ISSTH – Interlude

Past the Milky Way Ocean, on the border of the Eastern Lands, amidst the surging waves, floated a gourd bottle. It followed the waves, drifting along.

It had crossed the ocean to the Great Tang, and now spun up onto the seashore.

The wind blew and the sun shone. Months passed. A fisherman preparing to begin his morning work walk past the gourd bottle. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, lowering his head to look at the bottle in the sand of the beach.

“What’s this?” he said under his breath, surprised. He was just about to stoop down to pick it up, when suddenly the area around him grew dark. Off in the distance, the young man approached, framed by the rising sun. He wore a long scholar’s gown, and emanated an archaic air. He walked up silently, approaching the fisherman. He reached down and picked up the bottle.

“Sir, this belongs to me,” said the young man, his voice soft. He walked off toward the horizon, carrying the gourd bottle with him. Eventually, he opened the bottle and removed the contents. He had placed this small slip of paper inside years ago.

It was yellowed now, and the writing on its surface was a bit blurry. However, the words were still legible.

“Dear preeminent Sects of the Great Tang, there is still time… To whomever finds this gourd… I am Meng Hao, standing atop Mount Daqing. I implore you, please donate to the I Shall Seal the Heavens translation!”

——-

Er Gen often includes comments at the end of the chapter, or random interludes like this, but usually they aren’t interesting or relevant so I don’t translate them. This one caught my eye, though, and I just had to translate it. In the original, Er Gen asks for monthly vote tickets. I figured I would adjust the last sentence a teeny bit. Heh heh.