The Urban Dao Child

Yang Dao was riding the bike at a uniform pace while the captain and the ace rider of the university team put up his best effort to catch up to Yang Dao. When they both reached the 500-meter milestone the captain gave up on catching up to Yang Dao. He wanted to regain some strength to make a sudden acceleration on the 100-meter milestone.

The rest of the team followed behind and they all were watching how the race progressed. They could not believe that someone younger than them, without any proper equipment, and riding the bike on a never before witnessed, was faster than their ace. They were agitated to the limit and unknowingly their pace of riding also increased.

Yang Dao was unaware of this and his eyes were locked onto the university entrance 400 meters away. He did not know when he crossed the 500 meters milestone. The boy was engrossed in the adrenaline rush. The excitement he felt when riding the bike in front of all the professionals. The wind brushing past his face, his accelerated heartbeat, the slight pain originating from his muscles. He has never experienced all this. Today was the first day when he felt such bliss. As he rode the bike forward unconsciously he started sensing the air around him.

He was blessed by the heavens. He could do things unconsciously which some people cannot even perceive even with a deliberate attempt. The air around him was moving very fast as Yang Dao was not sitting in one place. It would have caused errors for normal elementalists but for Yang Dao, it acted like a perk. As his mind gradually immersed in wonderous Dao comprehension. His understanding of the air increased. He also expanded the range of element manipulation by ten meters.

This whole process took him just a couple of seconds. This monstrous speed of comprehension was only possible for him. He could not yet bend the element the way he wills it but as he rode he realized that riding the bike helped him in interacting with the elements. Just as he was lost in his comprehension. The team captain behind him found an opportunity as Yang Dao slowed down his cadence.

The captain of the school team, losing to a newbie? What a shameful matter it is. He picked up the pace and stood up by transferring his wait on the pedals. His body started swaying like a pendulum as his bike acted as a counterweight. This stance is called dancing. Dancing provides the rider with an extra acceleration force by using weight shifting. The captain’s acceleration made the team cheer.

“Come on, do it, Captain.”

“Yay, we are with you.”

The team behind cheered their captain with similar shouts but their shouts also caused Yang Dao to wake up. He was only engrossed in partial enlightenment. He sensed a strong aura radiating behind him. Yang Dao did not turn his head back to check his opponent’s move. His eyes glanced sideways. From the corner of his eyes, the captain dancing with his bike came into his field of vision. Yang Dao waited for his opponent to come close to him. They only had 300 meters to reach the finish. The path in front of them was a straight stretch.

The team captain came side by side with Yang Dao. Just as he wanted to feel mighty in his heart, the captain sensed a gaze looking on to him at the side. It was his opponent, Yang Dao, who was gazing at him as if trying to figure out something. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

Yang Dao suddenly let out a dazzling smile. The captain was confused to think why did he smile. Though the next moment this man even thought of suicides. Yang Dao observed his riding stance and adapted it. Under the surprised gazes of all the riders. Yang Dao stood up on the bike. He shifted his weight to one side and the bike was leaned in his opposite direction. This scene shocked the captain to his core. He was having an existential crisis at this moment. How could he encounter such a monster on a practice run?

The team behind him was now partially numb. The guy who has been commenting since the beginning spoke again, “Hey, why does his dancing look so exaggerated?”

Another guy who was watching this suddenly flinched, he almost crashed with his friend. He regained his balance among some curses and spoke, “That guy is using the metronome dancing technique. He is using his whole body as a counterweight to generate force.”

The other guys also flinched at this. Metronome dancing was something that could not be learned by just anyone. The person was needed to be a genius cyclist. They looked ahead with eager gazes but the race has now finished. They all sighed and could only rush to the school gate. The captain of the team stopped beside Yang Dao and spoke amidst his panting, “You… are… good… join… our… team…what say?”

Yang Dao took off his helmet and shook his sweaty head. His breathing was slightly disturbed but not as ragged as the captain. He nodded with a faint smile, and said, “I hope you guys don’t have snobs among you.”

The team has arrived by now and one guy directly came and squatted by his side. He was admiring ‘Silence’ and snorted, “You guy, making us eat dust, riding on the pinnacle bike and call us snob. You sure have a sense of humor.”

Yang Dao tilted his head and asked in a low voice, “What do you mean? Aren’t all race bikes like this one?”

The whole scene turned silent and the captain could not help but scream at Yang Dao, “You, fuckk… you are kidding with me right? You think the bike you are riding is an ordinary bike?” his eyes were about to fall out of their socket. The whole team looked at Yang Dao as if they have seen a retard.

Yang Dao was a boy untouched by money and fame and when he noticed the weird expressions on the faces of the people around him. He felt confused and to make things worse he even nodded subconsciously to what the team captain asked him. The captain saw him reacting positively and immediately ran up to strangle this boy. It was only after the team held him back did he calm down a bit.

So, like this Yang Dao became a member of the university cycling team.