Death... and me
chapter-1110

"Soul Eater Zone?" Rean and Roan had never heard of it. Of course, they were quite new to the continent and came from a relatively small country. It was normal that they knew little about it. Even Milina seemed completely at a loss after hearing that name. "Tell us more about it."

"And what will stop you from attacking me after I finish saying my piece?" Julian asked after that.

Roan snorted in response. "What I can tell is that we will definitely attack if you don't say anything. Whether you believe that we will let you go after this or not is your problem."

Julian knew that it was the truth, so he could only go ahead and be prepared to retaliate if necessary. "The Soul Eater Zone's name can probably give you a very good idea of what happens here. From what I know, this place was the home of one of the biggest powers of our Huring Continent many millennia ago, the Soul Eater Sect. You're very lucky that I just so happened to be from a nearby country. As a descendant of the Apocal Country's Royal Family, my elders made sure I learned the entire history of the powers surrounding our region."

Julian continued, "The Soul Eater Sect used the people inside their country to cultivate. They even had farms of people from several races, using an evil technique to increase their growth speed for harvesting later. At first, no one bothered with them. After all, Evil Path powers have always existed, and they will naturally keep existing. Our own Huring Continent has quite a few of them, and together, they form a very big power. They are also necessary for the continent's defense if one day we're attacked from the outside."

"However, the Soul Eater Sect began to spiral out of control. Their Soul Devouring Cultivation Technique really needed a lot of souls, and as their power increased, so did their disciples. At some point, just the souls they were farming in their own country was already lacking."

"One didn't need to be a genius to know what came next. The Soul Eater Sect aimed their claws at the other countries neighboring them. The worst part was that their Soul Devouring Cultivation Technique was truly remarkable, making even someone with terrible talent have a very fast cultivation speed."

"The countries neighboring the Soul Eater Sect had to join forces to resist them. Unfortunately, the Soul Eater Sect had the advantage nonetheless. Surprisingly, as soon as the Soul Eater Sect got control over the first country, they retreated all their forces from the others, much to the alliance's surprise. They thought that perhaps the Soul Eater Sect was at the limit of their power and could only leave."

"Little did they know that the Soul Eater Sect still had a lot of strength. However, their aim was much bigger. They retreated so that they could harvest the country they got their hands in for the next hundred or so years while keeping a low profile. Once that country also began to fall short on souls for them to use, the attack resumed. This time, their force was even bigger and powerful. In a span of a single year, the Soul Eater Sect conquered all the countries neighboring its borders. And just like that, they became a power spanning five countries. On top of that, they finished taking control over their own region, which had eight countries in the next two years."

Roan could imagine what happened next. "Their leaders proved to not be idiots blinded by greed. They made sure to keep that war within their own region, not touching the countries from the regions around, am I right?"

Julian nodded in agreement. "Smart. That's what exactly happened. The Soul Eater Sect then entered another era of hibernation, which lasted another 1000 years. After all, they had six new countries and an enormous amount of souls to use. Trillions of them. If they tried to expand more while not even having a grasp of their own home, they would go down in oblivion."

Rean couldn't help but comment, "1000 years of seclusion is a lot of time, even for cultivators. The regions around the Soul Eater Sect's territory probably felt apprehensive at first. However, after 1000 years, most people probably even forgot that they existed."

"Correct." Julian nodded. "And that was their mistake. The Soul Eater Sect made sure to have a very strong grasp of their territory. Many sect branches that used the same Soul Devouring Technique were opened in the countries of their region, cementing their rule. 1000 years was what they needed to put everything under their control until finally...the souls there began to get scarce as well. Trillions of souls! Can you imagine that? They were running out of them in just 1000 years!"

Milina then added, "But in exchange, since they were able to use so many in such a short period of time, that means their own strength increased radically. They simply didn't show it on the surface."

Julian confirmed. "That's pretty obvious, right? The next target so that they could continue to cultivate was their neighboring regions. That wasn't even a war. It was simply bullying. If they took three years to completely dominate their own region before, this time they took only a single year to get rid of all the cultivation powers in that region."

Roan already saw the outcome after this. "Hehe! No wonder the Huring Sacred Land sent us to this place. They wanted to show us what happens to those who challenge their power. If I'm not wrong, rumors began to spread that the Soul Eater Sect wanted to take the Sacred Land's position as the leading power of this continent."

"That's correct as well. It simply didn't matter whether the Soul Eater Sect really wanted to do such a thing or not. The problem was that the others thought they wanted it," Julian explained. So far, Rean and Roan couldn't say he was lying.