When Yat Huang was satisfied that his son was sufficiently skilled in
the various arts of warfare, he called him to his inner chamber, and
having barred the door securely, he placed Yin under a very binding
oath not to reveal, until an appointed period, the matter which he was
going to put before him.

"From father to son, in unbroken line for ten generations, has such a
custom been observed," he said, "for the course of events is not to be
lightly entered upon. At the commencement of that cycle, which period
is now fully fifteen score years ago, a very wise person chanced to
incur the displeasure of the Emperor of that time, and being in
consequence driven out of the capital, he fled to the mountains. There
his subtle discernment and the pure and solitary existence which he
led resulted in his becoming endowed with faculties beyond those
possessed by ordinary beings. When he felt the end of his earthly
career to be at hand he descended into the plain, where, in a state of
great destitution and bodily anguish, he was discovered by the one
whom this person has referred to as the first of the line of
ancestors. In return for the care and hospitality with which he was
unhesitatingly received, the admittedly inspired hermit spent the
remainder of his days in determining the destinies of his rescuer's
family and posterity. It is an undoubted fact that he predicted how
one would, by well-directed enterprise and adventure, rise to a
position of such eminence in the land that he counselled the details
to be kept secret, lest the envy and hostility of the ambitious and
unworthy should be raised. From this cause it has been customary to
reveal the matter fully from father to son, at stated periods, and the
setting out of the particulars in written words has been severely
discouraged. Wise as this precaution certainly was, it has resulted in