# Chapter 54: Quenching Silver
Banishment withdrew from Mr. J's chest. Despite suffering such a penetrating wound, Mr. J's expression remained unchanged. After all, he was someone who had already "died" once. If an injury of this degree could affect him, he would have fallen in battle back at the second rank. Moreover, Su Xiao had not activated the Cyan Steel Shadow energy.
When Mr. J was at the second rank, he still called himself the Red Clown and had formed an organization named the Gentleman's Alliance, whose members were all Violators. Looking back now, Mr. J had shown great foresight back then. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to reach the fully open Primordial World and hadn't encountered opportunities like Sphinx.
Su Xiao's purge target back then had been Mr. J. After killing Mr. J, he not only received a kill notification but also obtained a hunt reward.
Under normal circumstances, Mr. J would have been dead for sure. But this guy had "two lives." Unlike Xi's resurrection, Mr. J had survived thanks to the Flame Demon Elder within his body.
The Flame Demon Elder had once been a high-rank existence. Later, after fighting with an enemy, he nearly perished. While the Flame Demon Elder was hiding in some remote corner of the Void waiting to die, he sensed a summoning of the same origin. Therefore, he took residence inside Mr. J's body, with two consciousnesses sharing one body, Mr. J's consciousness being the dominant one.
Originally, the Flame Demon Elder wanted to act as a shady "old grandfather," using Mr. J to resurrect himself. Unfortunately, not long after taking residence, the Flame Demon Elder realized the absolute gap in intelligence. This had nothing to do with strength.
By the time the Flame Demon Elder had been thoroughly outmaneuvered and was preparing to make a deal with Mr. J to help him seize a physical body, their battle with Su Xiao began.
The result was simple. Mr. J was decapitated by Su Xiao. In that instant, Mr. J forcibly merged his consciousness with the Flame Demon Elder's and relinquished all ownership of his body.
The "Red Clown" died. Mr. J was reborn. Equipment, contract number, all items in the storage space, and 90% of his abilities—Mr. J lost everything. What remained were only his physical attributes and an ability called "Infernal Maw."
In principle, Infernal Maw could devour any enemy, provided Mr. J could withstand the despair, unwillingness, anger, and hatred of the enemy before death. If he relaxed even slightly, he would lose consciousness for a period of time, his body acting on instinct.
When Mr. J "woke up" again, he was standing in a pile of ruins, surrounded by a group of terrified Apocalypse Paradise contractors. They had personally witnessed how Mr. J devoured his own teammates—biting them in half with one bite, then eating them.
From then on, Mr. J obtained a first-rank number. He had only one type of mission: invade other Paradise worlds, seize resources. During this, there would be no assistance, nor could he trigger side or hidden missions.
During this period, Mr. J had been on the verge of death 129 times, with countless severe injuries. Losing limbs had become routine.
It wasn't until Mr. J plundered a large amount of resources, survived 76 days in the Black Abyss, and participated in three World Wars that he became a contractor again.
On the surface, Mr. J had become stronger, but he had lost something very important. He had permanently lost more than half of his soul, and he hadn't yet found a way to recover it. It wasn't a soul injury—rather, half of his soul had been executed by Reincarnation Paradise.
Now, Mr. J had obtained an opportunity. If he could destroy the Bronze Door, he might be able to recover part of his soul. Though it was only a small part, it was still crucial.
"White Night, I suggest we split into two teams. When I came, I sent 'the Rat' to Aisenla."
Mr. J sat on the stone steps. There seemed to be flames burning in his eyes.
"The Rat?"
"That's right. The Rat."
Mr. J grabbed his left index finger with his right hand and calmly pulled it off. He didn't care about the gushing blood from the severed finger but instead tossed the index finger to the ground.
As soon as the finger hit the ground, it turned into a pool of bloody fluid, forming a humanoid figure about ten centimeters tall, flailing wildly at Mr. J.
Mr. J frowned. He first smiled apologetically at the few people in the Old God Church, then stood up. His shiny black leather shoes directly stomped on the bloody little man.
"Eee-ya!"
A strange cry rang out. After being ground under Mr. J's shoe sole for a while, the bloody little man calmed down.
"Target, Aisenla. Full speed ahead."
Mr. J spoke to the bloody little man with a smile on his face.
"You'll die a miserable death."
The bloody little man reluctantly started running, faster and faster, until he finally disappeared from everyone's sight.
"Clown, how good is your recovery ability?"
Su Xiao's eyes flickered with a strange light.
"If I want to reach the vicinity of the Bronze Door, at least I can't be missing any 'major parts.' Besides, not every 'Rat' is obedient."
"What a pity."
"Not a pity at all. Compared to this matter, let's talk about how to split the teams."
Mr. J was clearly changing the subject to avoid Su Xiao cutting him up and making him produce a bunch of bloody little men.
"I'll deal with Sphinx. The prerequisite is that Holy Silver can indeed restrain those beastified Aisenla residents."
The main reason Su Xiao couldn't break into Aisenla City was that those Aisenla residents' bodies were too tough. Dealing with dozens or a hundred at once was fine. But if several hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand Aisenla residents surrounded him, he might be slowly worn down to death.
"Their bodies are too hard. That's the problem, right?"
The upside-down Gus spoke, glancing at the long-handled battle axe stuck in the ground.
"That's right."
"High-purity... Holy Silver... coated on... the blade... then, it's... possible."
Laurent's tentacles stroked the furnace. The rough texture reminded him of his painful past experience. He had already quenched Holy Silver once, and now, he chose to burn again.
With a click, the chain suspending Gus broke. As soon as Gus landed, he pulled out the battle axe slanted in the stone slab.
Wind pressure swept past. Gus instantly appeared in front of Laurent.
Puchi!
The sharp axe blade swung down. Laurent was split diagonally in two.
"Ever since I believed your bullshit, nothing good has happened to me."
Black-red, viscous blood dripped from the axe blade. Gus grabbed the bandage on his shoulder with one hand and tore it off with a ripping sound.
"So your real name is White Night..."
A fierce light flickered in Gus's eyes. After locking gazes with Su Xiao for a moment, his hand gripped the end of the axe handle. With a forceful pull, the end of the axe handle came off, revealing a rather crude key.
Click~
The battle axe was inserted into the side wall of the furnace. Fine cracks spread across Gus's body surface, and the burn scars on him became more pronounced.
"Laurent, do you know why I was willing to follow you back then?"
As soon as Gus finished speaking, the flames in the furnace roared to life. The stains on the outside of the furnace were baked dry, turning white. The entire stone furnace looked both worn and primitive.
"Why."
Laurent wasn't dead, nor was he even seriously injured. He had been eroded by the Black Goat and hadn't died from that. How could he be killed by a single axe strike from Gus?
"Because, you see, the Dawn back then was very beautiful. My thought at the time was, I must take this woman... Forget it, the person involved is still present. Some things shouldn't be said."
Gus moved his upper body, which was covered in burns and skin and bones.
"Laurent, you've already burned once. The Holy Silver you can extract is limited, far from enough. Dawn, will you lie down yourself, or will the three of us stuff you in?"
Gus looked at Dawn. Dawn was silent.
"Why bother, Dawn. You have no choice left. Look over there."
Gus slightly raised his chin. Following his gaze, Dawn saw a person at the entrance. No, it was a puppet.
"Nea."
Dawn murmured. After lowering her head in thought for a moment, she pulled off the blanket covering her, fell off the stone chair, and crawled toward the furnace.
"I'm sorry, Nea. I'm sorry."
Muttering to herself, Dawn crawled to the furnace. Gus grabbed her hair and directly threw her into the furnace flames.
"Being friends with you and Laurent is really exhausting."
Gus pressed his hand on the front air plate of the furnace and sealed it shut with a rumble.
"Ah!!"
A piercingly desperate scream came from inside the furnace. Dawn began to struggle inside, slamming against the walls.
"Kill me, quickly!"
Dawn's arm reached out from the air vent, frantically grasping outward, trying to open the furnace.
"You chose this, Dawn. From the moment you cultivated Nea, it was all your choice. Don't make yourself look too ugly before death. You are an Immortal Wizard."
Hearing Gus's words, Dawn's arm suddenly froze. After a moment, it trembled and withdrew back into the furnace.
"I'm sorry... I was too... stubborn. It turns out... the most fearless one is you, Gus."
Dawn's voice gradually faded away. Immortal Wizard Dawn died for the quenching of Holy Silver.