The battle raged until deep into the night. Only after driving the Oirat army fifty li away did the Ming Dynasty forces finally stop.
Thinking of the Emperor who had already met his end, the soldiers wept aloud in the dead of night, their hatred for the Oirats burning all the deeper.
Some of the commanders had already returned to the city and saw the Emperor, now dressed in clean clothes.
The Emperor's face was ashen green. He was dead beyond all doubt.
Several high-ranking ministers were brought in to identify him. They also summoned the palace eunuchs who had previously attended the Emperor to confirm that this was indeed his true body.
The ministers gathered around the Emperor's corpse and wept. Once they had cried their fill, they called in military physicians and coroners to examine it together.
Though they dared not disturb the Emperor's body, the military physicians and coroners still determined the cause of death from his wounds.
"This arrow is extraordinary. It pierced straight through his chest. How immense must the force have been? An ordinary person could never manage it."
"If an ordinary person could not, what about a cultivator?" Jing Yuan said in a grave voice. "Such an enormous bird is rarely seen in this world. That person could stand on its back and shoot an arrow from such a high, distant stretch of sky..."
Cao Nai clenched his fists. "A cultivator dared take part in murdering an Emperor? By meddling in worldly affairs like this, was he not afraid of retribution? Was it not said that the Founding Emperor had an agreement with them? Was he not afraid of backlash?"
Kuang Ye said, "Judging by that person's clothing and appearance, he did not seem to be from the Central Plains. Perhaps he was