As this was a first realm recipe, meant for Qi Refinement alchemists to work with, there was no need for spirit sense, or rather, the process was designed in a way that one could succeed without the use of it. Still, as with most daoist arts or practice methods in the cultivation world, one could certainly use the advantage of their higher realm to brute-force success in lower realm matters.
What once required talent, understanding, and experience would be solved using raw power and versatility, which was why many cultivators were fixated on realm before doing any of these 'side' practices.
For Li Ling at the moment, he chose to do his first few alchemy processes honestly, as if he were a first realm practitioner. That was to assess his talent and understanding of alchemy from a more natural point of view to gauge whether it was worth it to invest more in it, then he would use his realm to push through the procedure to see how applicable that was.
