The Banner-Gate Escape Art is Hong Jin’s most distinctive technique in Investiture of the Gods and a central ability in his story with Princess Longji.
It is not an ordinary banner. The technique uses banners to establish a “gate,” then combines that gate with Five-Phase escape arts to alter position and space during battle.
The Black Banner and the Inner Banner Gate
Hong Jin plants a black banner in the ground when he activates the art.
The banner forms a special gate. An enemy who follows him inside enters a space controlled by Hong Jin’s escape technique.
Hong Jin can change where he appears and attack suddenly from another direction. Ji Shuming is killed after pursuing him into the gate.
Deng Chanyu Recognizes the Danger
Deng Chanyu also sees the banner while fighting Hong Jin.
She senses the trap and refuses to pursue him through it, attacking from a distance with the Five-Light Stone instead.
This reveals the essential danger of the Banner-Gate Escape Art: it invites the enemy to enter.
Princess Longji Breaks the Banner Gate
Princess Longji immediately recognizes Hong Jin’s technique. She explains that the black banner belongs to the inner banner gate, while the white banner belongs to the outer banner gate.
When Hong Jin activates the inner gate again, Princess Longji raises a white banner to counter it. She emerges from another direction and cuts his shoulder armor with her sword.
Five-Phase Escape Arts
After his defeat, Hong Jin flees with an earth escape technique. Princess Longji pursues him through wood escape.
The Banner-Gate Escape Art is therefore not an isolated portal. It belongs to a broader system of Five-Phase movement and directional change.
CG Visual Language
- banners
- a gate-like space
- shifts in direction
- sudden disappearance and reappearance
- inner and outer banner gates
- Five-Phase escape arts
It should never look like an ordinary military flag. Once the banner is raised, space itself becomes the trap.