Suddenly, another strong and familiar aura came, and everyone looked up instantly. It was the aura of the King, emanating from the Holy Fire, infusing into Qingyu’s soul.

Boom!

Suddenly, Qingyu’s spiritual energy erupted violently, breaking through the 40 million-kilogram limit. The powerful spiritual energy wave swept across the entire field, and the formidable presence of the former King appeared before everyone once more.

At this moment, many people were moved to tears, and many knelt down, shouting, "King!"

The voice quickly became a chorus, and under Amendo’s lead, everyone knelt down together, shouting, "Your Majesty!"

Only Rod, led by another elder, approached Qingyu’s side.

In an instant, the fire engulfed him, merging him with Qingyu.

Qingyu raised her right hand, her black hair dancing in the flames. On her delicate and stunning face, there was now only resolve and strength; such a powerful aura dared not be directly faced.

"My body does not perish; the flame lives on forever!"

Everyone shouted in unison, "The light of the fire will forever shine on Trolian!"

The loud voice echoed above Trolian, proclaiming Trolian’s official entry into Qingyu’s era of the King.

Year 1326, the 14th month, the 26th day.

Qingyu officially became the King of Trolian.

And on this day, the White Tower observed that the world had become darker, and the great pollution of the starry sky had officially descended.

The sun was shrouded in darkness, leaving only a golden corona.

Thick black fog drifted through the Three Realms. In distant regions, even under the fire’s illumination, the sky remained as dark as deep night.

At this moment, all the prophets in the White Tower knew that on this day, the long night that hadn’t occurred for many years had arrived.

This was the most serious disaster humanity faced. During the long night, the Black Fog would become extremely powerful, monsters active, and the power of fire significantly reduced.

The most terrifying part was that during the long night, no special dates would appear.

That is to say, Fire Day, Moon Day, Sun Day, Bright Festival, none would occur.

And humanity used these special dates to mark time and years. Without them, weeks, months, seasons, years, would not pass.

Thus, during the long night, time stood still.

Everything would be shrouded in terror and disaster.

The great disaster foretold in the Source Prophecy had finally arrived.

——

——

Trolian quickly entered into an emergency state. The long idle Fire Hall and Military War Department became busy once again.

The Black Fog Symbionts, which once rampaged in the starry sky and Spirit Realm, appeared on a large scale in the Material World. They swept in from all directions, forming a vast black tide with other types of monsters, starting to assault Trolian.

Trolian’s four main gates, Great Dragon City, Wind City, Sword Fortress, and Royal City, had all entered into a massive combat state. All city defenses were activated.

However, the monsters during the long night were far more powerful than before.

With the support of the powerful Black Fog, the monsters’ spiritual defense was dozens of times thicker than before. Even within the range of the Guardian Fire, they could not be suppressed.

And the power of the warriors had been weakened to varying degrees.

Even though the Holy Fire was more powerful than before, it could not resist the negative effects brought by the long night.

Especially the Black Fog Symbionts.

They were the derivatives of Amidala, the Star Devourer, possessing extremely powerful pollution and erosion capabilities, with exceptionally strong spiritual defense and short-range instant teleportation abilities, far more powerful than those Rod had previously encountered in the starry sky.

These Black Fog Symbionts had become the main force among the monsters, causing severe impacts on the four great cities, even affecting the Royal City to some extent.

However, after Qingyu completed the True King Ceremony, such effects vanished.

With the blessing of the Holy Fire and the King, the chosen Flame Bearer, for the first time in history, easily stepped into the domain of the True King.

And at the moment she became the True King, she possessed 10 Root Origins, identical to the King before his slumber.

This gave Rod the illusion that the King had been reborn, using a new vessel.

However, he quickly realized it was just an illusion. Qingyu was still Qingyu, unchanged from body to soul.

This was a king of immense gentleness, her eyebrows and eyes always smiling, her tone always soft and gentle, never using harsh words to criticize, never getting angry. Only when wielding unimaginable power did she reveal the King’s majesty.

But this majesty only applied to monsters. Toward people, she reverted to the gentle Qingyu, never refusing any request—so long as it was within reason.

For a king, this was clearly inadequate. She could not satisfy everyone; there were many decisions she had to make, many requests she could not grant.

Qingyu knew this too. The White Wolf and Alor had advised her many times, but to no avail.

She always agreed beforehand, and afterward, she would stare innocently with big eyes, softly saying, "I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t bear to refuse him."

Compared to a King, she was indeed too soft-hearted, too kind, even unwilling to see a person sacrifice in front of her. For this, she had often used her power to directly participate in the battles at the northern city gate.

This was detrimental to the Holy Fire.

Because the pollution in the Spirit Realm had not ceased, some even more powerful Black Fog Symbionts continued to attack the projection of the Holy Fire.