They only targeted normal women first, but then began to shift their targets to female cultivators, and that angered all the other clans and sects, resulting in their purge.
Almost every single member of the sect was killed, and extinction was imminent when Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Liu Bowen to sever the dragon's vein, which caused all the clans and sects to be sealed. The Soul-snatcher Sect evaded utter annihilation only because of that.
The sect then settled down in the southwest since then, bidding their time. The sect grew in secret when Spiritual Qi began to be restored to the world.
Unlike the Chen Clan and the Seven Invincible Sect that were exclusively warrior organizations, the Soul-snatcher Sect had a proper lineage. While most of it had been lost when they were running away, what remained of their lineage was nonetheless far stronger than the likes of the Chen Clan, whose cultivation methods were half-baked, to begin with.
