Kate:

At this point I'm not expecting for a "happy" ending and I think it's highly likely that JBY will sacrifise herself and while that happens somehow naksu's soul will transfer to her old body. Butt this will happen only if part 2 is the sequel of part 1. If part 2 shows their life before part 1, then JBY and Naksu will both die since they're in the same body)

The chances of part 2 (the term itself implies a sequence) being a prequel are almost zero. I'm trying to stay positive and think Buyeon's destiny is to become one with the ice stone. I know at this point is just wishful thinking, but I think she'll survive. Since the protagonist is Naksu, if JSM participates in part 2 it will probably be as support character or special appearance. 

They imply the Queen has the Ice Stone as she produces the soul ejectors from it. But the Jinyowon relics called Mudeok as the Ice Stone. What’s the meaning of this? 

Queen actually has the a different relic that produces the black power soul ejector? I doubt it. 

There are two Ice Stones? No sufficient direct and circumstantial evidences, so no. 

Seo Gyung broke it into two before he died? Maybe accidentally.  He was trying to melt the Ice Stone but he was overpowered by it. Because... idk. (Seolran could be trapped inside, but  on very low chance) Also, he foresaw two people would be born due to the Ice Stone. And they'll put an end to AoS sorcery by completely destroying the Ice Stone. That would put an end to the chaos. The irony that Uk and Buyeon were born because of the IC, but they have to destroy it. Will they also disappear, as they were byproducts of it?

Again, ep11 highlighted the connection of Uk and Buyeon. They somehow share the same process of birth. At this point,  where does Naksu stand in the story?

I think Jin Buyeon's father was inside Cho Chung years ago. That might be the reason why Jang Gang was crying over it. He may have found it late. 

Jangs and Jins were really close tied even before? Hence, allowing an arranged marriage between the families. 

idk anymore my thoughts are messed up now. 

If Uk and Buyeon share the same process of birth, are they somehow like siblings...? Is that the reason why Buyeon's always protecting Uk...?

 wanderee:
I think Jin Buyeon's father was inside Cho Chung years ago. That might be the reason why Jang Gang was crying over it. He may have found it late. 

My gut told me that the soul in Jin Woo Tak's body was Naksu's father. We now know he works with Jin Mu. I doubt his motive since his first appearance, lmao. He seemed too good of a character.

 wanderee:
Seo Gyung broke it into two before he died? Maybe accidentally.

When they showed the scene where the Queen was creating the Soul Ejectors from the Ice Stone on the lake, it was in its complete form. Is the Ice Stone somehow got its essence energy stuck with Jang Uk and Bu Yeon instead of staying inside their body physically? (Ehh this brings me back to the spoiler photocard LJW revealed lmao- It was on his head though.....) Also, the lake is where Bu Yeon found the Ice Stone ten years ago too. Does this mean the Ice Stone could only be found and controlled on that particular lake and not anywhere else?

Is it correct that the Choi family mage who used the power of the ice stone 200 years ago (towards the end of Ep 11) is Seo Gyeong? In which case, is the Queen (or perhaps the soul that inhabits her)  a descendent? Then what grudge against Songrim would that give her?

I think after the ending scene of ep12, Mudeok would faint and cannot open her eyes again when she regains consciousness. Like what happened after she was trapped in the Mirror of Longing, hence the blindfold in the preview. 

It seems like Buyeon saved Naksu from the eunuch. Naksu thought she fed on the eunuch's soul, but it was just Buyeon eliminating a soul shifter. 

Buyeon can be the dominant soul of the body whenever she wishes to. She may have been aware of everything. She's too powerful that I am kinda scared. Or Buyeon can control Naksu without Naksu's knowledge. And she can use her powers through Naksu. Thus, in ep1,  Buyeon intentionally chose to be in that position because she specifically needed Naksu to get what she wants. But why it has to be Naksu?

wanderee

 wanderee:
I think after the ending scene of ep12, Mudeok would faint and cannot open her eyes again when she regains consciousness. Like what happened after she was trapped in the Mirror of Longing, hence the blindfold in the preview.

Me too.


 wanderee:
But why it has to be Naksu?

Interesting. I wonder why?

I just thought of why it could be but I might be wrong.

Bu-Yeon's soul was taken back by ice stone but she didn't have any blue mark. Then, took in Naksu but still didn't has any blue mark again. 

Did she just save Naksu out of kindness cos Naksu was bleeding and a group of mages were chasing her? Although she didn't remember that she is Jin Bu-yeon and got pushed by Naksu, she is still very kind. XD

 wanderee:
But why it has to be Naksu?

I think that she sensed that she's powerful while touching her when Naksu bumped into her in ep 1.

 Kate:

I think that she sensed that she's powerful while touching her when Naksu bumped into her in ep 1.

yup. That too.

 wanderee:
Buyeon can be the dominant soul of the body whenever she wishes to. She may have been aware of everything. She's too powerful that I am kinda scared. Or Buyeon can control Naksu without Naksu's knowledge. And she can use her powers through Naksu. Thus, in ep1,  Buyeon intentionally chose to be in that position because she specifically needed Naksu to get what she wants. But why it has to be Naksu?

I think Bu-yeon might be keeping in the background because right now Jang Uk (the other critical part of the equation for defeating the ice stone villains) needs to "shine brightly" (as Master Lee said) to "deal with the chaos brought by the stone".  It's her energy that has manifested time and time again when required in order to protect jang Uk.  I don't know if Naksu is a separate soul or merely a set of memories, but at a minimum her memories were required to train Jang Uk.  

I posted a theory last week that when Jang Kang unsealed the ice stone (approximately 20 years ago) and began to experiment around with soul shifting, the "heavens" knew that the potential for chaos in Daeho had once again appeared - and thus Jang Uk was born with the King's Star and in Ep. 11 we learned that jin Bu-yeon's was born "on a blessed day from the skies."

Their destiny is to restore order to Daeho.

 Thecla:

Is it correct that the Choi family mage who used the power of the ice stone 200 years ago (towards the end of Ep 11) is Seo Gyeong? In which case, is the Queen (or perhaps the soul that inhabits her)  a descendent? Then what grudge against Songrim would that give her?

The queen got soul shifted. Her body now inhabits an evil Choi shaman, whether it's the same Choi mage guy from the past is not known for now. Seo Gyeong was that past guy's enemy and Songrim founder. Also, the real queen is still alive too in shaman's real body somewhere under lock.

Just finished watching episode 12.

That was the first time Bu Yeon and Nak Su were both active at the same time. Bu Yeon used Nak Su's ability to absorb energy while at the same time she also used her own powers to make the transfer pure.

Notice the difference in special effects.

1: A shifter absorbing another person's energy, the sfx is dark energy or shadow.
2: Bu Yeon purifying the energy being absorbed by Nak Su (as a shifter) is light, intense light.

I think Jang Uk also saw it and this is the reason why he embraced her. He understood the difference. He understood the meaning of the intense light.

Secondly, remember during the mirror episode? What broke it was Bu Yeon's power, the intense light (or energy).

Third, in the preview, Mu Deok's temporarily blind again. The effect of the intense light did not show up immediately (like in the mirror episode) because she just absorbed an energy. As Nak Su, her own power is much stronger than Bu Yeon at that moment. But once that energy she absorbed "calmed down" (for lack of a better term), Bu Yeon, having activated herself, overpowered Nak Su thus Mu Deok (the body) turned blind temporarily again.

Once Bu Yeon's power "calms down" Nak Su and her will be on equal footing again, cancelling each other … which would mean since Nak Su is the one with control over the body, Mu Deok will get her sight back again.



New information so far:


1. The Queen is actually a Shaman. The real Queen is in the Shaman's body - wherever she's locked up.

2. Nak Su's assassinations were to kill the "useless bodies" after the "VIP soul" shifted into a new one. She was not killing mages because of revenge or hatred. She was just following orders, biding her time, waiting for an opportunity to find the Four great families.

As Park said, she was used her entire life while believing the Four great families killed his father for no reason. (But we know Nak Su, Uk, and Yul, are also already aware of the facts; and Nak Su and Uk are waiting for an opportunity.)

3. Bu Yeon is definitely protecting Nak Su. Not only because she will also die if she doesn't protect the "body" but because she needs her. Bu Yeon used Nak Su's ability to absorb energy (since she's a shifter) and she used her power to purify the energy. Bu Yeon is keeping Nak Su alive, preventing her from going wild and petrifying.

4. If Nak Su's energy is boosted, she overpowers Bu Yeon's. When Bu Yeon's power is boosted (or activated) she overpowers Nak Su ("Mu Deok" temporarily goes blind). This is probably one reason why Bu Yeon is not showing herself frequently, Jang Uk and Nak Su may figure it out, or others will.

5. The jade pendants are important. It will allow Jang Uk and "Mu Deok" to share their energy. Maybe Jang Uk sharing his energy is the key to making Nak Su's and Bu Yeon's energies to work in tandem instead of trying to overpower each other.

I can't think of a good analogy but let's say "transformer" (in electrical) or a "bridge". Maybe Nak Su's and Bu Yeon's energies are in contrast with each other (Yin and Yang) but in reality their energies complement each other. To create that "connection", Jang Uk's energy is needed … and Jang Uk can only share his energy through the pendant.

And maybe, whatever power Jang Uk has, it will only be unlocked with the combined powers of Nak Su and Bu Yeon. We go back to, again, Yin and Yang, two opposing energies that actually complements each other.

 IM YourOnlyOne:
3. Bu Yeon is definitely protecting Nak Su. Not only because she will also die if she doesn't protect the "body" but because she needs her. Bu Yeon used Nak Su's ability to absorb energy (since she's a shifter) and she used her power to purify the energy. Bu Yeon is keeping Nak Su alive, preventing her from going wild and petrifying.

I like your idea of "purifying the energy".

I have been operating on a slightly different premise, but it's simply a filter by which I view everything so your premise is just as valid.

I think Bu-yeon has been supporting Naksu this entire time because Naksu is required for Jang Uk to achieve his destiny - "dealing with the chaos brought on by the ice stone" (to quote Master Lee).  That's Bu-yeon's job - keep Naksu alive so that Naksu can train Jang Uk.  Bu-yeon ALSO has to protect Jang Uk if required (preventing the soul shift, over-powering the mirror), 

at the halfway point in the series, we now know that Jang Uk and Jin Bu Yeon are the two Daeho mages whose fates were twisted AT BIRTH  by the ice stone.  Others have been indirectly affected, but JU and JBY are different.  It's possible that Cho Choong's daughter ("Naksu") was also impacted at birth, but so far we haven't been shown any indication of this - she was indirectly affected because her father soul-shifted and went wild.  

quick things that i noticed in the recent episodes :

we know that jin buyeon wasn't born 'naturally'. she was actually dead, then brought back to life by jang kang with the power of the ice stone, so stayed in mother jin for a total of 13 months. mother jin begged jang kang to save her daughter by using the ice stone to "summon" back her soul in her dead body. does this mean that jin buyeon was actually born a soul-shifter ? we know that alchemy of souls has 3 distinct purposes, one of them being bringing back the dead. 

i just thought it was interesting to keep in mind, as naksu/mudeok/buyeon identities are tangled. but i might be overthinking this too haha !

also, as mentionned by :

 IM YourOnlyOne:
1: A shifter absorbing another person's energy, the sfx is dark energy or shadow.
2: Bu Yeon purifying the energy being absorbed by Nak Su (as a shifter) is light, intense light.

it brings us back to ep.1, with that 'mysterious woman' aka actress yeom hyeran, when we first saw a soul-shifter (her son) running wild+absorbing her energy. she seemed close to jang kang, seemingly during the same time as he was learning alchemy of souls. that also means she was close to the ice stone that he unsealed during that time period. could she be that choi shaman (aka the current queen soul-shifter), as she seemed to be kind of 'assisting' jang kang in his practice of alchemy of souls ? again, feel free to rebuke this haha :)