Zhang Qiang wasn't angry when Alvin and a few specialists teamed up to trick him.
It was just a bit of entertainment. If you could get the better of someone, you shouldn't hold back, and if you took a loss, you shouldn't complain.
Zhang Qiang's strength lay in always knowing where to draw the line—and in clearly recognizing where others drew theirs. More impressive still, he could always offer something just within reach of the other person's limits and get what he wanted.
He never made an offer that crossed the other person's line. Instead, he always managed to get what he wanted by offering just a little more than they expected.
That way, he got what he wanted and made a friend in the process...
Alvin hadn't said it outright, but Zhang Qiang knew full well that there were still many problems to solve with the so-called Soul Refining method.
Merging a soul with metal or some other material—and keeping the soul alive—wasn't easy.
Siyla was an exception among exceptions. The Killing Angel among the Fallen Angels was already unbelievably powerful. After Alvin had beaten her into an idiot, he'd replenished her with a vast amount of Soul Energy while reforging her body, and the material he'd used was Rune Steel left behind after the North Pole sun exploded.
Without Alvin's Soul Energy to replenish her, how could an ordinary soul have endured what Siyla went through?
And as Stark had said, where else in the world besides China could anyone find so many Ancient Beasts? Without Ancient Beasts, where would the refined souls come from?
Still, Alvin really was interested in this technology. As Zhang Qiang had said, all they needed were refined souls. Einherjar would do, so surely fallen Einherjar would work too.
Russell had been unusually