The two civilizations that perished in this Trial, one was known as the Evil Spirit Civilization, a name that is of course a translation.
The Evil Spirit Civilization did not originally focus on the Ghost Path, but rather was a coexistence of the Immortal Dao and the Ghost Path.
The living sought Immortality, whereas the dead pursued the Ghost Path.
However, over ten thousand years ago, a war erupted between the Immortals and Ghosts. The Ghost Path won, and thus, it became the sole path of the entire civilization.
All mortals, after reaching adulthood and reproducing, were expected to be transformed into ghosts and then cultivate the Ghost Path.
In the beginning, mortals were like ants, and even after transformation, they remained at the bottom.
But with each development in the civilization's structure, and as certain powerful individuals gradually became aware, the entire civilization began to take a more perfected form.
Ghost Immortals, Ghost Kings, Ghost Generals...