The Second Tier Energy Recovery Pill was substantially more dangerous to brew than anything Xiao Yan had attempted before.

The first attempt ended with his cauldron exploding and shrapnel embedding itself in three walls of his meditation chamber. The second attempt produced a pill that looked correct but would have poisoned anyone who consumed it — Yao Lao identified seventeen separate toxic imbalances before Xiao Yan could even ask what was wrong. The third through seventh attempts produced various shades of sludge.

'Your flame control is adequate for First Tier,' Yao Lao said, 'but Second Tier requires a different approach. You can't just control the heat — you need to control the chemical reactions within the ingredients themselves. You need to feel when the Jade Spirit Root begins to break down, when the Fire Lotus Seeds release their stored energy, when the Ice Toad core crystallizes. You need to be inside the cauldron.'

'I can't fit inside the cauldron.'

'Spiritually. Focus.'

On the eighth attempt, Xiao Yan did something he had never done before: he closed his eyes while brewing. Alchemists were taught to never close their eyes — you had to watch the flame, monitor the color changes, observe the physical transformation of ingredients. Brewing blind was considered madness.

But with his eyes closed, Xiao Yan could feel. The spiritual sense that Yao Lao had been training for three months opened to him not as a technique but as a sense — a new organ of perception that let him taste the chemical balance of the cauldron's contents, hear the subtle vibrations of ingredients breaking down, touch the temperature gradients flowing through the liquid.

The Energy Recovery Pill took shape in his mind before it took shape in the cauldron. When he opened his eyes, the brew was complete.

One pill, perfectly round, its surface gleaming with a gentle blue-green light. He could feel the Dou Qi radiating from it even before testing.

'Second Tier,' Yao Lao said. 'And a high-quality one at that.'