Bi Gan is King Zhou’s royal uncle and one of the last ministers willing to confront the collapse of the Shang court in Investiture of the Gods. He argues for law and restraint when the king murders loyal officials, helps prevent Ji Chang’s immediate execution, and receives Boyi Kao when the son comes to offer treasures for his father’s release. Rank does not protect him from speaking directly when the dynasty’s conduct becomes destructive.
His conflict with Daji becomes personal after fox spirits gather for a palace feast. Bi Gan and Huang Feihu trace them back to their den, burn the cave, and kill many as they flee. Their pelts are made into a robe and presented at court, humiliating Daji and giving the fox spirit a reason for revenge. Hu Ximei then helps Daji feign a mortal illness that supposedly requires the seven-aperture exquisite heart of Bi Gan.
Summoned before the king, Bi Gan denounces the demand but cuts out his own heart, throws it down, and walks from the palace under the protection of a charm previously left by Jiang Ziya. He must remain silent to live, yet on the road he asks a woman selling hollow vegetables whether a person can survive without a heart. Her answer that such a person must die breaks the spell, and he falls. Court robes, an uncovered breast, and the absent heart embody a loyal minister destroyed by the ruler he serves.