In the previous episodes of “Alchemy Of Souls” Season 2, Bu Yeon has started gaining memories, which are not hers but Naksu’s, and through So Yi, Yul has discovered Bu Yeon’s real identity. He planned to take Bu Yeon to Danhyanggok to bring back all of her memories and made the decision to kill her afterwards. Yul is a kind and righteous person. He knows that if Jang Uk finds out that Naksu’s soul is still alive, he will do anything to save Naksu again. He cannot see his friend getting hurt again. However, before they could go to Danhyanggok, Yul had to go save So Yi from Jin Mu’s men and got severely injured.
Spoilers Ahead
Does Seo Yul Survive?
Bu Yeon hears about the blood parasite in Yul’s body from So Yi’s servant and informs Jang Uk. Uk goes to the gambling den and saves Yul from Jin Mu’s men. He kills Jin Mu’s assistant, Yeom Su, only after getting a confession from him that Jin Mu put the blood parasite in So Yi’s body. Jin Mu is worried that he will have to take the blame, and the king is worried that a war may break out if Seo Yul’s father finds out that someone from Cheonbugwan harmed Yul, as Cheonbugwan works for the royal family. Jin Mu wants to hurry and plead his innocence to the unanimous assembly, but Jang Uk strikes first. He enters Cheonbugwan and demands to see Jin Mu. Jang Uk is enraged, and Dang Gu is worried that he will do something he shouldn’t. Park Jin is no longer the leader of Songrim, but he is still an important part of it, and he gathers the mages to support Jang Uk. At Cheonbugwan, instead of Jin Mu, the crown prince comes to talk to Jang Uk.
The crown prince claims that he is on Jang Uk’s side because he doesn’t want Jang Uk’s anger to get the best of him. He admits for the first time that it was because of him that Naksu had to die, and Jang Uk had to suffer. Jang Uk points his sword at the prince, and the prince’s soldiers get ready to defend the prince and attack Jang Uk, but Park Jin arrives with Songrim’s mages and defends Jang Uk. Both Jang Uk and the prince are aware that this can turn into a war, so Jang Uk promises to wait until the prince brings Jin Mu to him. The prince tells Jin Mu that he has no other choice but to bring a solution to save Seo Yul and apologize to Jang Uk, or Jang Uk will not back off. Jin Mu asks the unanimous assembly for help, but they suggest he ask Lady Jin for help as the blood parasite belongs to Jinyowon. Lady Jin and Jin Mu are half-siblings and have never had a good relationship. Jin Mu has to beg Lady Jin for help.
Lady Jin meets Jang Uk with Jin Mu and the crown prince and asks Jang Uk to meet her at Jinyowon for the solution. Jang Uk had already asked Lady Jin, but she refused to give the solution, so Uk used Jin Mu as bait. Jin Mu feels humiliated after hearing this, but neither Lady Jin nor Jang Uk bothers to apologize to him. Jang Uk goes to Jinyowon with Park Jin, and Lady Jin announces that she will allow Jang Uk to use the firebird only if he promises to send Bu Yeon back to Jinyowon. Jang Uk agrees right away, as that is the only way to save Yul. Yul cannot be moved to Jinyowon, given his condition, and the firebird cannot be brought out of Jinyowon, so Master Heo has come up with a plan. He transfers Yul’s energy into the water wick from the Seoho fortress and puts it in Bu Yeon’s mouth. Only a Jinyowon priestess can bear the water wick with the blood parasite, as it is difficult for others to handle it. Once the firebird detects the blood parasite, it will extract it from Yul’s energy wick to kill it.
Jang Uk uses the gold awarded to him by the crown prince to expand the energy barrier of the firebird. The crown prince is impressed to know that Jang Uk hasn’t used any of the gold yet. The prince has agreed to help Jang Uk, but both of them have to make sure not to disturb the firebird’s energy by bickering inside its barrier. Bu Yeon and the crown prince finally find out each other’s real identities when they meet inside the barrier. Jang Uk expands the firebird’s barrier as the prince and Bu Yeon stand inside it. The blood parasite’s energy explodes inside Bu Yeon’s body, but she is able to handle it, and the crown prince takes out the blood parasite from her body. Yul doesn’t have much time left, but Bu Yeon arrives in time to transfer Yul’s energy back inside him. Jin Mu doesn’t like to see the prince and Jang Uk together, so to create a wall between them, he reveals to the prince that Jang Uk was born under a king’s star.
Back at Songrim, Jang Uk starts missing Bu Yeon as she leaves for Jinyowon after having a quarrel with him. Bu Yeon felt like Jang Uk was treating her like an object that he could bring back and forth whenever he needed. However, she is at Sejukwon, waiting for Seo Yul to wake up. After he wakes up, she tells Seo Yul that master Lee also treated her when she was ill. Yul quickly realizes that master Lee must know that Bu Yeon is Naksu. Later, he asks Master Lee why he is quiet even after knowing the truth. Master Lee tells Yul that both Bu Yeon and Naksu’s souls co-exist in one body, and Bu Yeon’s soul is only using Naksu’s soul to survive. Once Naksu regains her energy, Bu Yeon’s soul will use it to take full control over the body. Meanwhile, someone else has also found out Bu Yeon’s truth. Yul had written a letter before leaving for Danhyanggok with Bu Yeon. In the letter, he mentioned Bu Yeon being Naksu and physician Heo Yun Ok has read it.
Bu Yeon is ready to go to Jinyowon but needs to return Songrim’s plaque before leaving. She goes to fetch it in Jeongjingak and runs into Jang Uk. Jang Uk has just returned from Jinyowon after he didn’t find Bu Yeon there. He apologizes to Bu Yeon for talking rudely to her and also tells her that he will die if the ice stone is removed, which makes Bu Yeon realize that Jang Uk kept her by his side only to get himself killed by her hands. However, Jang UK has one more confession to make. He tells Bu Yeon that he is going insane without her and cannot concentrate on anything. He compares his state to a flickering lantern. He wants Bu Yeon to stay by his side, but only if she wants to. Bu Yeon wasn’t happy about leaving anyway and proceeded to kiss Jang Uk.
Why Does Jin Mu Send Bu Yeon Inside Gwido?
Even though Bu Yeon and Jang Uk don’t want to leave each other, Bu Yeon has to go to Jinyowon to keep the promise Jang Uk made to her mother. Jang Uk promises Bu Yeon to convince her mother and bring her back. On the other hand, Seo Yul tells Park Jin that he will convince Lady Jin to let Bu Yeon stay with Jang Uk because it is because of him that they have to part ways. After Yul has heard from Master Lee that Naksu’s soul won’t survive for long, he wants Naksu and Jang Uk to spend more time together. At the palace, the crown prince has lost his precious turtle. For an outsider, it could look like just another pet of the prince, but the prince was attached to it. The prince is wiser than he looks and knows that Jin Mu is the only one who would dare to touch the prince’s pet. He has a lot going on in his mind and asks Jang Uk to bring his golden plaque to the palace.
Jang Uk does not bring the golden plaque to the prince but agrees with the prince that he indeed has one. On Jin Mu’s suggestion, the king orders Jang Uk to go to the northern fortress, and Jang Uk agrees to it, as the crown prince and they have already had a discussion on it before. The prince wants Jang Uk to go far away to protect his throne. Back in Songrim, physician Yun Ok asks Bu Yeon to meet her in the forest because she wants to check if she has a blue mark near her chest so that she can prove her real identity to everyone. Yun Ok throws a potion on Bu Yeon and searches for the mark, but she doesn’t find any. Yul finds out that Yun Ok has read his letter and rushes to the forest to stop Yun Ok from doing anything to Bu Yeon. He reaches after Yun Ok has already thrown the potion on Bu Yeon. He tells Bu Yeon to wash quickly, and after she leaves, he tells Yun Ok to stop exposing Naksu as her soul will be destroyed soon.
Bu Yeon goes to the lake to wash her face and sees the blue marks in her eyes in her reflection. She sees herself as Naksu and gets curious. She takes the first boat to Danhyanggok and searches for the tree that she has often seen in her memories. As soon as she sees the tree, she remembers all of her memories as Naksu: how she became Naksu, how she shifted souls, the first time she met Jang Uk, how they fell in love, and how Jin Mu became the reason she killed Jang Uk and then herself. She also sees the real Bu Yeon, who tells her that she will regain control of her body soon. Bu Yeon returns from Danhyanggok, but instead of going home, she goes to Chwiseonru. She is upset and refuses to meet Jang UK, so he comes looking for her. Bu Yeon informs Jang Uk that she won’t return to him because she has remembered the man she likes. Jang Uk doesn’t understand her sudden change of mind, but he doesn’t force her to stay if that’s not what she wants.
Bu Yeon goes back to stay in the annex she was locked up in, despite her mother’s telling her to stay in her own room. Bu Yeon is used to the annex and its loneliness, which she feels and needs right now. Jang Uk is going to leave for the northern fortress and goes to Jinyowon to inform Bu Yeon, but she refuses to meet him. However, Jang Uk notices her seeing him from afar and sneaks inside her annex to meet her. He tells her that he will return for her and will wait to meet her until she misses him. As Jang Uk leaves Songrim, Jin Mu is free to execute his plan to dry up all the water sources in Daeho. More firebird relics float ashore at Lake Gyeongchandaeho, which causes an uproar among the citizens. This is the correct opportunity for Jin Mu to initiate his scheme to take over Jinyowon. When he tells Lady Jin that a priestess from another family will dance for the lake rites because no one from Jinyowon has enough power to do so, Lady Jin refuses to give any relics to perform the rites.
Jin Mu has the royal family and the unanimous assembly on his side, but Lady Jin has a special plaque that allows Jinyowon to disobey the royal order, and that is the first thing that Jin Mu needs to take away to weaken Jinyowon further. The crown prince orders Lady Jin to return the royal plaque because she threatened the world by opening the room of the firebird. The prince was also in the firebird room when it was opened, and now he turns his back on Lady Jin. Bu Yeon goes to Cheonbugwan with the royal plaque, but instead of submitting the plaque, she tells Jin Mu that she will prove that she is powerful enough to protect Jinyowon. Jin Mu agrees to it, as he gets a chance to get rid of Bu Yeon. He throws the royal plaque inside Gwido, an evil alternate world where wraiths and sorcerers are imprisoned. The crown prince thinks it’s too much of a risk, but Bu Yeon is ready to go inside because she believes in herself. Moreover, she has the crown prince’s lost turtle, which she has found on her way. Both Lady Jin and the crown prince look worried for Bu Yeon.
Season 2, Episode 8: Ending
Gwido is very different and bigger than Bu Yeon imagined. She has brought the turtle because it has good energy, so she decides to follow its lead. In the middle of the forest, she sees a skeleton with a blue light near its chest. When she tries to touch it, a wraith appears and starts following her. She starts running and loses the turtle. She loses her way, but thankfully, she has her blue jade, which starts shining. The blue jade informs her lover, Jang Uk, who has a red jade, that she needs him, and he manages to enter Gwido to save her from the wraith.
“Alchemy of Souls 2” has almost reached the finale, and we still don’t have definitive answers on what will happen to Jang Uk and Naksu’s incomplete love story. We are yet to know if it was Yun Ok’s potion or the ominous energy of Gwido that revealed the blue mark in Bu Yeon’s eyes, which made Jang Uk question her real identity. Will Jang Uk be able to recognize Naksu, or will he mistake her for just another soul shifter? The final episodes of “Alchemy of Souls 2” season 2 are sure to be intense, with a lot of revelations. We will also get to see if Jin Mu will be successful in his plan or if the crown prince will betray him.