" Sal Terrae. "
Paimon murmured the name of the place, her gaze drifting towards the vast ruins stretching before them.
She finally understood the identity of the master of these ruins.
And Lin Mo's narration was not yet over.
Walking slowly, Lin Mo lifted his eyes to survey the expansive ruins, a faint, wistful sigh escaping his lips.
" Havria... she was not a powerful Archon. "
" On the contrary, as an Archon, she was too accommodating, too gentle. She stood no chance of ascending to become one of The Seven... a loser.
"
" Even the sacred relics she poured her divine power into creating, the Salt Gourd and the Salt Spoon, were made solely for the livelihood and prosperity of her people... "
" During the long, arduous years of the Archon War... "
" Havria chose to retreat from conflict to protect her people. "
" This gentle Archon believed that as long as she yielded before war arrived, the people she deeply loved would not perish in the fighting. "
" But... in the brutal reality of war, yielding knows no end. "
" Constant retreat caused her to gradually lose all her territory. "
" To the point where... in the end, she didn't even have a single blade left to protect her people. "
As Lin Mo spoke, the group gradually ventured deeper into the heart of the ruins.
Finally, they arrived at a spacious chamber.
Within the room stood a raised platform.
" What's that thing on the platform? "
Paimon blinked her large eyes, brimming with curiosity.
Yae Miko also stepped forward curiously. After a careful observation, she confirmed, " I can sense an aura of divine power emanating from it...
"
Lin Mo spoke calmly, " This is one of the sacred relics Havria created for her people by pouring out her power all those years ago. "
" A sacred relic? "
Paimon was even more puzzled. " A jar half-filled with salt?
Why is that a sacred relic? "
" Because... this Salt Gourd," Lin Mo gazed at the jar, his voice even, "though it is only half-full, it will always remain half-full.
In other words... its contents are inexhaustible. It represents the 'Livelihood' aspect of salt. "
" So even if you keep pouring salt out of it... the salt inside won't decrease? "
Yae Miko furrowed her brow slightly, seeking confirmation.
" Precisely. "
Lin Mo nodded.
" Wow! It can produce endless salt...
"
Paimon's eyes shone with amazement. " It seems the authority of the Salt Archon was quite powerful after all~"
Lin Mo looked at this jar carrying memories of millennia.
He couldn't help but think of those bygone years.
And he couldn't help but sigh:
" Back then... she nurtured many people... "
Perhaps the memories brought a pang of sorrow to Lin Mo's heart.
So his gaze did not linger long on the Salt Gourd.
Instead, he led the group towards the next chamber.
" Hey! There's another platform here too~"
Paimon pointed in surprise at the raised platform in the room. " That thing on the platform... is it a ruler?
Was it also a creation of Havria from back then~"
" Yes, that's correct. "
Lin Mo nodded quietly.
" It is called the Salt Spoon. Once inserted into the ground, the soil it covers will become saturated with salt, as if flooded.
"
" The deeper it goes, the more salt grains appear, representing the 'Harvest' aspect of salt. "
" To create such powerful sacred relics using her authority... "
Yae Miko spoke, a note of curiosity entering her voice. " Havria's power back then... must have been nearly depleted, right?
"
Lin Mo did not answer.
He continued walking towards the next room.
Inside the chamber, a broken sword rested upon a high platform.
" This broken sword... was it Havria's weapon? "
Paimon asked curiously. " Did she exhaust her power creating the sacred relics, making her unable to resist the invading Archon, and thus die in the war?
"
" No... "
Lin Mo shook his head. " This sword is not Havria's relic, but rather... the weapon that killed her.
"
" Hmm? "
Yae Miko's eyes held a trace of doubt.
Lin Mo gazed into the distance, towards the final chamber of the ruins, and explained calmly, " The answer lies behind that last door. "
Yae Miko and Paimon exchanged a glance.
They nodded to each other.
Holding their questions within, they followed Lin Mo to the final room.
" This is... "
Yae Miko's expression shifted slightly.
This room contained several statues of people, frozen in postures of panic, kneeling, or prostrating in worship.
They were not just statues.
The entire room was covered with traces of salt, spreading outward from the center.
And at that moment,
Lin Mo began to speak slowly.
" This is the place where Havria's form dissipated back then. "
" The final scene was frozen here. "
" What... what terrible thing happened here back then... "
Paimon's face was full of fear.
It seemed Havria had turned these people into salt crystal statues.
But according to Lin Mo's earlier narration,
how could Havria, an Archon who so loved her people, do such a thing?
As Paimon and Yae Miko's confusion lingered,
Lin Mo recounted the events of the past to them in detail:
" The story continues like this... "
" Among her people, someone finally realized... "
" This gentle, benevolent Archon could not protect anyone in the brutal war. "
" The Archon War was merciless... "
" Rather than letting her endure the erosion after defeat, it would be better... "
" To grant her a relatively gentle... release... "
As Lin Mo spoke,
Paimon and Yae Miko could roughly picture the scene in their minds.
The beloved people took up that long sword and plunged it into the body of the Salt Archon.
But one thing still puzzled Paimon.
She asked, full of doubt, " But then, what's the deal with these statues? "
Lin Mo looked at the fine salt on the ground and said quietly,
" No matter how weak an Archon might be... "
" The power released at the moment of their dissipation is not something a mortal body can withstand. "
" The people who could not escape the ruins... all became what you see now... statues... "
" The people who survived this disaster went to Liyue to seek the protection of Rex Lapis. "
" Their descendants, fearing the residual divine power Havria left behind, fearing the eternal curse she might have placed upon her people... "
" Thus, they risked returning here. "
" They broke the sword, and enshrined the Salt Gourd and Salt Spoon here, hoping to appease the wrath they believed Havria had left behind. "
At this point, a trace of sorrow appeared in Lin Mo's eyes: " Actually... they were overthinking it. "
" This Archon, who never resisted until the very end... "
" How could she hold resentment towards the people she so cherished? "
Listening to Lin Mo recount this past event,
a touch of melancholy also surfaced in the eyes of Yae Miko and Paimon.
A gentle Archon who gave her all, wholeheartedly, for her people.
In the end...
She died by the hands of her own people, and until the last moment... she offered no resistance.
Perhaps Havria, until her dying breath, could not understand.
Why would the people she gave up everything to protect raise their blades against her?
And yet, how could her people have known?
If she had not been willing to die, how could mortals possibly kill a god?
At that moment, Lin Mo crouched down, gently stroking the crystalline fine salt on the ground, just as... he had once gently stroked her hair long ago.
" Both Archons of Liyue... both protecting their own people. "
" Morax and Guizhong, even to this day, are still revered and loved by their people. "
" I do not wish for the gentle Havria to forever bear the stigma of weakness and incompetence, submerged in the long river of history. "
" If gentleness and softness were a sin in the age of war... "
" Rather than letting her endure the torment after defeat, death might have been a form of release for her. "
As he spoke, the hand Lin Mo used to stroke the fine salt began to tremble slightly. " Now...
I also wish she could have lived in this gentle era... "
Paimon clenched her small fist tightly, declaring with determination, " Foreign Envoy, Paimon knows what we should do now! "
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T/N:
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