On one particular day, Emperor Houfei charged into Xiao Daocheng's headquarters and saw Xiao sleeping naked. He was intrigued by the large size of Xiao's belly, and he woke Xiao up, drew a target on Xiao's belly, and prepared to shoot Xiao with arrows. Xiao pleaded for his life, and Emperor Houfei's attendant Wang Tian'en () pointed out that if he killed Xiao with an arrow, he would lose Xiao's belly as a wonderful target—and so at Wang's suggestion, Emperor Houfei shot Xiao with bone-made round-point arrows and was pleased when he was able to target Xiao's bellybutton successfully. Xiao became fearful after the incident, and he initially discussed with Yuan and Chu the possibilities of deposing the emperor, but could not get them to go along with his plan. Instead, he independently planned with a number of his associates, and he also entered into agreements with a number of Emperor Houfei's attendants. On the night of Qi Xi in 477, Emperor Houfei's attendant Yang Yufu (), whom Emperor Houfei had previously threatened to kill, cut off Emperor Houfei's head while he was asleep, and delivered the head to Xiao via Xiao's subordinate Wang Jingze (). Xiao immediately went to the palace with the emperor's head in possession—and the palace guards had been so terrified by the emperor that they were supposed to protect that when they heard of his death, there was no mourning but great rejoicing. Xiao issued an edict in the name of Empress Dowager Wang legitimizing the assassination and posthumously demoting Emperor Houfei to the title of Prince of Cangwu, while making Emperor Houfei's younger brother Liu Zhun the Prince of Ancheng emperor (as Emperor Shun). (According to later accusations by Shen Youzhi while starting an uprising against Xiao, Xiao also exposed Emperor Houfei's body to the elements so that it became infested by maggots, although it is not clear whether Shen's accusation had a basis in fact.)