Li Ke

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Li Ke (李可)
Alias(es)	Human Demon; Nine Strange Merfolk
Species/Race	Mixed-blood merfolk; identifies herself as a soul beast
Gender	Female; commonly conceals her identity in a male form
Affiliation	Shrek Academy; ninth member of the Shrek Eight Monsters
Occupation/Role	Soul Master; prospective founder of the organization Merfolk
Status	Active
First Appearance	Chapter 187

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Innate Full Soul Power	190–191	Born with Innate Full Soul Power, while years of forced soul-power infusion and purification further strengthened her body.
First Soul Ring / Soul Master	191	With Lin Yi's aid, condenses her own thousand-year violet first Soul Ring rather than hunting a soul beast. It grants Waterlight.
Second Soul Ring	191	Condenses a second Soul Ring using the refined soul power originally forced into her by Qian Daoliu; maintaining her male disguise during the process helps conceal her merfolk identity.
Soul Grandmaster	192	Rapidly advances from Soul Master to Soul Grandmaster as her accumulated soul power is released.
Soul Elder	192	Breaks through to Soul Elder; a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring condenses before the observers.
Rank 40	209	Xiao Wu identifies Li Ke as having reached Rank 40, though Li Ke declines her challenge because she has not recovered from her breakthrough.

Background

Li Ke is the child of Qian Daoliu and an unnamed Merfolk Clan saintess. Qian Daoliu forced soul power into her body when she was three years old, intending to torment the saintess into opening Merfolk Island's altar for its Soul Bones and Soul Rings. Her mother tried to protect her by placing a merfolk curse upon her; this ultimately created a cycle that purified the implanted power, strengthened Li Ke's physique, and allowed the power to gradually become her own. 189 190

The saintess was killed after Qian Daoliu massacred the fishing village and failed to obtain the altar's secrets. Li Ke personally witnessed her mother's death and the destruction of her people, leaving her driven by vengeance against Spirit Hall. 189 211

Because of her mixed heritage, Li Ke is unaffected by the merfolk curse that prevents ordinary Merfolk Island residents from cultivating normally. She awakened merfolk inheritance on her own, accumulated soul power for more than a decade, and adopted a burly male form to hide from human society and pursue revenge. 189 191 192

Flender took Li Ke away and concealed her true identity, naming her Li Ke and forbidding her from leaving Shrek until graduation. Grandmaster later asked Lin Yi to help resolve the blockages that caused her soul power to leak away. 187

Appearance

Li Ke usually presents herself as a large, powerfully built boy to conceal her heritage. Her true appearance is feminine and merfolk-like, with a markedly different voice and manner.

• In her male disguise, she has a mountain-like build and is seen in clean gray short clothes with tied-up hair. 192 196
• Her true female form wears a blue skintight outfit and has long flowing hair. 210
• Her true merfolk appearance is described as exceptionally beautiful. 210
• Her gender presentation becomes unstable under intense soul-power pressure; before reaching Level 95, maintaining a male form helps keep her merfolk tail concealed. 191
• At Level 95, she expects to be able to switch genders freely. 191

Personality

Li Ke initially carries deep resentment, an intense fixation on power, and a willingness to endure extreme pain for her goals. During her rapid breakthrough, she becomes so immersed in gaining strength that she transfers much of her pain to Lin Yi and nearly enters cultivation deviation. 192 194

After Lin Yi helps awaken her from this state, she changes sharply: she accepts responsibility for her behavior, assists with the group's punishment run, and seeks genuine friendship with the Shrek students. She formally swears to become their life-and-death partner and to advance with them toward the God Realm. 196 197

She remains secretive and competitive, withholding details of her Soul Skills to preserve an advantage in future internal challenges. She is also evasive when confronted by Xiao Wu, once pretending to attack before fleeing outright. 206 209 However, Li Ke shows empathy toward Xiao Wu over their shared losses and uses a precious Mermaid Tear to heal her wound. 211

Abilities & Skills

Merfolk Heritage

Li Ke's mixed merfolk bloodline gives her a constitution and soul power unlike that of ordinary human Soul Masters.

• Her body refines Qian Daoliu's implanted soul power into her own, continuously strengthening her physique. 190
• Her refined Soul Power is described as comparable in purity to Soul Power from the God Realm. 191 193
• She can condense Soul Rings herself, in a manner compared to soul beasts, rather than requiring hunted Soul Beasts. 190 191
• Her Soul Power recovers slowly from ordinary replenishment because it requires exceptionally pure energy. 194 199
• She can control water precisely enough to reverse a stream and raise its level for transporting logs. 206

Waterlight

Li Ke's first Soul Skill, Waterlight, combines water and light attributes. Rather than functioning as a single fixed technique, she can separate and reshape its effects through water control. 216

• Shield Form / Waterlight Shield — creates a wall or soft armor of water and light capable of blocking attacks such as Lin Yi's Entanglement. 214 216
• Adhesion — coats a target in clinging light-water that weakens Soul Power and produces numbness. 214 215
• Ground Surge / Earth Surge — merges Waterlight into controlled water and launches opponents upward in repeated waves, mimicking Xiao Wu's Eight-Stage Throw. 215 216
• Paralysis and weakening — Waterlight's core effects include defense, adhesion, and paralysis. 216
• Water Ripple — provides Li Ke an initial 3% all-around attribute increase; the bonus rises by 1% for every three Soul Power levels gained. 217
• Its effects can mislead observers into believing she has used several different Soul Skills when she has only used Waterlight. 216
• A later mutation allows Waterlight to interfere with opponents' Soul Power and force them into close combat. 217

Vocal and Mental Abilities

Li Ke's voice carries a bewitching quality, and her mental attacks are feared as potentially indiscriminate.

• Dai Mubai warns the group not to let her speak during a possible confrontation because her voice is “far too bewitching.” 196
• Her abilities can interfere with perception and contribute to the hallucinatory misdirection surrounding Waterlight. 216

Mermaid Tear

Li Ke possesses Mermaid Tears, a rare merfolk treasure.

• She uses a Mermaid Tear to instantly heal Xiao Wu's bleeding palm. 211
• Even the purest merfolk royal bloodline can produce only a few Mermaid Tears in a lifetime. 211

Zhuang Zhou's Dream

Li Ke and Lin Yi possess a multi-form Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Zhuang Zhou's Dream. It formed accidentally during Li Ke's breakthrough and is initially unstable. 193 194 199

• Its first demonstrated form is a mental attack that stuns opponents for three breaths. 199
• It grants temporary attribute immunity. 199
• The skill can drain Li Ke's unusual Soul Power completely and has rendered Li Ke, Zhao Wuji, and others unconscious during unstable activation. 193 194
• Grandmaster believes it primarily draws upon Li Ke's Soul Power, making careful training necessary. 198 199

Relationships

• Lin Yi — Benefactor, closest companion, and Martial Soul Fusion partner. Lin Yi helps her purify her Soul Power and condense her first two Soul Rings; Li Ke later swears to be his life-and-death partner. 191 197
• Xiao Wu — Fellow soul beast and ally. After revealing their shared nonhuman identities and traumatic pasts, they form an alliance to destroy Spirit Hall. 210 211
• Flender — Protector and guardian. He rescued Li Ke, concealed her identity, and arranged for her to remain at Shrek Academy. 187 189
• Grandmaster (Yu Xiaogang) — Mentor and researcher. He seeks treatment for Li Ke's Soul Power barriers and studies the unusual properties of her Soul Skills. 187 217
• Qian Daoliu — Biological father and abuser. He forcibly infused Soul Power into Li Ke as a child and massacred her mother's village. 189 190
• The Merfolk Clan Saintess — Mother. Her curse protected Li Ke by purifying the forced Soul Power, but she died during the destruction of Merfolk Island. 190 192
• Shrek Eight Monsters — Teammates and sworn companions. Li Ke joins as their ninth member and pledges to advance and retreat alongside them. 196 197

Story Role / Major Arcs

Hidden Identity and Recovery

Li Ke arrives at Shrek with unstable Soul Power and a concealed identity. Flender's secrecy and Grandmaster's investigation reveal her parentage, the massacre of Merfolk Island, and the purification cycle created by her mother's curse. 187 189 190

Rapid Breakthrough

With Lin Yi's support, Li Ke condenses two Soul Rings and releases years of accumulated power. She rises through several Soul Master ranks in a single breakthrough, reaching Soul Elder with a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring. 191 192

Inner Demon and Integration into Shrek

Li Ke's pursuit of power destabilizes her and contributes to the accidental activation of her fusion skill with Lin Yi. After Lin Yi awakens her, she changes her behavior, helps complete the punishment run, and becomes the ninth Shrek Monster. 193 194 196

Alliance with Lin Yi and Xiao Wu

Li Ke swears loyalty to Lin Yi and the Shrek students in pursuit of the God Realm. Separately, she reveals her true identity to Xiao Wu, heals her with a Mermaid Tear, and joins Xiao Wu in a vow to destroy Spirit Hall. 197 210 211

Waterlight Training

Li Ke initially conceals Waterlight's properties, then demonstrates its versatility against Lin Yi. Grandmaster uses the spar to teach the Shrek students about her skill's split effects, perception interference, and potential applications. 214 216 217

Notable Quotes

“My life is mine to decide.” 190

“I, Li Ke, hereby formally swear in the name of the Merfolk Clan's Merfolk that I will become life-and-death partners with Lin Yi.” 197

“Spirit Hall... one day, I'll definitely flatten them! I'll avenge my mother and my companions!” 211