The final piece of the tapestry of this prologue, before the coming of titanic struggle and devastation, is Oh Sehun, a man whose actions would be the dreadful catalyst behind the pivotal events that set the Great Crusade into motion. 

When the Pure Realm rebellion broke out, groups of royal soldiers throughout Nanwian cast off the yoke of the Sindeok and threw in with the Sage. In contrast, few of their commanders did; save those of a completely peasant background — by birth utterly bereft of opportunities to cast off their lowborn selves, attain any measure of greatness, and gain honour and fame. These commoners populated the lowest echelons of the regiments, just above the most wretched footman, leading men as sergeants in their companies, or serving as flag-bearers, music conductors, and military priests. They were endeared to the common soldiers by way of proximity and relatability, being cut from the same cloth of peasant sordidness. Some of these commoners could rise by merit to command companies or perhaps regiments sometimes, but invariably they became no different from the nobles and affluents who occupied such positions, if only because they became detached from the mire of the peasantry. Few men who lifted themselves from the mud wished to be reminded of their origins. 

Oh Sehun was one of these peasant-officers. A native of Sakju, he was born in Egwi to parents of the Hazar tribe, which had established royal dynasties elsewhere such as the Gushids of Alang. He could speak Asadal, Sinae, and Fersan, a Datar dialect that was heavily influenced by Asadal and was commonly spoken by Datars in Sakju. His father was a herdsman and his family lived a nomadic lifestyle. Sehun was a long-awaited son in the family. At the age of eleven, his father died and he had to find ways to support his family. He turned to gathering and selling firewood at the local markets. Many years later, when returning in triumph from Anju, he led his Silver Legion to Egwi and said to them, “Now you see that the Master has exalted me to such great heights; henceforth, do not easily despise men of low estate.” 

But Sehun himself was not particularly compassionate towards the poor; indeed, throughout his life he was only interested in his own preservation and advancement. When he was seventeen, a band of marauding Datars invaded Egwi and carried off many inhabitants into slavery, including Sehun and his family. His mother died in captivity, while Sehun managed to negotiate his release by giving his sisters away to Datar grooms, tying himself to them through their marriages. From then on, Sehun became a local strongman allied with Datar warbands in the area, becoming one amongst them and joining them on slave raids and incursions into Sindeok territories. Soon he was known to be a crafty, albeit untrustworthy, fighter who could always find an escape for himself in any situation, no matter how dire. 

All this would not have propelled him to greatness until a rebellion in Chopyong broke out, led by a Terek leader Mahmud Hoseyn. The Headman of Chopyong was killed, and Mahmud’s forces moved into Sakju in the chaos of Canghali’s death. Mundeok sent an army under the new Governor of Sakju, Jung Yongju, to reclaim Sakju, lost to the Sindeok during the great war with Canghali, but it was defeated. It was then that Sehun, with the support of many Datars who were fearful of the Tereks of the west and could not abide by the rule of the heathen Mahmud, submitted to Yongju, and rebelled against Mahmud. Mahmud found little support for his rule in Sakju and was eventually forced to flee west, dying in battle against his lieutenants who rebelled against them as well. During the chaos, Sehun managed to cut a deal with Yongju to give him the command of Changja Castle, essentially installing him as ruler of the castle and the surrounding villages, since Yongju could never restore central authority to Sakju and had to delegate rule to hundreds of local strongmen. This also made him a legitimate officer of the royal army of the Sindeok, and conferred upon him the right to collect tolls on the stretch of the Changja river that passed through his territory. 

Sehun’s close relationship to the Governor paid off in placing his history of brigandry and peasantry firmly in the past, currying him goodwill with the court in Anju. With his newfound wealth and status, Sehun began his patronage of the Ashul temples of Sakju, earning himself new allies among the mystics and abbots of the insular clergy of the Ashul sect. The year before Minseok gained The Way of the Pure Realm in that cave, Sehun was admitted into the militant order of the Sinangui Suhoja — defenders of the faith — by the reigning Ashul Master Park Jinyoung, and accorded the corresponding honours and rights. Naturally, this only served for him to ingratiate himself further with the military apparatus of Sakju province which he had intertwined himself to a point where he could not be extricated. The castellan of Changja castle, although technically remaining as a lowly castle commander of just a few banners of outriders and a half-regiment of footmen for all those sleepy years in Sakju, was in fact an ever-present pair of eyes on all matters of war and the army coming in and out of the province; every man who was of lower rank than a colonel paid homage to him in some way or other. 

Therefore the growing power of the Sage of the Pure Realm did not escape his notice, and neither did the increasing crowds around the otherwise unremarkable town of Ohjinam. Sehun, unbidden by Yongju, was one of the first to pay respects to the Sage and accord him a visit and honours in his seat of power. Although appearing demure and reverential to the Sage, Sehun’s intentions were nothing other than another grasp at opportunity. Always he was looking for ways to elevate himself higher and fill his coffers even more. After attending one of the Sage’s sermons to the needy crowds around Ohjinam, all stretching their hands out to him for salvation and deliverance from the evil of the world, and a private meeting with him in which Sehun, under the guise of royal interrogation, came to understand the ambitions of Minseok and the ways of the Pure Realm, Sehun took it upon himself to organise a meeting between Minseok and Jinyoung and endeavour to increase the Sage’s power beyond that of a mere healer and preacher, for he could discern, better than all others while Sakju was still sleeping, an opportunity to truly churn the world upside down and place himself at the apex of power. Of course, Sehun’s treacherous nature and insatiable appetite were obvious to all but the blind and deaf, but no one expected this glorified brigand to one day rise to the levels of the great lords of Sindeok and overthrow them. 

Meeting in the Ryonggang temple on the sacred Mount Chungjung, where a reliquary of the Master’s hyoid bone, buried somewhere on the mountain, was said to attract blanketing swarms of fireflies every night that turned it into a mountain of gold, the Sage of the Pure Realm met with Park Jinyoung, appointed to be leader of the Ashul faith by the auspices of the King. The two religious leaders could not be more different in appearance: the aged Jinyoung on one hand, flanked on three sides by mail-wearing guards, clad in gold-threaded silken brocade and wearing a necklace of jade and pearl beads; Minseok on the other hand wrapped only in a sheer white robe and accompanied only by two servants who carried all the gifts that Ohjinam could offer: dried fish and jars of oil harvested from the giant species of catfish found only around the fishing town. 

Jinyoung was not contemptuous of poor gifts such as these, though, f