Suddenly on the snow outside a shadow came lightning fast; Ouyang Feng with the stick in his hand had arrived on the tent''s entrance. "Dumb kid, whatever trap you prepared, your grandfather is not scared!" he said while flying toward the chair to sit.


    Elders Lu, Jian, and Liang did not expect Ouyang Feng would arrive this soon; the ice inside the pots were barely melted into water; a very cold water, which certainly would not scald people to death. The water was even too cold to take a shower. They saw Ouyang Feng moved toward the chair, they could not help but feeling disappointed.


    ''Crack!'' one more time with loud cursing the man and the chair fell into the hole. This time there were no sand bags around. With his level of martial art it was an easy matter for Ouyang Feng to climb back up. The three elders were helpless, they were afraid Guo Jing would be injured, "Sir, get out of the tent, quick!" they shouted in panic.


    But suddenly somebody shouted from behind the tent, "Pour the water!" As soon as Lu Youjiao heard this voice, without hesitation he shouted, "Pour the water!" The soldiers lifted up the pots and poured the water into the hole.


    Ouyang Feng was about to jump back up when the water from the first pot was poured over his head. He was shocked and was forced to fall back down. He used his snake staff as a brace against the bottom of the hole, and tried to jump up for the second time. This time he was prepared, he was sure he would not be forced to fall down by pouring water. Unexpectedly to him the weather was really cold, as the water left the pot it froze up immediately; as Ouyang Feng was jumping up, the water around his feet was turning into ice. With his incredible strength he tried to jump up, but ''Bonk!'' he felt a shot of pain as his head was hit by a block of ice. He tried hard to kick around, but his feet were firmly buried in ice, he could not even move them. He was extremely shocked; with a loud shout he struggled with all his might; but just as his feet start to loosen up, his upper body was drenched in cold water, which also turned into ice.


    The soldiers pouring the water had been trained well; four soldiers lifted the pot to pour water, while the other four-man teams were ready behind them. One team after another they pour water into the hole like a waterwheel. To protect themselves from the boiling water, each man bound a cloth on their faces. Who would have thought that the snow would not boil, but the cold water could also paralyze the enemy. In a short period of time twenty pots of water had been poured into the hole, forming a four, five ''zhang''s and about seven feet in diameter ice column.


    Everybody was excited, what they thought was a failure turned into a huge success. The three elders supervised the soldiers to dig around the hole; then tied a rope around the ice column. With the help of twenty horses the ice column was pulled up to the ground.


    From all over the camp officers and soldiers alike came to the command-center tent to watch the marvelous sight. The soldiers joined their strength to raise the ice column up. Under the bright torch light they saw Ouyang Feng showing his teeth with an angry look on his face, his hands and feet splayed wide. He was frozen inside the ice column, could not move even one bit. The officers and soldiers erupted in thunderous applause.


    Lu Youjiao was afraid with his profound internal energy Ouyang Feng would be able to melt the ice; he ordered the soldiers to melt some more ice and pour the water on the ice column to make it thicker.


    "I had made an agreement with him, to spare his life three times. Break the ice, let him go!" Guo Jing ordered.


    The three elders were disappointed, but a hero ought to keep his words, so they did not say anything. Lu Youjiao took a hammer and walked toward the ice column to break it when suddenly Jian Zhanglao called out, "Hold on!" He turned to Guo Jing and asked, "Sir, with his ability, how long do you think Ouyang Feng will survive inside the ice?"


    "He might be able to survive for a couple of hours," Guo Jing said, "Longer that that his life might be in danger."


    "Very well," Elder Jian said, "Let him suffer two more hours. We can spare his life, but he has to suffer for a while."


    Remembering Ouyang Feng had killed his masters, Guo Jing nodded his head in approval.


    The news traveled fast, officers and soldiers from other units heard about it and they came to watch. To the three elders Guo Jing said, "From the ancient times there was a saying, ''a hero could be killed, but not humiliated.'' Although he is an evil man, but he is still a grandmaster of his martial art school. How can we let him be the laughingstock of others?" Straightaway he ordered his soldiers to erect a tent around the ice column and arranged a sentry duty. Nobody was allowed to enter the tent to see, not even a general.


    Two hours later the three elders shattered the ice column, let Ouyang Feng free. Ouyang Feng sat cross-legged on the ground, circulating his energy. After vomiting three mouthfuls of dark blood he went away angrily.


    Guo Jing and the three elders were watching him the whole two hours; although looked weary he was able to walk away just like that, he had made them sighed in admiration.


    All this time Guo Jing was continuously in a daze. He was afraid when Ouyang Feng was still inside the ice column, but after Ouyang Feng was gone, he still could not calm his heart down.


    He sat down, thinking hard. Never in his life had he felt so lonely, his heart was empty. He tried hard to think the reason behind it all. Suddenly it dawned on him that before Lu Youjiao issued the command to pour the water, he recalled hearing someone shouted in low voice, ''Pour the water!'' He felt that voice was so familiar, he was 80, 90% certain that voice had Huang Rong''s accent; but because Ouyang Feng was falling into the trap that he was thinking of a more urgent matter and did not pay too much attention to the voice. ''Pour the water!'' these words were buzzing in his ears while his heart was full of doubt. He sprang up and muttered, "Rong''er is really in the army. I have to examine everybody, officers and soldiers alike, not overlooking anyone. I am sure she won''t get away this time." But then another thought came into his mind, "She doesn''t want to see me, why would I painstakingly force her to come out?" Unrolling the painting, he stared blankly at the girl in it; his heart was filled with bitter sweet feeling.


    In the quiet night suddenly he heard hoof beats coming fast from afar. A short while later he heard his guard asked permission and soon a messenger entered his tent, bringing Genghis Khan''s military dispatch. Turned out the Mongolian army had advanced far into the enemy''s territory, enjoying victory everywhere they went. Just a few hundred ''li''s to the west they would reach Khoresm''s fortified city of Samarkhand. Genghis Khan had learned that this city had become Khoresm''s new capital. It was defended by a large army of at least a hundred thousand strong with enough provision to last a long time. The defense was solid; the city wall had enjoyed a notorious reputation as unbreakable. Therefore, Genghis Khan ordered the four armies to join forces and attack simultaneously.


    At daybreak the next day, Guo Jing''s army left their camp heading south along the river. In ten days they arrived outside Samarkhand''s city wall. Seeing Guo Jing''s small army, the enemy went out the city to engage them in fierce battle. With his ''feng yang'' [scattering wind] and ''yun chui'' [dangled cloud] Guo Jing managed to kill about five thousand enemy''s soldier in just half a day. With this defeat the Khoresm army was forced to go back inside their fortified city.