Successful Hypothesis

He cleaned the cauldron of any remaining by-products and prepared his ingredients. The pill he was going to make was different from the one he had made before dinner. 

He wanted to make sure that it was the energy that was the cause of the advancement, and not the ingredients. Finally, when the time arrived, he put in his first ingredient. 

Slowly, one by one, he put in ingredients and turned them into power. Finally, when the time came, he used Elemental Guidance. The energies started being moved. They weren't being guided but moved once more. 

"It's happening, I was right," Alex thought but concentrated on the pill once more. He moved the energies towards the forming pill which were absorbed in a higher amount by the powders. 

Once again, a simple stream of Qi ran out of his body involuntarily and moved into the cauldron through the path established by his previous Qi. The pills were splitting into two once more.