“Then you have a suggestion for me?” Li Bai said thoughtfully, stroking his beard.

“I still don’t think you stand a chance at surpassing Li Bai, but I can point your energies in the correct direction. Technology has clouded your eyes, blinding you to the beauty of nature. Therefore, you must first forget all your ultra-advanced technological knowledge. If you can transplant all your memories into your current brain, you can certainly delete some of them.”

Li Bai exchanged looks with Bigtooth. Both burst into laughter. “Esteemed god, I told you from the start, these are tricky bug-bugs,” said Bigtooth. “A moment of carelessness and you’ll fall into one of their traps.”

“Hahahaha, tricky indeed, but entertaining as well,” Li Bai said to Bigtooth, before turning toward Yi Yi with cold amusement. “Did you really think I came here to admit defeat?”

“You could not surpass the pinnacle of human poetry. That’s a fact.”

Abruptly, Li Bai raised a finger and pointed to the river. “How many ways are there to walk to the riverbank?”

Yi Yi looked uncomprehendingly at Li Bai for a few seconds. “It seems … there’s only one.”

“No, there’s two. I can also walk in this direction,” Li Bai indicated the direction opposite from the river, “and keep going, all the way around the Devouring Empire, crossing the river from the other side to reach this bank. I can even make a full circuit around the Milky Way and return here. With our technology, it’s just as easy. Technology can surpass anything! I am now forced to take the second path!”

Yi Yi pondered this for a long time before shaking his head in bewilderment. “Even if you have the technology of a god, I can’t think of a second path to surpassing Li Bai.”

Li Bai stood. “It’s simple. There are two ways to surpass Li Bai. The first is to write poems that surpass his. The other is to write every poem!”

Yi Yi looked even more confused, but Bigtooth beside him seemed to have had an epiphany.

“I will write every five-character-line and seven-character-line poem possible. They were Li Bai’s specialty. In addition, I’m going to write down every possible lyrical poem for the common line formats! How do you not understand? I’m going to try every possible permutation of Chinese characters that fits the format rules!”

“Ah, magnificent! What a magnificent undertaking!” Bigtooth crowed, forgetting all dignity.

“Is this hard?” Yi Yi asked ignorantly.

“Of course, incredibly so! The largest computer in the Devouring Empire might not be able to finish the calculations before the death of the universe!”

“Surely not,” Yi Yi said, skeptical.