According to the Shiji, he seized more than 73 cities from the other six hostile states, and to date no record has been found to show that he suffered a single defeat throughout his military career.

He is regarded by Chinese folklore as one of the four Greatest Generals of the Late Warring States period, along with Li Mu, Wang Jian, and Lian Po;[4] he is also remembered as the most fearsome amongst the four.

The New Book of Tang, Volume 75 Second Part, wrote that he was descended from a general of Duke Mu of Qin, Baiyi Bing (白乙丙) of the Jiǎn lineage (蹇).

[6][7] In 293 BC, Bai Qi led the Qin army to victory against Wei (魏) and Han (韓) forces at the Battle of Yique (in present-day Longmen (龍門), southeast of Luoyang, Henan), reportedly slaughtering around 240,000 enemy soldiers in total while capturing some cities.

In 278 BC, he led the Qin army to capture Ying (郢), the capital city of Chu, in the process seizing considerable amounts of territory.

[16] Bai Qi wanted to end Zhao once and for all, as they were weary and psychologically affected by the losses incurred from the Battle of Changping, but the prime minister of Qin, Fan Ju (范雎), who was persuaded by a talker from Zhao, feared Bai Qi's rising power, and recommended that the king stop the attack on the pretext that the Qin troops ought to be rested, and to accept a ceded territory negotiation.

In the Zhan Guo Ce, his true intentions were supposedly revealed when he stated that he would rather be executed for refusing the king's order, than lose his long undefeated fame on the battlefield.

[20][better source needed] Bai Qi sometimes appears as a door god on Chinese and Taoist temples, usually paired with Li Mu.