"Heave-ho, heave-ho, heave-ho!" Amid the rolling waves, a large crowd of strange creatures struggled forward, chanting in unison.
They're actually Kiwimon. Kari mentioned them last time-a bunch of cowardly, useless Ultimate Digimon. But is it really necessary to use Ultimates for manual labor? What are they hauling? Zheng Fan pondered, concealing his presence as best he could.
Digimon were different from cultivators. Mortals became cultivators by continually breaking through their limits, whereas Digimon had no need to do so. Simply living long enough and accumulating energy allowed them to evolve and grow stronger, much like creatures blessed with exceptional innate talents and bloodlines. But creatures that relied on bloodlines were bound to face severe limitations. A fire spirit's bloodline only bestowed an affinity for fire, and other divine beast bloodlines were much the same. Unless they broke through the limits of their bloodlines, their paths would only grow narrower. Yet Digimon, which likewise relied on innate gifts, could evolve in countless different directions, just like cultivators.
The Ultimate level of Digimon corresponded to cultivation realms ranging from Nascent Soul to Tribulation Transcendence. Beings at that level were already experts among cultivators, and should have been nobility among divine beasts. Yet here were twenty Ultimate Digimon doing manual labor. Growing stronger required hardship and tempering, but this was like the difference between working out at a gym and hauling bricks at a construction site. Even prisoners of war should not have ended up like this.
There were twenty Kiwimon in all, with tow ropes strapped to their bodies, inching along underwater. They seemed to be building something like an undersea oil pipeline, for they were transporting a steel pipe over a meter in diameter. Its far end remained submerged in darkness, beyond Zheng Fan's sight. There was not a trace of