<h4>Chapter 1289: Chapter 1597: Counterattack (Part 1)</h4>


    At this moment, the sound of engines gradually approached, appearing in everyone’s line of sight. Seeing the military transport vehicles, all the martial artists froze. After a brief stunned silence, they immediately became alert, quickly forming a circle and looking at the neers with caution.


    Soon, the military transport vehicles drove closer and slowly came to a stop. The car door opened, and a young man jumped down from the passenger seat, smiling broadly at the crowd, "Everyone, we meet again."


    Seeing the young man in the car, everyone was taken aback, eximing, "Why is it you?"


    Ling Chen smiled and said, "Don’t you wish it were me? I know you’ve been through a lot of hardships, so I deliberately brought food and water. If you’re not happy to see me, then I’ll take my leave."


    Upon hearing about food and water, everyone’s eyes lit up. They hurriedly surrounded Ling Chen, impatiently asking, "Ling Chen, where’s the water... the water?"


    Ling Chen waved his hand, and several young men jumped down from the military transport vehicles, gradually unloading food and water from the vehicles. In no time, the food and water Ling Chen brought were swept clean by over two hundred martial artists.


    After everyone had rested and regained much of their spirits, a middle-aged man stood up, took the initiative to walk over to Ling Chen, sped his hands together, and said, "Thank you, Mr. Ling, for saving us."


    "You’re wee. I just did what I should do."


    "Mr. Ling, how much further until we leave this desert?"


    "About seventy or eighty kilometers."


    "That far?" The middle-aged man was astonished, "We’ve been traveling for so long..."


    Ling Chen replied, "I know. However, you’re heading in the wrong direction. If you continue along your previous route, you’ll only delve deeper into the desert. If I hadn’t arrived in time, you wouldn’t survive past tomorrow."


    Hearing this, the middle-aged man asked in confusion, "Mr. Ling, how did you know we were here? And... weren’t you supposed to be with us?"


    Ling Chen shook his head and said, "This isn’t something you should worry about. What you should be concerned about now is the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Su He casually let you go without specifying a direction, clearly wanting you to blindly head to your doom."


    The middle-aged man pondered for a while, nodded, and said, "You’re right. After entering the desert, the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion’s attitude towards us became increasingly indifferent, and eventually, they ignored uspletely. Honestly, I’m puzzled as to why the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion would do such a thing."


    "The reason is simple. Su He wants you dead."


    "Why?"


    "If you want to know why, why note with me?" With that, Ling Chen said no more and directly boarded the transport vehicle.


    After passing on the message, the middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, and gradually everyone got into the vehicles. After half an hour’s drive, the convoy finally returned to the base. Upon arrival, Ling Chen immediately arranged for everyone to a rtively spacious warehouse.


    By this time, Tong Zhentian and others were already waiting in the warehouse. Seeing Tong Zhentian there, the crowd seemed to have found their backbone, huddling around to ask questions, wanting to rify the reason. "Alright, everyone quiet down, I will exin the situation shortly."


    Upon hearing this, the noisy warehouse gradually quieted down, and everyone’s attention focused on Tong Zhentian.


    Tong Zhentian nced around at the crowd, cleared his throat, and said loudly, "I believe everyone is confused about this operation. To be honest, this operation is actually a plotid out by the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion... To be precise, it’s Su He’s scheme. His goal is simple: to bury all present in the desert."


    "Elder Tong, do you have any evidence for saying this? Elder Su is a martial arts magnate like you, why would he do such a thing?"


    "Because of the Skyhawk Pavilion," Tong Zhentian said lightly. "As is well known, we’vee all this way to eliminate the Skyhawk Pavilion that has been causing trouble in the martial arts world. However, you may not know that the Skyhawk Pavilion was actually established by Su He, specifically to carry out certain shady activities for him."


    Tong Zhentian paused, looking at the group of astonished people, waiting for them to digest the news before continuing, "I believe everyone has received records of the havoc caused by the Skyhawk Pavilion over the years. Many have fallen victim to them. When the Dragon Tiger Hall learned of this, they immediatelyunched an investigation and found that each action taken by the Skyhawk Pavilion was rted to Su He."


    At this point, Tong Zhentian signaled to Ling Chen. Thetter understood, distributing over a dozen pages of prepared parchment to the crowd.


    "Please look at these, everyone. These are the original documents we’ve found, containing records of Skyhawk Pavilion’s actions and signatures. You only need topare the handwriting to know whether what I say is true."


    "So the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion and the Skyhawk Pavilion have been colluding all along," someone said indignantly.


    "We’ve been blind. If only we had known earlier, we should have united and destroyed the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion back then."


    As voices of resentment rose, Ling Chen stepped forward and spoke, "Everyone, this matter is not rted to the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion."


    Everyone paused, looking at Ling Chen with confusion, asking, "What do you mean? Haven’t you all said this was Su He’s doing? Why say it has nothing to do with the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion, isn’t that contradictory?"


    Ling Chen smiled slightly and exined, "Everyone, Su He is Su He, and the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion is the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion. Please do not confuse the two. Although Su He was the old Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion, the current Pavilion Master is only one, and that is Su Mei, who alone represents the entire Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion. Moreover, to hide his crimes and continue living freely, Su He imprisoned his granddaughter and seized control of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion, even using Master Su’s name to make the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion’s people collude with him. Therefore, we need only take action against Su He and the Skyhawk Pavilion, not include the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion. Please do not mix this up."


    A few days ago, Ling Chen reached an agreement with Su Mei to allow the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion to continue to exist, on the condition that the Skyhawk Pavilion be eradicated. Hence, he had to say this to avoid everyone’s anger being directed at the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion.


    "Mr. Ling, this is just your word; how do you know the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion and Su He aren’t in cahoots? Don’t forget, Su He and Su Mei are family, would Su Mei really go against her grandfather?"


    "That makes sense, I also think that the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion can’t be exonerated from involvement in this matter."


    As the crowd continued discussing, Ling Chen raised his hand to calm everyone down.


    "I understand everyone’s suspicion of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion, but I can assure you. Even if you don’t believe me, you should trust Elder Tong."