"Hey hey! Don't worry, they can't hear what we're saying!" It seemed as if Gnaeus had telepathic abilities, as Sakuya's face instantly blushed red, as if her long-held secret had been discovered, and she could only bow her head in silence.
"If you like him, then you like him!" Gnaeus smiled, but quickly changed his tone, saying, "But don't you think you can't really help him much?"
"That guy has plenty of other women around him, and they are all much more powerful than you..." Gnaeus began his persuasive tactics.
"I think you wouldn't want to be a burden to him..."
With Gnaeus's words, Sakuya quickly realized the problem he was addressing. As a relatively self-sufficient individual, Sakuya certainly didn't want to be a hindrance to Bexia, so her mood became increasingly gloomy.
"If you want to help him, you need to have enough strength!" Seeing that his persuasion was getting through, Gnaeus spoke up, "You have great talent in controlling time and space. If you become my disciple, although we may need to spend some time apart, in the future you will definitely be able to help him!"
"Really?" After all, Sakuya was still young, and what Gnaeus said made sense, so she truly began to consider his words.
She didn't want to be a burden at all!
"Of course it's true. I am the master of time and space. Once you become my disciple, even if he dies, you can bring him back to life..."
"Don't speak ill of big brother!" Sakuya bristled, especially sensitive to the word "death" after what she had been through previously.
"I'm speaking the truth!" Gnaeus remained undisturbed, confident that as long as she had thoughts, she'd take the bait.
"Then... I'll be your disciple!" After much hesitation, and several glances back at Bexia in between, Sakuya finally nodded in agreement to Gnaeus's request.
"Good good good! You are now my disciple, Gnaeus!" Gnaeus laughed with joy, and at the same time lifted the barrier around them, allowing Bexia and the others to hear his words.
"Come, here are the Sands of Time and the Ethereal Blade. Consider these my gifts to you as your master!" With a swift gesture of his right hand, a hourglass and a small blade appeared in his hand, while the ethereal blade that Sakuya had hidden under her skirt also returned to its original form.
"This little one is truly fortunate!" Shitian couldn't help but exclaim admiringly, feeling very envious of Sakuya in his heart, since Gnaeus was indeed a great figure.
"Thank you, Master!" Although Sakuya wasn't quite sure how powerful the gifts from Gnaeus were, she could sense that they were incredibly potent.
"Um... Master, can you help me find my sister Ophelia?" Sakuya naturally didn't forget the task Bexia had assigned her.
"Is this a request on behalf of that boy?" Gnaeus glanced at Bexia and felt that he had taken in a useless disciple, but thankfully she was still young and he would need to educate her well so she wouldn't go astray after just stepping through the door.
"Ophelia sister was chased by a large group of monsters to save me, please, Master, can you help her?" Sakuya's eyes welled up with tears as she spoke, especially since Ophelia had treated her so well, almost like a sister, and they shared a deep bond.
"It's a small matter, leave it to me!" Gnaeus's heart softened as he looked at Sakuya's expression; the old man was actually quite sentimental, especially towards his own people, let alone his dear disciple.
"I will search..." Gnaeus released his own perception, covering the entire crack in time and space in the blink of an eye. However, he frowned because he couldn't sense anything.
"Time reversal!" Gnaeus's eyes flashed with a divine light, and the events within the time crack began to appear before his eyes. When he saw Ophelia entering the time crack with Sakuya, a smile tugged at his lips, but it quickly vanished as Ophelia disappeared.
"Hmm?" Gnaeus furrowed his brow deeply, as he couldn't see how Ophelia disappeared even with time reversed, as if she had suddenly been erased.
"River of Time, appear!" Suddenly, Gnaeus acted, not wanting to lose face in front of his newly accepted disciple, and not caring how Ophelia disappeared, he directly summoned the River of Time to retrieve her.
"Huh --! She's not dead!" But Gnaeus's attempt to grab Ophelia in the River of Time failed, which proved that she was still alive; universal rules did not allow two identical beings to exist, hence his failure.
"Master..." Sakuya looked expectantly at Gnaeus, which made him a bit embarrassed as he awkwardly touched the mask on his face and said, "Rest assured, your sister Ophelia is fine. I guarantee she's still alive, but...!"
"But what!?"
"But I can't find her right now, she seems to have disappeared suddenly!" Gnaeus said.
"Senior Gnaeus, with your power, you can't find her?" Bexia asked at this point.
"Well... there is a way..." Gnaeus tapped his finger on the table, then stood up and said, "Follow me, I will use the Book of Epochs to show you what's really going on?"
"The Book of Epochs!!!" Shitian's eyes widened like copper bells after hearing Gnaeus's words, prompting Bexia to ask, "Is this Book of Epochs some kind of supreme artifact?"
"Supreme artifact my foot, the Book of Epochs is the ultimate cosmic artifact!" Gnaeus replied disdainfully.
