Lady Xu, wife of Bian Jinlong, heard the news and collapsed into a heap in the rear garden, covering her face as she wept bitterly. Her eldest son, Bian Ji, ran into her, and only after questioning her closely did he learn the dreadful news of his father's death. At once his eyes turned bloodshot, his hair seemed to bristle with rage. Donning armor and taking up his spear, he stormed straight into the command tent to request battle and avenge his father. Seeing his blazing filial devotion, Ouyang Chun could not bear to refuse and nodded his consent.
With tears in his eyes, Bian Ji kowtowed and withdrew. Returning home, he ordered his household guards to carry out a huge vermilion-lacquered cabinet, then mustered his troops and deployed outside the pass. There, he planted a massive Mysterious Iron pestle thicker than a bowl's mouth, opened the red cabinet, and drew forth a banner—a banner over four zhang tall, its entire body strung from hundreds of human bones. Pale and ghastly, they shimmered with eerie light, every joint densely covered in cinnabar talismans. The moment the Banner Flag unfurled, a sinister wind sprang up; a thousand streams of black qi churned like pythons, while ten thousand trails of cold smoke spread like fog.
Whenever Bian Ji went into battle, he would only fight an enemy general for four or five exchanges before pretending his strength was spent and fleeing in defeat, racing straight beneath the banner. Unaware of what lay in store, his pursuers would follow close behind and sweep past its shadow. In an instant, black qi drilled into their skin and cold smoke wrapped their bodies, leaving them limp on the ground, unconscious. With this White Bone Ghost-Soul Banner, he captured three Zhou generals in succession: Nangong Shi