Death... and me

Of course, Julian didn't end his explanation there. "Besides, they had a huge flaw. After taking control over the next region, everyone began to send spies nonstop into the region they controlled before. The same one from 1000 years prior. They soon found out how the sect almost wiped out all the lives in their own territory before moving to that next one. They were a plague, a plague that would continue to eat the Huring Continent's body from inside if not dealt with."

Rean nodded after hearing that. "Indeed. If they couldn't even control themselves and had an entire region wiped out, that meant they were out of control. I wonder why they let it reach that point. The moment they went out to wage war against the next region and took it, they should have known that the rest of the continent would feel suspicious. It was too overbearing."

Roan pondered in silence for a bit before asking, "Addiction?"

Julian looked with surprise at Roan. "Very perceptive, but not entirely accurate. Sure, the cultivation technique made their users addicted to it. But above all, it transforms the soul."

Rean and Roan nodded after hearing that. "This transformation you talked about is what made that undead army, right?"

Julian couldn't help but ask, "Undead? I've seen you call them that. is that how they are called in your home?"

Roan shook his head as he explained, "No, it's the first time we've seen them, so we simply chose this name as it seems they aren't even alive."

Julian understood after that. "I see. In that case, you better use the names that we use. We call them Yin Corpses."

Roan didn't mind. "So, this transformation you talked about is what made that Yin Corpse army, right?"

Julian confirmed as he explained, "Yes, cultivators of the Soul Devouring Technique must keep consuming other souls to maintain their own souls intact. This is, after all, a technique from an evil path. Such techniques usually give boosts to one's cultivation far above normal ones. But at the same time, they all have huge drawbacks because of their advantages. As you know, there's no such thing as free lunch in the world."

Julian continued, "This 'plague' had to consume more and more souls. The higher one's cultivation was, the more souls one would need to keep one's own from turning into those things. The Soul Eater Sect had no choice. Their cultivation technique had already spread in their region, and they couldn't take it back anymore. Naturally, more cultivators using it appeared day by day."

"That makes sense," Rean said. "Think of this way. The Soul Eater Sect even needed to create farms of people. You can only imagine how dire the life of the people there was. Their only chance was to use that technique and become one of the guys who ate souls instead of having their own eaten. This kind of technique most likely didn't allow them to use the souls of people who passed the same transformation to cultivate it. They needed fresh people."

Julian couldn't help but ask, "Have you seen these types of techniques before?"

Rean shook his head in response. "No. However, I'm quite knowledgeable in the matters of the soul."

Julian didn't know if Rean told the truth or not, but that didn't matter. "Anyways, a cultivation technique widely spread and that couldn't be taken back anymore. In exchange, the life of ordinary people got worse and worse due to the addiction and the fear of becoming those undead things. Obviously, that gave birth to even more Soul Devouring Technique users, hoping to not become food. You get the picture."

With that, Julian got to the point. "Now then, they were in a path of no return, especially their top cultivators, who had already reached a point where they needed thousands of souls daily to maintain their state. The Huring Sacred Land couldn't ignore it anymore, nor could the other regions around the Soul Eater Sect. Even the Evil Path Powers had to admit it went too far already."

"And so started the purging, correct?" Milina asked.

Julian nodded in response. "Yes. That forced the Soul Eater Sect members to immediately retreat from their newly acquired region back to their own. The Huring Sacred Land then closed the exits of the Soul Eater Sect's territories, making it impossible for anyone to leave that place."

"However, the Sacred Land and the powers allied to it didn't try to attack the Soul Eater Sect inside its own territory. After all, they had dominated it for a very long time. Not to mention that they were very strong after consuming so many souls. Bringing the battle into their region would result in too many losses. They only made sure to protect the borders, where the Soul Eater Sect had no power, formations, traps, and other advantages they had inside."

Rean sighed after hearing that. "In the end, the cultivation technique that gave them so much power also became their doom. They had already pretty much cleared the people's souls inside their own territory. And with the Sacred Land's alliance protecting the borders, they had no way of acquiring more."

Milina narrowed her eyes in response. "If they got into that situation, shouldn't the Soul Eater Sect have tried to force their way out to escape?"

"Do you think the Sacred Land would be idiotic enough to not know that?" Roan rebuked her right after.

Obviously, Julian agreed with Roan. "That's exactly it. The Soul Eater Sect was strong, especially inside their own territory. In any case, the Huring Sacred Land was the top power for a reason. They were the strongest. The Soul Eater Sect simply didn't have the time to grow. Even if they had another 1000 years and no one bothered their actions, they would still be behind."

Roan nodded in agreement. "No souls to eat and desperate attacks that had no chance of shaking the defenses on the borders. In the end, they started to lose their forces without the Sacred Land having to do much. They only had to wait for the technique to do its own job. The Sacred Land definitely had experts capable of entering the Soul Eater Sect's lands to check the situation and come back as well."

"Yes." Julian agreed with Roan. "The Soul Eater Sect's downfall happened pretty quickly after that. In just 10 years, most of their cultivators had died or had transformed into those things that came after us. After that, the Sacred Land got rid of the high-level Yin Corpses so that they wouldn't cause problems. What remains are the low-level Yin Corpses that you saw before."