After learning the Dao of Ice, Alex began finding ways to counteract it.
The first thing he realized was that the best way to diminish the Dao of Ice was to use the Dao of Fire. The Dao of Fire weakened the Dao of Ice to the point where it was no longer usable.
If it was just Dao, Alex could defeat it easily. But it wasn't. He needed to weaken the Ice property that the old man's Spiritual root had now gained. And for something as delicate as a Spiritual root, he couldn't just force the Dao of Fire directly into it.
He needed to mellow out the effects so it didn't directly harm the Spiritual root. That would only happen by mixing together a bunch of other energies onto the Fire energy to make it tamer.
That was just what making pills was.