Han Yu looked down at the scroll again, skimming through the simplified diagrams and explanations. Despite their cartoonish appearance—complete with crudely drawn cauldrons and exploding stick figures—the underlying principles were surprisingly deep.
And as he read…
…he understood.
Not just the words. The concepts. The logic.
He could practically see how a sequence of heating a particular herb to extract volatile essence would lead to destabilization if done in the wrong phase. He imagined the flow of energy inside the cauldron, the way impurities floated up with the heat, the subtle shifts in color and sound that would signal success—or failure.
It all made sense.
He looked up in mild surprise. "This isn't nearly as hard as I thought."
Li Mei raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Feeling confident already?"
"No, no," he corrected quickly. "I just… I can follow this really well. I feel like I understand it. The logic behind it. Like I've done this before."
