once again embarked on a hiking journey.
After starting from Wudang Mountain, we headed northwest, hiking more than 100 kilometers every day, passing through several towns, experiencing the local customs and culture, and finally arrived at the Huashan Scenic Area in Huayin City on the fourth day.
After finding a hotel in the city to stay in and washing off the dust on his body, Chen Jue went shopping and bought a pair of shoes that fit him.
Starting from Beidu, Chen Jue has traveled nearly 2,000 kilometers. The heels of the pair of hiking boots he bought in Gongshan have been completely worn out.
On the contrary, the sportswear and jackets I brought are still as good as new. After all, I didn't go into the mountains or forests, but only walked around towns. Apart from the wear and tear of the shoes, there was no other damage.
He found a boutique outdoor store and bought a pair of boots that fit him, spending three thousand yuan. Then Chen Jue found an authentic Ma Shi restaurant on the street to try some.
Mashicai gets its name because the staple noodles in it look like thick hemp ropes. Many ingredients are added to it, combining meat and vegetables. It smells fragrant and tastes sour, spicy and delicious, which is quite unique.
However, Chen Jue had been hiking for several days and had consumed a lot of physical energy. Plus, he was a bit of a foodie, so after trying the spicy dishes recommended online, he bought two roujiamo on the roadside.
This place is not far from Xidu, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties. The roujiamo here is very authentic, much better than what Chen Jue had in Beidu.
After returning to the hotel and resting for a night, Chen Jue got up early the next day, ate a bowl of knife-cut noodles, and then slowly walked to the Huashan Scenic Area.
I spent 160 yuan to buy a ticket and followed the endless stream of tourists into the scenic area. I didn't take the sightseeing cable car, but started a hiking trip.
Huashan was formerly known as "Xiyue" and is as famous as Mount Tai, the Eastern Peak. It is one of the Five Great Mountains and has been known as "the most dangerous mountain in the world" since ancient times.
This is also the place where the Quanzhen Sect's Taoist tradition is passed down. Hao Datong, one of the seven direct disciples of founder Wang Chongyang, once preached here.
Hao Datong, whose courtesy name is Taigu and whose nickname is Guangning Zhenren, had a wonderful experience of sitting under a stone bridge for six years in silence before he understood the Chongyang secret language. He was not affected by hunger or thirst, and was not moved by the cold or heat, nor by the flooding river. On the last night, he suddenly realized that water and fire were reversed, and yin and yang were in harmony. He succeeded in the Nine-Turn Elixir and then he started to preach and founded the Huashan Taoist school.
According to Chen Jue's guess, this historical Guangning Zhenren should have practiced Taoist Qi-nourishing Kung Fu similar to Buddhist meditation, and also obtained the true meaning of "living dead" like his master Wang Chongyang. It's just that Master Chongyang was more talented and achieved success in three years of practice, while this Guangning Zhenren took a full six years.
In addition, Huashan also has the Taoist tradition left by another Taoist master, that is Chen Tuan, who is said to have slept for 800 years.
…
While climbing up the mountain steps, Chen Jue listened to the tour guide's introduction through the microphone and admired the strange and dangerous scenery nearby. When passing halfway up the mountain, he bought a local specialty steamed bun to fill his stomach.
It was not until we climbed to a high place and started walking along the rock wall, stepping on the plank road and hanging on the safety rope that we finally experienced what "the most dangerous mountain in the world" meant.
Looking back, there was a bottomless abyss under my feet and the cliffs were as if cut by a straight knife. The plank roads I walked on were only wide enough for one person to pass through, and walking on them felt like walking on clouds.
Some timid tourists climbed up here and were so scared that their legs became weak and they trembled and screamed.
Chen Jue just smiled when he saw it, and didn't comment. After all, ordinary people don't have the calm and composed temperament like he does now.
After passing the Nantian plank road and arriving at Songhui Peak, Chen Jue stopped and, like many tourists, looked up at the protruding rock that looked like the eaves of an old rural house.
There are three big characters "Quanzhen Rock" engraved on the bottom of the rock, which is very eye-catching from a distance.
The tour guide at the side said in a very conscientious manner: "This Quanzhen Rock is one of the ten mysteries of Huashan. The place where the words are carved is suspended inwards. There is no place to put your feet, no matter up, down, left or right. There is a deep abyss below. Even scientists can't explain how the words were carved."
The tourists who came with the tour group were stunned by what they heard and were also wondering how the words were carved in such a dangerous place. After all, there were no lifting machines like the ones we have today in ancient times.
However, Chen Jue looked at the rock walls with slightly concave holes and made a rough guess.
It is estimated that the three big characters of Quanzhen Rock were carved by an immortal who, like him, had practiced powerful finger skills and climbed up to the top.
In addition, there is another way, that is to hang down from the top with a rope, or carry bamboo up the mountain to build an old-fashioned scaffolding. Anyway, the ancients opened up mountain roads to practice in such a dangerous place, so it should not be a problem to carve a suspended word.
However, Chen Jue did not say what he was thinking. An old man who was reading fortunes and telling horoscopes and sitting next to a mountaintop store in the distance suddenly interrupted the tour guide and said, "You tour guides are just talking nonsense. It's just three words. How else can they be carved? Of course they were carved by humans!"
"Could it be that aliens used laser guns to carve it there?"
Hearing the old man's ridicule, the tour group burst into laughter.
Chen Jue also looked at this funny old man out of curiosity. He saw that he was dressed casually , had a round face, was short, had a ruddy complexion, short hair that was half black and half white, and bright eyes. Although there were many wrinkles on his face, he did not look like an old man at all. Instead, he looked like a middle-aged man in his fifties.
As for the fortune-telling banner hanging next to him, it was embroidered with four large characters "Huashan Divination". His stall was right next to a small food shop, giving him the air of a folk "expert" who reads fortunes next to the bus station.
It’s just that this “expert” seemed a bit disrespectful, and his two small eyes kept glancing at those hot female tourists.
After his teasing, several tourists were attracted and asked him to tell their fortunes.
In particular, when a female tourist with a slightly outstanding appearance sat down in front of the stall, the old man immediately became excited. While touching the other's delicate hand, he muttered: "Female donor, your palm... is so white and tender... Ah! It's really good. You have a successful career and study, a happy marriage, and a good husband. It's just that you don't have much luck with children. You need to take care of your body."
"Treat your body?"
"Master, aren't you a fortune teller? How come you also know Chinese medicine?" The female tourist rolled her eyes at him in annoyance. She always felt that this lecherous old man was a little unreliable, and she regretted listening to her husband sit down and ask him to tell her fortune.
"I am an old Taoist who has studied the heavens and the earth. I am proficient in divination, fortune-telling, qi-reading, physiognomy, and medical theory. It will be no problem for me to examine the female donor."
"Your eye sockets are dark and your blood is weak. I can tell from one glance that you stay up late every day! Don't you young people often say that you stay up late too much? Remember to soak the wolfberries in the thermos?"
"I have Eight Treasure Tea, a local specialty. It is much better to drink it than simply brewing it with wolfberries. Would you like to buy a few boxes to take back?" The old man said as he took out a box of beautifully packaged specialty from under the fortune-telling stall to promote it.
The female tourist immediately looked down upon such an action. She used her mobile phone to scan a code and paid 68 yuan for the fortune-telling. Then the pretty female tourist hurried back to the tour group and complained to her husband who was still laughing.
Of course, there were also some young male tourists who thought the old man was eloquent and interesting, so they followed suit and sat at the fortune-telling stall to ask for divination and fortune-telling.
One of the young tourists, who was a bit talkative, even started a conversation with the old man: "Master, how old are you this year?"
"I am eighty-six years old this year. What? I come here to read your fortune, and yet you are asking about my household registration booklet?" The old man winked at the other party.
"No! I just think you look so young, Master! You don't look like you're 86 at all, but more like you're in your 50s."
"You maintain such good health, do you have any secrets to stay in good health?" the young male tourist asked curiously, obviously not expecting that the old man was so old.
“There must be a secret to good health!”
"I, an old Taoist priest, have summarized my life's experiences in just a few words: If you want to be healthy and live a long life, you should not smoke, drink, eat fatty meat, and make more friends with the opposite sex. Of course, you should also drink more of this Eight Treasure Tea." As he spoke, the old man took out a transparent thermos cup from under the stall, unscrewed the lid, slowly sipped a few sips of the steaming tea, and then lit a cigarette and started puffing smoke.
"Master, is this Eight Treasure Tea really that effective? Give me a box!" The young tourist was probably inexperienced and became itchy after being teased by the fortune-teller.
"You're quite sensible, young man! A box is only 88 yuan. How many boxes do you want?" The old man said with a smile, looking at the other party.
"88 yuan? It's not expensive. Give me three boxes. I'll take them back for my grandparents to try." The young tourist was so filial that he asked for three boxes from the fortune-teller.
I just took a photo with my phone and searched online, only to find out that it was only sold for 68 yuan per box, and it was the same model with free shipping. I cried out that I had been cheated and was about to go back to argue with the old man.
The fortune-teller said something that made the young tourist lose his temper: "If it's sold online for 68 yuan with free shipping, that's because there is express logistics. I carry so many boxes up the mountain, shouldn't I charge you some labor fee? 20 yuan per box is not much."
"Young man, you are destined to be rich, so you need to be generous. Don't be like those young people on the Internet who don't even blink when they go out to eat or dance, but have to borrow accounts from others just to watch a video."
After being educated by the old man, the young tourist suddenly felt that it made sense, and returned to the tour group dejectedly with three boxes of Eight Treasure Tea.
As for Chen Jue, he just watched the fortune-teller perform the whole time. When most of the tourists had left, Chen Jue sat down in front of the fortune-telling stall, stretched out his hand and placed it on the table and asked, "Master, can you tell my fortune for me too?"
