*Chapter 17: Secrets Beneath the Starlight*
After finding the strange black powder and the unnatural vine, Li Wei and his friends retreated to their hidden corner of the old library. Parchment, spellbooks, and ancient bestiaries littered the table. Chen Xiulan carefully unsealed her enchanted jar, letting Bao Yu and Mei Fen analyze the vine's magic with whispered spells. Strange glyphs began to glow faintly along the plant's stem, pulsing with dark energy none of them recognized.
Jin Ming drummed his fingers, impatient but determined. "We need more than clues—something solid, something the headmistress can use before the barrier breaks." As if in answer, Rui darted in, breathless, clutching a crumpled page he'd "borrowed" from a distracted teacher. "It talks about a ritual they tried to ban long ago—a way to drain magic from the land itself," he said, eyes wide.
Night fell. Disguised as curious students, the group slipped outside, following the energy they'd sensed from the powder. The trail twisted past the greenhouses and into an abandoned well at the campus edge. Jin Ming cast a small fireball down, revealing the stone walls were covered in the same dark glyphs as the vine.
Suddenly, a cold wind swept upward. A pair of red eyes flashed in the gloom, and the cloaked figure's voice echoed, hissing ancient curses. Without thinking, Mei Fen projected waves of starlight, scattering the shadows long enough for Chen Xiulan to sketch the glyphs and Bao Yu to gather a live sample of the cursed water. The figure vanished in a swirl of smoke, leaving only a chilling promise—"the garden will fall, and all your power with it."
Back in their secret meeting place, the group compared notes and experiments, realizing that the attack was only a test. "Whatever comes next," Li Wei said, his friends gathered close around glowing spellbooks, "we face it together. And we make sure this is still our home."