Ding Li

**Ding Li** (定礼 "Betrothal Gift") is a Qilin, more specifically one of the **Prime Qilins**. She is one of the many ancient guardians of China who made a contract with Guan Yu, the Chinese God of War and future successor of Xinwang. As a beast that punishes the wicked, Ding Li is part of the justice system constructed by Xinwang. She is also a part-time secretary to Xiwangmu.

She is a supporting character in Spirit of the North Star.

## Appearance

Ding Li has the appearance of a young woman with long blue hair, which fades into a darker shade at the end. The styling of her hair is easy to mistake for a ponytail, but it is not actually tied back by anything. Though she mostly resembles a human, she has dark red horns that bend back along her hair, similar to how a goat's horns look, with brighter red markings on them. Many people confuse it as a headdress, a misconception that Ding Li actively encourages. She has heterochromatic eyes whose irises are purple at the top and fade into pink and gold at the middle and bottom.

Around her neck, she additionally wears a golden bell. Her outfit consists of a black body-suit with gold accents underneath a purple and white bodice with long ends similar to a tailcoat, with a separated pair of sleeves to match. The bodysuit meets at the back of her neck to make a bow. She has white heels with gold accents and gray bottoms, with red knots around her ankles.

## Personality

Ding Li is usually very quiet and reserved due to her half-qilin heritage. Qilin are also vegetarians; as such, she will not eat any meat dishes, including vegetarian ones that have been fried in animal fat. She always eats in small quantities. She also completes whatever is given to her, whether it be tasks or food, even if she is reluctant to do so.

Unlike most of the other chinese beasts who isolated themselves, Ding Li chose to actively guide humanity and has served as the non-stopping general secretary of the Wufang Shangdi for thousands of years. The more important the task is, the more effort she puts into it, but she also becomes increasingly nervous and is more prone to making mistakes.

She also has an unusually impressive work schedule that she always follows to the dot. Despite having a massive workload and frequent overtime, Ding Li is never fazed by the work. She has a good working relationship with her juniors, as she is willing to share her knowledge and ideas to help them with whatever problems they have, and they in turn respect her greatly. Due to her consistent overtime, Ding Li has very few friends outside of work.

Surprisingly, Ding Li gets along well with Doumu, but the captain's poor standing with the Wufang Shangdi means that she usually keeps it a secret, lest she put her in a negative light. Ding Li is one of the few who sees Doumu positively, even breaking character when hearing bad rumours about Doumu, knowing that she is not who they perceive her as. Ding Li is also fully supportive of Doumu's and Xiwangmu's secret relationship and encourages the two to become an official couple.

She is a devout follower of Guan Yu and hopes to follow in his footsteps in protecting China. She initially had trouble working with Hua Mulan due to her controversial comments about him, but she slowly began to understand and even empathize with her point of view. The two felt oddly attracted to one another after getting to know each other better, and soon after became married.

Though she and Mulan are currently apart due to work schedule, their relationship is pretty healthy.

Due to her age, she is very forgetful, and she often forgets important details which causes her much embarrassment. She is relatively sleepy and is very sensitive about both her horns and weight.

## History

Ding Li was one of the oldest beasts in China. She observed the formation of the Heavens by the Five Cosmology Gods. Out of fear that she might repulse them, she hid herself away and slept. She was awoken by Guan Yu eons later, who made a contract with her that promised her a safe existence in exchange for unquestionable loyalty. Ding Li agreed, because she saw that Guan Yu was a fair man. While aiding him and many of the lesser deities of Tao, Ding Li started receiving the adoration of the divine realms of Tian and rose to a very high rank amongst the Chinese Gods on accident.

Though she served the gods faithfully, she was more fond of mortals, as their lives were easier and calmer. Duties in the divine realms were endless and stressful and the Jade Emperor's conflict with the Monkey King further intensified that. Ding Li overworked herself to exhaustion. Out of pity, Xiwangmu put a spell on her that would put her in a deep slumber.

When she awoke, Ding Li found herself in a barren battlefield. There were many dead bodies. Atop the corpses stood the great Chinese warrior girl who masqueraded as a man in the military. She had just thwarted a large-scale barbarian attack on the capital, but it nearly cost her life. Thankfully, Ding Li was there to patch her up.

While Hua Mulan did receive a celebration in her name, it was more than obvious to her and Ding Li that her 'man-masquerading' was irksome to the nobles. So the next day, Ding Li and Hua Mulan left the capital and set out on an adventure across China. Hua Mulan expressed an interest in following the path that the Monkey King and his crew took.

Ding Li attempted to teleport back to the divine realms several times, but some superior force was blocking her entry. She decided that she might as well follow Mulan on her aimless quest. Perhaps on the way there, she thought, she'd find a way to enter the divine realms. Ding Li and Mulan had a very common perception of humanity, nature and the balance of the world, but when it came to gods and supreme authority, they were very opposing. Ding Li thought an orderly authority of gods was necessary to keep things in check and prevent chaos from taking over, while Mulan believed any authority that claimed to be supreme was a disgusting force of oppression and that people like Guan Yu are just a long string of enforces of that oppression. While they never saw eye to eye on that, they agreed to disagree on the topic of gods and rulers.

Throughout their journey they overcame many challenges that ranged from physical to psychological and spiritual, as well as some that they couldn't 'beat'. They fell in love and married in the midst of their travels. The end of their journey was at Everest, where Doumu descended with the Big Dipper (a pirate ship comprised of the cosmos) and rode them up to the divine realms.

Ding Li shortly returned to her post and Mulan was given divinity, but she wasn't forced into any specific role. Out of consideration for her wife, Mulan chose to serve the divine realms as a 'Yaksha'. The two still keep in touch whenever they have the time.

## Powers & Abilities

**Air Walking**- Ding Li can walk on the air, as if it were solid matter. She can run and move across the air as if walking on the ground, giving her greater maneuverability in her environment.

**Blessing Inducement** - can bless anything including people, places, objects etc. and produce positive effects. This can include bringing good luck to people, or something as little as Emotion Augmentation as long as it is the happy emotions.

**Enhanced Condition** - Ding Li possess all her capabilities, attributes and aspects at an enhanced level, beyond that of the average member of her own species (not to be confused with the peak of her own species). This means the her aspects (E.g. beauty, charisma, character and physique) attributes (E.g. physical and mental condition) as well as capabilities (E.g. potential, feats, skills and abilities, be it natural or supernatural) would be beyond that of any Qilin. In conclusion, she is an all-rounder that is superior overall to practically all other members in her species.

* **Enhanced Senses** - Ding Li has extremely accurate senses, allowing them to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel better than an average member of her species.

* **Enhanced Speed** - Ding Li can move much faster than the average member of her species, beyond what can be emulated via natural training and with little to no maintaining. However, this power is not without any ill effects, as it can strain the body, although she is resistant to the effects of high-speed travel, including acceleration, friction, g-force, inertia, etc.
* **Enhanced Strength** - Ding Li possess a level of strength beyond that of the peak members of her species. At base level, she would be able to lift heavy objects such as cars, large boulders, vans, and most other objects that are bigger than them in size. She would also be able to exert great physical force from various parts of her body (prominently through their hands), sending enemies flying through walls or breaking their bones instantly with a single punch.

**Fire Aura** - Ding Li can release and surround herself in/with icy-fire for defensive and/or offensive purposes, possibly becoming almost untouchable and granting her various abilities/attacks.

**Fire Breath** - Ding Li can generate and manipulate fire within them in a way that allows them to shape the exhaling of the effect. These shapes can include bursts, blasts, streams, beams, spits, spheres, lasers, and even a mist of it from the mouth.

**Flight** - Ding Li can fly or otherwise move through the air using various methods.

**Horn Protrusion/Antler Protrusion** - Ding Li has and can generate antlers on her head or body, which can be used offensively.

**Luck Bestowal** - Ding Li is technically a sentient luck charm able to grant luck to other beings in various ways. This includes broadly in everything target does or more specifically like in dating, gambling, finding a job, surviving deadly encounters, etc.

**Morality Viewing** - Ding Li can perceive the moral alignment of target, whether person, place, phenomenon, etc. sensing the good/bad in them.

**Peace Empowerment** - Ding Li is empowered by all forms of peace or absence of external or internal conflict, within her mind, body or spirit.

**Powerful Bite** - Ding Li has a particularly strong bite. Her strong bite actually causes great pain to Mulan whenever she's trying to give her a hickey.

**Serenity Inducement** - Ding Li is able to induce powerful feelings of tranquility in others, allowing one to keep others calm and peaceful.

**Water Walking** - Ding Li can stand, walk and run on the surface of water by literally defying the surface tension and can move across the surface of water as easily as she would be able to move on land.

**Master Archer** - Ding Li has an incredible aptitude for the ways of bow and arrow, being able launch multiple arrows with one shot, use the bow as a melee weapon, etc. She can reload the weapon rapidly and efficiently, even with heavy mechanisms like the crossbow.

## Equipment

**Sun-Bird Killer** - The legendary bow of the primeval god of archery Hou Yi. The weapon was kept locked away in Tian's vault after Hou's passing. Under Xiwangmu's request, the powerful bow that could easily destroy Longinus Wielders and regular deities in one successful shot was given to Ding Li for safe-keeping. Nobody else in the divine realms had better skill than her and her aim was near-flawless. Infused with her Prime Qilin power, the Sun-Bird Killer is three times stronger now, able to decimate an army in three charged shots.

## Gallery

*Ding Li as a bunny girl**Ding Li shows kindness**Ding Li testing her Qilin powers**Ding Li plays with a cat**Ding Li uses the Sun Bird-Killer against the Qiongqi**Ding Li wedding dress**Ding Li in her secretary uniform**Ding Li with Guan Yu and a yaksha**Ding Li and Wangling Xue**Ding Li shows her daughter a cool trick**Mother and daughter hug**Mother and daughter sleeping together**Ding Li and Hua Mulan on a date**Mulan carries her sleeping wife**Ding Li and Mulan make out**Pinned on the ground~**Ding Li and Mulan embrace each other**"W-Why would you say that...in front of everyone?! B-BAKAAA!"**Ding Li and Mulan kiss passionately**Ding Li discovers her wife's newest merch**An affectionate embrace between wives*
## Trivia

* Ding Li is heavily inspired by **Ganyu** from Genshin Impact.
* Ding Li is possibly the oldest and strongest of the Qilin, but since she rarely fights, it's unconfirmed.
* Ding Li is a biromantic demisexual.