Li Yan nodded. He understood the meaning behind the Great Elder's words.
For a race like the Tianli Clan, which fought wind beasts almost every day, countless heroic clansmen must have emerged over generations.
Yet what they needed even more was a spiritual pillar to continuously inspire later generations, rather than letting them see only the tragic side of their forebears.
The two seemed unhurried, yet moved with great speed. Before long, a vast plaza appeared ahead of them.
Along the way, Li Yan made a rough estimate. There were no fewer than ten thousand statues here—so many that they sent a chill through one's heart.
Looking to either side, they stood densely packed together like orderly gravestones, erected through endless years.
The plaza could hold tens of thousands of people. Enormous stone pillars stood around it, each so thick that three or four burly men could not encircle it with their arms. Every pillar was more than thirty zhang high, with what seemed to be a round disc pressing down upon its top.
On the far side of the plaza, opposite the stone path from which Li Yan and the Great Elder had come, a colossal creature crouched. It was a statue as imposing as a mountain, so enormous that even Li Yan felt a sense of oppression.
It resembled a vicious tiger, with the body of a fighting bull, sharp bristles, a pair of savage wings on its back, and a huge fanged maw. It was Qiongqi, one of the four peerless ferocious beasts.
"This is the outer perimeter of the ancestral land. It is opened only when something significant occurs within the clan. The Heavenly Sacrifice Attendant held for the Second Elder last time, for example, was conducted here. However, those clansmen could only reach this place."