The best way to judge the difference in combat strength between two people had always been to simply and cleanly fight it out.
As time passed, more and more tribes arrived at Nine Li City.
The martial contests before the alliance assembly officially began as well.
Anyone who could take the stage to compete was at least a spirit shaman.
There were six hundred Fang States among the three eastern regions, and each Fang State had at least one spirit shaman.
Though not all of them had come, counting the shamans from the various smaller tribes, there were still several hundred spirit shamans alone.
There were also some powerful shamans on the verge of advancing to spirit shaman.
In all, four hundred Fang States and several thousand tribes gathered before the altar outside Nine Li City.
This martial contest was chiefly meant to select leaders capable of commanding armies.
According to Great Shaman Li Tan, seventy-two leaders would be chosen this time, becoming brothers alongside the nine of them and joining them in their campaign against those who had betrayed their ancestors.
Most contests were one-on-one duels between shamans, since that was the simplest and quickest method.
But they were not limited to that.
Some shamans were not skilled at fighting alone. Instead, they excelled at drawing upon the aid of totem warriors to unleash powerful shamanic arts or curses.
They could bring their own tribe onto the field, and their opponents could likewise choose whether to face them alone or meet them with their own tribe.
The standard for victory was simple and brutal: one side surrendered, or one side was left entirely lying down.
And lying down did not merely mean being knocked to the ground. Killing the other side was acceptable as well.
No one considered it