 Based on later Chinese inheritance laws and legends, it is typically thought that he predeceased his father.Stories such as the "Fengshen Yanyi" lay the guilt upon King Zhou, the last king of the Shang dynasty, and the traditional account of his death was taken by later Chinese jurists as the first instance of "lingchi" (the "death by a thousand cuts").However, passages in the "Book of Rites" and the "Masters of Huainan" assume that King Wu's inheritance simply represented an aberration or even an older tradition among the Zhou of passing over the eldest son.