Hearing Chen Changan's words, Zhan Kuang froze completely. From the moment he had started learning alchemy, no one had ever explained this principle to him.
"Don't tell me you didn't know any of this?"
"This is the most basic fucking knowledge in alchemy!"
"I... really didn't know. No one ever told me."
"Fine, now you know. That's your first problem: you treated all the ingredients exactly the same."
"Your second problem is that, although you refined pills steadily and carefully, you didn't know how to adapt to changing circumstances."
"Adapt to changing circumstances? Why would I need to do that?"
"Refining pills requires your complete concentration. Why? To prevent any slipups during the process."
"You certainly gave it your complete concentration, but what were you concentrating on? Watching every single step. You never paid any attention to whether some subtle change had occurred during the process."
After Chen Changan finished, Zhan Kuang looked utterly bewildered. Wasn't watching the steps enough? What subtle changes could there possibly be?
"Could you... explain that a little more clearly?"
"Ah, you really don't have any knack for this at all. If no one teaches you, can't you figure anything out yourself?"
"After all these years refining pills, all you've done is memorize things by rote and follow the steps?"
"You haven't gained any insights of your own? Made any innovations?"
"Refine another batch, then put your heart into sensing what's happening. Otherwise, no matter how much I tell you, it won't help."
"All right, all right. I'll start right away."
Zhan Kuang nodded nervously, then immediately began refining another batch. This time, however, he was too nervous and had lost his earlier excitement, causing the attempt to fail very quickly.
"It doesn't matter if you fail. Keep going. Remember, put your heart into sensing