Ying Li

Ying Li was the guardian of Ta Lo, a hidden village that outsiders find only if the village permits it, and she guarded its entrance the way she was raised to: alone, unarmored, and sufficient. Trained from birth and granted her abilities by the Great Protector, she fought with wind and stillness where others brought armies. When Xu Wenwu came through the bamboo forest in 1996 hunting the village with the Ten Rings on his arms, Li met him at the threshold, turned his own weapons aside, and sent him back the way he came. He kept returning, without the army, and what began as a duel became a courtship. For his sake she gave up her post and her home, and with him she raised two children, Shang-Chi and Xialing.