"I don't recall passing on such mischievousness to you." [Mei], looking at Elysia, whose face was clearly marked with 'unhappiness,' felt somewhat helpless.
Humans are social creatures. While getting to know others, they are often deeply influenced by them, thus becoming like them—just like the original Raiden Mei after experiencing the Elysian Realm. Of course, this was the same for him and Elysia.
He had been tinged with some of Elysia's colors, and Elysia likewise.
For example, tinged with his colors, Elysia would become somewhat... lewd.
But as for now—regarding her mischievousness, Mr. Jiang Qiao had to clarify; this definitely wasn't his fault.
After all, although he also found the previous, foolish Elysia very cute—burying everything in her heart, sometimes perhaps even thinking about some interesting things, he had no intention of probing into it, but this somewhat contradictory Miss Pink Elf was indeed very cute, also making one want to tease her a bit... uh, well, it seemed, perhaps, there was indeed a part of him to blame.
"Hmph!" Elysia, having regained her senses, let out a soft snort, glaring at him with annoyed eyes.
She merely reverted to a previous version, not regressed.
In fact, Elysia simply felt that her past self was very 'cute,' and since someone had given her such an opportunity, she seized it to roll back.
This, of course, wasn't like what most cultivators with great powers believed—'being too powerful, if presented in their complete form, they would lose much of the fun,' so they chose to create alternate accounts (smurfs).
But the reality wasn't so. For existences like them—at least for Jiang Qiao and Elysia, the so-called fun had nothing to do with the level of power.
Being fixated on the level of power was, on the contrary, inferior and vulgar.
Only that will, that feeling, was the 'delicacy' worth savoring.
Just like how Miss Pink Elf loved doing strange things to a certain someone, but in fact, her wanting to do so had nothing to do with whether it brought physical pleasure—even if there was no feeling at all, she would still want to do so. Because Elysia simply enjoyed this feeling.
Wrapping that emotion, that will, that 'love' with 'self,' with her everything, just like a child would tightly hug their beloved toy while sleeping soundly.
The 'body language' besides this was just a byproduct.
The reason for making this rollback decision was essentially because Elysia missed the 'contradictory' feelings of her past self.
Clearly wanting to do certain things, yet completely lacking the courage to act.
She could only console herself that it would be better later. Clearly angry, yet completely unable to carry out any proper revenge.
Elysia was well aware of the thoughts of her complete self; after all, she was the one who came up with them.
She completely understood, perhaps even agreed, as those were her own thoughts—
However...
It was precisely because of this that she was even angrier!
Clearly herself, yet wanting to seek that 'contradictory' feeling from herself—at least for the current Miss Elysia, she felt very, very... annoyed! Very annoyed! Super annoyed!
This wasn't to satisfy Elysia's craving for that 'contradictory' feeling, but simply because Elysia at this stage would be very angry about such a thing.
What was even more infuriating was that even though she knew the later Elysia was doing this for this very moment, she would still be angry!
This feeling of knowing everything, yet unable to stop the other's thoughts, even the thought of wanting to stop the other was precisely what the other expected. Miss Pink Elf felt genuinely annoyed.
Wasn't this completely being toyed with!
Miss 55kg, angered to the extreme, finally, in her anger, fumed for a bit.
Then—she wasn't angry anymore!
Hmph, that Bad Ely just wants to make Ely angry, bully Ely, right?
Ely knows all about these thoughts!
If so, as long as Ely endures and doesn't get angry, wouldn't that be fine! Make her efforts go to waste!
Thinking this, Elysia, wearing a yukata, became completely calm, a smug smile appearing on her face.
That night, Miss Elysia, using [Mei] as a body pillow, felt extremely pleased.
A beautiful girl is very cute, especially a [Mei] with Bad Jiang Qiao filling—soft, fragrant, hehehe~
Of course, Mr. Jiang Qiao felt somewhat helpless about this. After all—Elysia at this stage loved to secretly do very bold and strange things... But compared to the complete Elysia who would directly start riding him when the mood struck, this was much better.
Miss Furina on the other side was quite well-behaved, merely using him as a body pillow as well.
[Mei] felt like a rou jia mo (meat sandwich).
Fortunately, he had long adapted to this terrible sleeping environment.
This couldn't be helped. After all, during his recent downtime, even when sleeping, 'encounters' would often occur—both in reality and in dreams.
Jiang Qiao, his thoughts drifting, would, like most of the time, check the chat group that had always had a minimal presence for him.
Yunyun: [Image]
The picture showed the little Crimson demon mage girl, along with Kyoko and Hu Tao.
Including Furina, who had supposedly also been to that world, Yunyun, who always lacked teammates, had fulfilled her wish of joining a team, forming a four-person squad.
However, Furina wasn't always free in Fontaine—because of Focalors, she still had some career aspirations, plus her status as the Hydro Archon would have some impact in other worlds.
For example, Jiang Qiao had once heard Furina complaining in the group.
In Yunyun's world, there was a girl named Aqua in that familiar squad, who was simply... cough cough.
Furina had no particular thoughts about her; with Furina's etiquette, she would treat most people with kindness—however...
"Oh? A goddess? I think Furina, this goddess, is much more sensible than you!"
"Damn it, why is the goddess I brought down you, and not Furina!"
The masochistic man named Kazuma, after discovering Furina's identity as the Hydro Archon, would often use the former to humiliate a certain idiotic goddess.
He even once prostrated himself before Yunyun—"Please, I beg you, I'll trade our useless goddess with you!"
Needless to say, Aqua inexplicably started a rivalry with Furina.
"Ha, a mere false god from another world! You dare call yourself the Hydro Archon!?"
Whenever she saw Furina, Aqua would often approach, displaying various comical expressions, trying to defend her dignity as the Goddess of Water, fully illustrating what 'peers are enemies' meant. For this, she even demonstrated a 'world-ending flood'—only to end up drowning herself and burdening Mr. Kazuma with a huge debt.
Of course, Furina had no thoughts on this—after discovering Aqua's true nature, her attitude was... to silently distance herself.
The gods of that world seemed... hmm... a bit problematic.
And Hu Tao—Jiang Qiao had also heard quite a bit about Liyue's situation from her, as well as from Furina and Rukkhadevata.
Because a certain Miss 'Guizhong' won the resurrection match, Liyue's adepti and the government began a brand new cooperation. According to Furina, Liyue's recent progress was practically leaps and bounds.
After Fontaine and Sumeru began cooperating, their joint research institution drew much inspiration from the adepti mechanisms spreading from Liyue.
If Rene, this scientific genius, hadn't won the resurrection match, and if the 'Synaptic Hub' led by Rukkhadevata and Egeria hadn't accelerated the development of the two nations, at Liyue's pace, they would have been left far behind.
Of course, regarding this development, the Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor often complained in the group.
She had no particular thoughts about technological development.
It was just that Liyue's technological advancement, due to the Liyue Qixing's mercantilism, had initiated a new round of industrial revolution within Liyue.
The result was that the once-monopolized Wangsheng Funeral Parlor now faced new challengers.
Of course, Hu Tao wasn't afraid of challenges.
With Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's reputation, almost everyone in Liyue would think of coming to Wangsheng for funerals—from this perspective, her business promotion was actually meaningless.
But... since the advent of adepti mechanisms, the funeral industry, where Wangsheng belonged, inevitably began to see the emergence of the new concept of 'cyber funerals.'
Incense was a high-tech product of adepti mechanisms; after burning, it had various effects like spiritual communication, and there were also mechanical coffins, adepti tombstones, etc. In short, the burgeoning funeral industry had taken the name of adepti mechanisms to new heights.
The focus was on creating demand where there was none.
Hu Tao had no objections to innovation. Her promotion of Wangsheng's services was a form of keeping up with the times.
However, those people using funerals as a means to amass wealth, turning this solemn industry into a money-making business, was something Miss Hu Tao, who greatly valued funerals, found hard to bear.
But in this respect, she couldn't do much.
Aside from voicing her criticisms, it was mostly fruitless—the Liyue Qixing, upholding mercantilism, although some old-fashioned members believed the funeral industry needed to be more solemn, ultimately couldn't withstand the majority.
To quote one of the Qixing: "People want to make funerals better, more trendy, so what? The money is paid, the people are satisfied, business is conducted willingly, so what can be done? Can't people be trendy even in death?"
Even if Hu Tao felt this was disrespectful to the deceased, the reply she got was simply: "Can you represent the deceased themselves?"
In this respect, although the adepti, even Miss Guizhong, Hu Tao's good friend who led the reforms, and the consultant Zhongli also felt it was somewhat inappropriate, due to Liyue's gradual transition from divine rule to human governance, they couldn't interfere too much in such minor matters.
Fortunately, the older generation in Liyue still leaned towards tradition, not particularly fond of these flashy new things. So, most people, as they aged, would still choose Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's one-stop service.
Jiang Qiao naturally had his own views on this.
The solemnity of funerals actually stemmed from humanity's reverence for death, the deceased, and spirits and ghosts. This had, to some extent, shaped Liyue's customs. And these new types of funerals were essentially a challenge to old traditions.
This would inevitably lead to shifts and turmoil in Liyue's customs, and then Liyue's people's views on death would probably gradually change as well.
For a nation, this couldn't be called a good thing. After all, despising death and mocking death would definitely bring dire consequences.
But personally, he wouldn't judge this process.
After all, in Jiang Qiao's view, the 'attitude towards death' was an inevitable process in humanity's progress.
Just like he himself had once feared death, and after learning more, he felt that death wasn't so terrifying.
Just like that person had said—
[Things always move towards their opposite. The higher they fly, the harder they fall. I am prepared to shatter completely. But it doesn't matter. Matter is indestructible, it merely shatters.]
He had once overheard this phrase and didn't pay much attention to it until one day after coming to this world, while looking at the stars in the sky, he comprehended its true meaning.
Death is merely the opposite of life, an inevitable change for all things.
Most people fear death, not because they fear death itself, but simply because they fear the implications of death.
That is, loss.
The things one has obtained, the people one loves, because of unwillingness to lose them, one clings to life.
Because one has lived, loved, and hated, one is unwilling to accept death and understands its terror.
Because one has died and lost, one understands the meaning of life.
Only by dying can one truly live a complete life.
In this aspect, Jiang Qiao was especially grateful for the 'ascension' he chose to protect the Previous Era while using [Elysia].
If not for this, even with his unique nature, he probably wouldn't have been able to reach his current 'state.'
Therefore, he wouldn't judge the brand new challenge faced by Hu Tao and her Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
Even though, in his view, these rash changes would likely lead to undesirable outcomes.