After Zhongli nodded in agreement, Lora turned back to Wanyan and continued, "Miss Wanyan, is it? I won't concern myself with your background. Are you prepared to face the true history?"
"The true… history?"
Wanyan retreated until her back pressed against the railing, her brows tightly furrowed as she stared at Lora and Zhongli.
"I once dispatched my subordinates to gather intelligence across the entirety of Teyvat," Lora said calmly.
"As for this particular chapter of history, aside from the Geo Archon who personally witnessed it, no one understands it better than I do."
She raised her hand, and a water-blue glow bloomed in her palm, flowing and shifting like living water.
Then, without warning, Lora asked, "Miss Wanyan—have you ever flown?"
"Huh?"
Wanyan froze. Before she could even process the question, the water-blue light enveloped them all, condensing into a pillar of radiance that shot straight into the sky, streaking toward the Sal Terrae.
Against the night sky, the blue light cut through the darkness like a blade, cleaving it in two.
In the blink of an eye, the light descended at the entrance to the Sal Terrae, north of Liyue Harbor.
Wanyan stared at her surroundings in stunned silence, her mind still reeling. Only when her gaze fell upon the seal at the entrance did she snap back to reality.
She looked at Lora in disbelief. "You… who are you, really?"
"Oh, no one special," Lora said, waving her hand. "Just this one—Purifying Water Judgement Adeptus."
"You're an adeptus!" Wanyan's pupils shrank.
Lora hummed softly.
"I am."
Wanyan let out a cold laugh. "No wonder. If you're an adeptus, of course you'd side with Morax."
"When someone has already passed judgment in their own heart, anything others say will sound like nothing more than excuses," Lora said evenly.
"You've already decided that Rex Lapis assassinated Havria. No matter how much we explain, it would be meaningless."
She looked directly at Wanyan. "That's why you must see the truth of history with your own eyes."
Lora stepped up to the seal, raised her hand, and spread her fingers.
Water-blue motes spilled from her palm like fluttering fireflies, sinking into the barrier.
Cracks slowly spread across the seal, and under their gaze, it shattered in an instant.
"Come," Lora said, turning inward. "I'll show you the real history."
She led Rhodeia straight into the Sal Terrae.
Wanyan hesitated, unable to move.
Zhongli sighed quietly. "Miss Wanyan, if you wish to know the truth of the past, then go in. All your doubts will be answered within."
With that, he followed after them.
Wanyan stood in silence for a moment longer, then finally stepped inside as well.
Within the Sal Terrae, Lora glanced back at her and smiled. "I thought you might not dare to come in."
"Hmph! What's there to be afraid of?" Wanyan retorted, forcing herself to sound resolute. "I'm here to tear away Morax's hypocritical mask!"
"Mm. Not bad—plenty of spirit," Lora said after giving her a quick once-over. "Let's go."
She turned and continued forward.
As they went deeper, the path was lined with so-called "statues"—humans turned into salt, victims of the godly remnants unleashed at the moment of Havria's death.
With every step inward, Wanyan's heart grew heavier.
At last, they arrived at a hall. There, Wanyan's eyes locked onto a broken sword.
"Look!" she exclaimed excitedly. "That broken sword—this is proof! Proof that the God of Salt resisted, but was still killed by Morax!"
"An interesting story," Lora said after glancing at the shattered blade, "but unfortunately, it's wrong. This weapon is indeed connected to Havria—but it wasn't hers. It was the weapon that killed her."
"The… weapon that killed the God of Salt…" Wanyan staggered back a step, staring at Lora in disbelief.
Lora calmly described how, during the Archon War, Havria had retreated again and again, how she had gradually lost all her territory, and how she ultimately became unable to shelter her own people.
Wanyan couldn't accept what she was hearing. She shouted, "No! Impossible! You're lying to me! You must be lying! You're an adeptus—you're Morax's lackey!"
"How dare you!" Rhodeia stepped forward, her face dark with anger as the shape of a water sword gathered, its blade pointed straight at Wanyan.
Lora raised a hand to stop her. "Easy. There's something even more shocking ahead. Come."
She led Wanyan into the final chamber.
Inside, the room was filled with people turned entirely to salt. Each figure was frozen in their final moment, faces twisted in terror, bodies fleeing outward. Yet at the very center stood one figure, locked in the posture of thrusting a sword forward.
"This," Lora said softly, "is where Havria met her end."
She gazed at the last remnants of salt and continued,
"In the end, her people realized that this gentle yet weak god could not protect them in the brutality of war. Rather than let her suffer after defeat, they chose to grant her a comparatively merciful release. But no matter how weak a god may be, the power unleashed upon their death is something no mortal can withstand. Those who failed to escape in time were turned to salt by the remnants of divine power, becoming what you see now."
"And the survivors fled south, arriving at Liyue Harbor to seek the protection of Rex Lapis," Zhongli added quietly.
"Their descendants feared Havria's lingering remnants, dreading an eternal curse. So they risked returning here to break the weapon that slew her and enshrine it."
Lora fell silent and looked toward Zhongli.
He sighed. "In truth, it was unnecessary. A god who never resisted until the very end—how could she harbor resentment toward her own people?"
"No… I won't accept this. Even if that's true…"
Wanyan's mind was on the verge of collapse. She couldn't bear to believe that the faith she had upheld for so many years was nothing more than a cruel joke.
"A lie… a fabricated history… it's all false! All of it!"
With a shrill cry, she turned and ran out. No one chased after her.
Zhongli watched her retreating figure, then let out a quiet sigh. Turning to Lora, he asked, "Lora, the matter of Havria took place during the Archon War. At that time, your pure-water familiars had not yet set foot in this region. How, then, did you come to know these hidden truths?"