In January 2017, Li joined the WWE Performance Center after she had impressed talent scouts at a tryout in Shanghai, China.

[16] Li would compete in the women's Royal Rumble match again at the namesake event on January 26, 2020, entering at number 24 and lasting 10:49, before being eliminated by Shayna Baszler.

[17][18] Li fought with Mia Yim again on the February 26 episode of NXT, this time winning the match with a roll-up after a distraction from Dakota Kai and Raquel González.

[22] This led to another match between the two on the June 17 episode of NXT, with Aliyah getting the victory after Robert Stone distracted Li by vomiting in the ring.

[24] The following week, she competed in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, which was won by Candice LeRae.

[29] Weekly vignettes began airing of both Li and Boa being brutally "punished for their failures", all while being watched over by the elderly man and a mysterious woman in black-and-white face paint.

[30] A transformed Li returned on January 6, 2021 during NXT's New Year's Evil special, squashing Katrina Cortez in dominant fashion.

[31][32] The following week, she defeated another jobber in two strikes, but then was wordlessly given an order by her master on the stage, resulting in Li tying up the opponent and taking more shots at her.

During and after the match, Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter came out to the ring to reason with her but she attacked them both for disrespecting her master Mei Ying.

[34] Li went on to defeat both Catanzaro and Carter in singles bouts on the February 24 and March 10 episodes of NXT respectively, and beat them again in a handicap match three weeks later.

[35][36][37] In June, Li began a feud with Mercedes Martinez over losing to her in the inaugural Mae Young Classic, defeating her in a match at NXT TakeOver: In Your House.

[43][44] She made her main roster debut on the December 10 episode of SmackDown as a face, protecting Naomi as she fought off Sonya Deville, Natalya, and Shayna Baszler.

[56] At Royal Rumble on January 28, 2023, Li entered at number 14, lasting 15 minutes and 30 seconds before she was eliminated by Zelina Vega.

[67] That same night, NXT's official Twitter account posted a video of Lyra Valkyria receiving a virtual invitation to a "Warriors Tea Ceremony" hosted by Li.

[75] On June 10, 2024, it was revealed that Xia would be competing at West Coast Pro Wrestling's Queen of Indies event on August 17.

[80] On December 29 at TJPW Year-End Party 2024, Lee lost to Kamifuku for both her SPW Queen of Asia and VPW Women's Championships.

[81] At Tokyo Joshi Pro '25 on January 4, 2025, Lee teamed with Kamifuku to defeat Wakana Uehara and Rika Tatsumi.

[82] On the September 5, 2024, episode of Impact!, a vignette was shown of a woman speaking Chinese, teasing her debut with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

[87] On November 24, Lee debuted for Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) at Josh Barnett's Bloodsport XII, losing to Masha Slamovich via referee stoppage for the TNA Knockouts World Championship.