Ren smiled lazily.
For a moment, no one realized that the pressure had already faded from the hall.
The echo of the Sun Bird still lingered in their hearts—the memory of a golden sun crying across the sky, of Vermillion Bird flames kneeling, of bottlenecks loosening like frost under spring, of a Revolving Core forming as easily as a man exhaling.
Only when his voice slid in did everyone remember how to breathe.
"…I didn't go too far, right?" he asked.
His tone was light, almost amused—as if he were asking whether the tea had been a little too hot.
The sentence dropped into the suffocating silence like a stone plunging into still water.
Ripples spread.
The spell broke.
Mu Chihuo's back jerked as if someone had slapped him awake. Tendons stood out on the back of his hand where it clenched the armrest. Several elders sucked in sharp breaths they hadn't realized they'd been holding. A few disciples swayed where they stood, true essence in their meridians stuttering between shame and relief.
All across the grand council hall—beneath the towering vermillion pillars carved with phoenix reliefs, under the high dome painted with ancient flames—the Vermillion Bird fires inside Divine Phoenix Island's people were still trembling.
Mu Yuhuang closed her eyes for a brief moment.
In her Spiritual Sea, the phantom of a Vermillion Bird circled above a sun-wreathed Revolving Core, its cry still resonating with the echo of Ren's Sun Bird. It was proud, fiery, unwilling to kneel to anything beneath the heavens.
Yet a short while ago, it had bowed its head.
When she opened her eyes again, the Vermillion Bird fire in her pupils had calmed. Her long lashes lowered and rose once, and she let out a quiet breath that was almost a sigh.
"With everything Young Hero Ren has shown today…" she said slowly, her voice returning to the even, measured tone of Divine Phoenix Island's Island Master, "…if we still pretended not to see, we truly would not be worthy."
Her words were soft.
But they were like a decree.
On the male elders' side, expressions tightened.
Not worthy.
They understood exactly what that meant.
If they tried to reduce him to a wandering guest, to treat him as some talented outsider passing through their island, they would be the ones belittling Divine Phoenix Island's own judgment. They would be the ones pretending the sky above their heads hadn't just been torn open to reveal another sun.
Mu Chihuo's fingers curled into the armrest. The old flames in his dantian roared in protest, equal parts resentment and unwilling admiration.
Mu Qingshu's jaw clenched faintly, the tendons in his neck standing out.
They had seen countless so-called geniuses before. Divine Phoenix Island had reigned for nearly three thousand years. It had watched Heaven-defying talents come and go like comets—brilliant, short-lived arcs across a long night sky.
But this one…
This youth had walked in with an Early Xiantian cultivation base, with s disciple of his own who used a single spear strike to crush a Middle Houtian Vermillion Bird genius. He had then stepped into Revolving Core right in front of their eyes—building a core whose Law density and purity made their own long-established foundations feel crude and clumsy by comparison. He had manifested a Sun Bird whose cry made their Vermillion Bird flames kneel and, in doing so, shaken bottlenecks that had been stagnant for decades or centuries.
To treat such a person as anything less than a disaster-level variable… that would be the real foolishness.
On the high seat, Mu Fengxian tapped her cane once.
The crisp sound echoed beneath the vaulted ceiling, cutting through the lingering daze.
Her cloudy eyes were clear now, filled with a complicated light—old wariness, sharp intelligence, and a thin, almost childlike excitement that she hadn't felt in a very long time.
She inclined her head, the movement carrying the weight of a matriarch who had ruled fire for centuries.
"Ren Ming," she said, dropping the honorific without even realizing it. "Would you be willing to accept a position within our Divine Phoenix Island?"
Several elders drew in a sharp breath.
Her fingers tightened slightly on the cane.
"As Guest of Fire."
The words fell like a thunderclap.
Guest of Fire.
This was no ordinary "guest elder" title given to passing experts in exchange for a few pointers and a token jade slip. This was a core designation—a formal acknowledgment that his Dao in Fire stood at a level their sect itself needed to bow toward. It was a position that would place him above many elders when it came to authority over anything related to Fire comprehension.
Mu Chihuo's face went iron-dark again.
Mu Qingshu's pupils shrank.
Guest of Fire. On the first day. Before he had even slept a single night on the island. Before he had lifted a finger for them in battle. Before he had offered them even one inheritance jade slip.
They understood in that instant: Divine Phoenix Island was no longer evaluating whether they "should" use him.
They were already rearranging themselves around him.
High above, vermillion banners stirred in a wind that wasn't there.
Ren's brows lifted the slightest fraction.
Then he chuckled.
"Your Divine Phoenix Island really is generous," he said. His voice was relaxed, warmth curling at the edges. "If you raise your hand any higher, my head might start to float."
A faint ripple of strained amusement moved through the hall. The tension loosened half a hair, then tightened again.
His eyes curved, the lazy smile returning.
"But I'm not the type to waste good intentions."
He didn't put on airs. He didn't make a show of refusing three times before accepting. He didn't feign modesty or mutter about not being worthy.
He simply nodded.
"I'll take that Guest of Fire seat," he said, as if he were agreeing to sit on a comfortable cushion instead of stepping directly into the heart of a fourth-grade sect. "As for what I need…"
He raised a hand and ticked off his fingers one by one.
"First," he said, "a field. Somewhere I can throw my people into the fire without worrying about collapsing your main hall. The more battered the land, the better. A place where they can temper themselves, bleed a little, and not disturb anyone else."
Several elders' eyelids twitched at his casual mention of "throwing" people into a field to bleed.
"…This kid…" an old elder thought, throat dry. "He talks about using disciples like whetstones, and his tone is lighter than if he were asking for tea."
"Second," Ren went on, utterly unbothered, "a quiet house. A place for me, my women, and—"
His gaze drifted lightly over the ranks of female disciples, saintesses, and elders.
"—any lovely woman here who wants to visit from time to time."
The words were spoken in the same calm, almost gentle tone he used for everything else.
They still hit like arrows.
Mu Chihuo choked.
A couple of male elders who had just managed to straighten their backs coughed violently, nearly swallowing their tongues. Faces went from ashen to beet-red in an instant.
He actually said it.
My women.
Any lovely woman here.
Openly. In Divine Phoenix Island's council hall. Under the stone vermillion pillars. In front of the Matriarch and Island Master.
For a heartbeat, almost everyone forgot to circulate their true essence.
On the female side—
A wave of color rolled through the ranks like fire running along oil.
The young female disciples' eyes went wide.
Some looked down, fingers gripping their robes, ears burning. Others bit their lips, hearts hammering in their chests in ways that had nothing to do with cultivation. A few stole quick, guilty glances at him, then at Mu Qianyu, then back again.
Mu Xiaoqing's breath caught. Her Blue Luan bloodline, already shaken by the Sun Bird earlier, fluttered wildly—icy-blue flame curling and uncurling in confusion.
Mu Qianyu's fingers, hidden in her sleeves, curled tight. Her phoenix flame—which had been trying very hard to calm down—flared again, this time with a heat that had nothing to do with Dao comprehension. Her heart thumped once, twice, hard enough that she almost worried the sound would be heard outside her own ribs.
Even Mu Yuhuang, whose will had weathered storms on the South Sea and the turmoil of sect wars, felt her heart skip a beat. A trace of warmth crept up her neck before she ruthlessly pressed it down, burying it under the dignity of an Island Master.
Mu Bingyun's cool composure cracked; a faint pink rose at the tips of her ears, barely visible beneath the veil of icy qi around her.
Mu Qingyi, who had stood steady through battles and sect affairs, suddenly found the jade tiles in front of her toes exceedingly interesting.
Even Mu Fengxian's brows twitched.
'Brat…' she thought, simultaneously exasperated and amused. 'Your mouth really leaves no retreat for others.'
Out loud, Ren only smiled.
"Of course," he added easily, as if he hadn't just turned the hall upside down with one sentence, "if there are proud phoenixes here who prefer to keep their distance, I won't chase them. I'm not that lacking in charm."
The line was completely shameless.
But somehow, in his mouth, it sounded more like light teasing than vulgar arrogance. There was no leering in his gaze, no crude sweeping up and down. When his eyes moved over Mu Qianyu, Mu Bingyun, Mu Yuhuang, Mu Fengxian, Mu Xiaoqing, Mu Qingyi, they were warm and unhurried—like a man appreciating a beautiful mountain range, not cataloguing possessions.
That made it more dangerous.
The male elders wanted to cough blood.
The female disciples' hearts grew even more chaotic.
'If this were any other man,' Mu Chihuo thought darkly, 'I'd have slapped him through the wall long ago. But this one…'
He remembered the sea of fire bowing to a single Sun Bird. The way his own Revolving Core comprehension had been forced down by the pressure of a newly formed Revolving Core.
He swallowed the impulse and said nothing.
Ren clapped his hands lightly, as if wrapping up that matter.
"Since we're talking about staying," he said, tone turning playful again, "I should give a proper greeting gift, right? It'd be rude to come nest in someone's house empty-handed."
Every gaze in the hall snapped back to him.
Even the elders who had been mentally cursing him a breath ago couldn't help it.
A greeting gift.
After the Sun Bird.
After the Revolving Core.
Did this monster still have more to show?
Mu Yuhuang's lips moved, a helpless smile threatening to appear and being forcibly suppressed.
"…The Fire bird you manifested just now," she said, choosing her words carefully, "is already more than a sufficient greeting gift for our Divine Phoenix Island. If that's your idea of 'just a little greeting'…"
She shook her head slightly, the ornaments in her hair chiming softly.
"Do you truly have even more to take out?"
Her tone was asking.
Her heart was braced.
Ren chuckled, eyes narrowing with quiet amusement.
"That?" he said. "That was just me stretching my wings."
His fingers moved in the air.
"This next thing," he continued, "is actually made for you."
He lifted his hand and lightly tapped his own chest, right over his heart.
Flame stirred.
It wasn't the blazing, sun-like fire of the Sun Bird. It was smaller, quieter, like a lantern being lit on a dark mountain path.
The light spread in ripples instead of waves, flowing through the hall like gentle warmth carried on a spring breeze.
For the Fire cultivators present, that "gentle warmth" stabbed straight into the depths of their meridians.
True essence flickered. Revolving Cores hummed in place. The Vermillion Bird and Blue Luan bloodlines across the hall shuddered as if something had whispered their names.
"Lantern-Heart Flame Diagram," Ren said softly.
Behind him, no grand phantom manifested.
Instead—within the Spiritual Seas of everyone present—something appeared.
A single point of flame.
Mu Qianyu stiffened.
Her Spiritual Sea—normally a vast red-gold world wreathed in thunder-tempered vermillion flames—trembled. A tiny spark rose from the center of her Revolving Core, as if answering a call from outside.
The spark split.
Lines of light spread like brush strokes on dark jade.
In an instant, a diagram unfolded behind her heart.
Lines of vermillion traced the shape of a lantern. Within that frame, countless thin fire patterns connected—spirals, arcs, droplets, arcs of thunder, feather-like traces of phoenix wings, the curl of a Blue Luan's frost-tinted plume.
She drew in a sharp breath.
This…
This was Fire?
Not the crude concept ordinary cultivators grasped—heat, burning, destruction.
This was Fire as language.
Every line was a character. Every knot, a sentence. It showed the way flame rose, the way it fell, the way it devoured, the way it nourished. It showed how thunder could temper fire without shattering it, how ice could embrace flame without extinguishing it, how blood vitality could be guided to burn pure instead of boiling chaotically.
Bottlenecks that had lain like knots for years at the edge of her understanding loosened with frightening ease.
Mu Xiaoqing's eyes flew wide.
In her Spiritual Sea, the Blue Luan's icy fire, always sharper and colder than Mu Qianyu's vermillion flame, quivered. A lantern formed there too—but its light was pale-blue, like frost-lit fire.
The diagram sketched the way Yin and Yang flames met, how cold could refine heat, how heat could protect cold. Lines she had seen in her Blue Luan inheritance but never fully understood lit up one by one, as if someone had taken a blurred painting and redrawn the strokes in perfect clarity.
"…So this is…" she thought, heart pounding. "All this time, Blue Luan flame could walk this path too…"
Mu Yuhuang's Martial Heart shook.
Her Revolving Core, which had been at the verge of Life Destruction for so long, hummed.
The Lantern-Heart Diagram appeared in her Spiritual Sea with far more complexity than in the juniors'. Sun-like vermillion arcs intertwined with phoenix feathers; the lantern's frame was etched with layers of Fire Law that matched her decades of accumulation. But woven through those familiar patterns were new lines—curves she had never seen, connections she had never imagined.
The way Phoenix Fire nourished the body, the way it rebirthed from ashes, the way it balanced destruction with life—all of it deepened in a single breath. The realm that had eluded her for years suddenly felt as if it were no longer a distant sky, but a door half-open.
Cracks spread through the invisible barrier in front of her path.
Mu Fengxian's lips parted.
The Life Destruction sea in her Spiritual Sea, which had always been a roaring ocean of destructive flame, calmed. A lantern rose above that ocean, its light neither scorching nor blinding. Its patterns traced not only Vermillion Bird paths but also ancient, half-forgotten Phoenix lines she had glimpsed in her youth and never found again.
Her comprehension, stuck at an invisible ceiling for too long, cracked.
Life Destruction's destructive cocoon, which had once felt suffocating, now seemed like a shell that could be reshaped by Fire Laws instead of endured.
Mu Bingyun's heart jolted.
In her frosty world, where blue ice blossomed and Luan song echoed, the Lantern-Heart Diagram manifested as a crystalline lamp. Fire and ice diagrams overlapped, the lines fitting together like two halves of an ancient talisman. It showed her exactly how to braid her spiritual ice with the faint fire within her body, how to let them dance instead of clash.
Her Ice Laws surged. Shadows of higher realms appeared at the horizon of her mind; a path where Blue Luan frost did not lag behind Vermillion Bird flame, but walked beside it.
Mu Qingyi's breathing quickened.
Her Vermillion Bird flame, always steady but a step below true genius, suddenly expanded its world. She saw paths she could have walked but hadn't known about, alternate circulations, method variations. The frustration that had lurked under her calm for years melted like frost in the morning sun.
Even the young female disciples, whose flames were still tender, found their hearts beating faster. Their meridians hummed as the Lantern-Heart diagram sketched itself faintly within their Spiritual Seas, matching their meager foundations but still pointing upward, toward a wider sky.
On the other side of the barrier, Qin Xingxuan's eyes flickered once.
The Lantern-Heart Diagram blossomed in her Spiritual Sea as well.
But in her case, the diagram didn't rise alone.
Underneath it, the Azure True Dragon Infinity Seed stirred. Its pattern—already altered by Ren to adapt and grow with each realm—traced the lantern's lines, wrapping them in its own regenerative rules. Fire, Wind, Thunder, and Spear Seeds pulsed together; the Heaven-Piercing Elemental Canon's Dao lines resonated in response.
Lantern-Heart's flame paths didn't simply sit atop her existing foundation.
They sank in.
Merged.
Her Fire Law, already at the second level under Ren's guidance, sharpened further, edges smoothing, depths deepening. The Spear Concept in her heart found new ways to use Fire—not just as a coat over her thrust, but as the very spine of her spear paths, altering angles, rhythms, and explosive power.
She exhaled slowly.
Only Ren would give her a core Fire inheritance here of all places. Only he would do it in a way that would immediately hook into the foundation he'd already carved for her.
Around the hall, male disciples were pale.
They felt it too.
The Lantern-Heart Diagram was gentler with them, less forceful. Ren's will didn't push as deeply into their paths. But even so, a single glance, a single circulation along the new lines, showed them that this art could lift their Fire comprehension beyond their current limits.
To give such an art away freely…
Just because he'd decided to stay?
They were in awe.
And, for many of the women, their awe was focused on him.
Ren's lips curved.
"This," he said mildly, "is an evolved Lantern-Heart Flame Diagram. It's built to drag people past the little tricks they think are 'Fire Laws' and into something closer to the real thing."
He tapped his chest again.
"I threaded my recent Fire comprehension into it," he added. "And a little of something deeper—call it a faint taste of the world before worlds."
He didn't say "grandmist."
He didn't need to.
Several elders felt a chill crawl down their spines anyway.
'The world before worlds…' Mu Fengxian thought, pupils shrinking. 'This brat… where exactly did he walk?'
"Use it properly," Ren continued, "and it'll help you go beyond the limits your current inheritance set for you. Whether you stand on Vermillion Bird paths or Blue Luan ice… it'll show you where Fire and Ice kiss instead of bite."
He lifted his hand and lazily waved his fingers.
Wisps of flame peeled off his fingertips, each one engraving a tiny version of the diagram into the minds of those present. He didn't bother to exclude anyone.
Even Mu Chihuo and Mu Qingshu received it.
Not because he'd forgiven or forgotten their earlier attitudes.
To be honest, he would have happily left their meridians to rot in their current bottlenecks.
But—
'I could just pull their deeds out of their memories now,' he thought, eyes half-lidded. 'But that's too troublesome on the first day. In any case, killing the both of them will just be a snap of my fingers when the time is right.'
Out loud, he said nothing.
In the hall, no one dared speak for several breaths.
They were too busy staring inward, tracing the diagrams, feeling their Fire and Ice understanding climb in leaps and bounds.
Mu Fengxian was the first to find her voice again.
Her awe was almost painful to swallow.
Still, she swallowed it.
She fixed Ren with a sharp gaze.
"This Diagram…" she rasped, her voice hoarse in a way that had nothing to do with age. "You forged it after seeing our Divine Phoenix inheritance?"
She wasn't asking out of jealousy.
She was confirming a suspicion.
The patterns within the Lantern-Heart Diagram carried distinct traces of Vermillion Bird and Blue Luan paths—twisted, extended, extrapolated beyond what their jade slips held, but undeniably born from the same eggshell.
Ren's smile turned a touch more genuine.
"You left me excellent bones to work with," he admitted easily. "Vermillion Bird here, Blue Luan there… a sea of fire under the island, arrays channeling it in neat loops…"
He tilted his head toward Mu Fengxian and Mu Yuhuang.
"You two," he said, "built an impressive ladder. The Diagram just stretches it a little higher."
His gaze swept the hall.
"And the way all of you have pushed that ladder to its current limit? Not bad at all. The fact that you can stand at this height with the Heaven you've got… that's already something worth praising."
He said it casually.
But everyone felt it.
He wasn't throwing out empty flattery.
His Dao stood above theirs. His Fire pressed their flames down without effort. For such a person to acknowledge their work—
That praise carried the weight of a mountain.
On the male side, the elders' faces twisted.
They couldn't deny the value of what he'd given. Their meridians, their cores, their Fire Laws were already benefiting. But to see their young female disciples' eyes shine in bare admiration, to see Mu Qianyu's expression soften, Mu Xiaoqing's gaze glued to him, even Mu Yuhuang and Mu Fengxian's composure cracking…
The sour taste in their mouths was hard to wash away.
On the female side…
Happiness bloomed.
Some tried to hide it.
Mu Yuhuang's fingers tightened subtly on the throne's arm, lips pressed into a line to smother the upturn tugging at their corners.
Mu Fengxian harrumphed inwardly and straightened her back, pretending not to feel the way her Life Destruction fire was boiling in excitement like a volcano on the verge of its second eruption.
Mu Qianyu's phoenix eyes glimmered. She stared at him, heat and complicated emotion mixing in her chest.
"…He really…" she thought, throat tight, "came to our island and just—pulled up the floor beneath Heaven like it was nothing…"
Mu Bingyun's calm cracked further; a soft, unconscious smile tugged at her lips, making her frost seem suddenly gentle instead of distant.
Mu Qingyi exhaled, a weight lifting from her shoulders. For someone who had always stood at the frontier between "ordinary geniuses" and true talents, to suddenly see paths laid out ahead with such clarity… how could she not feel grateful?
Mu Xiaoqing…
Her heart was a mess.
She had always revered Mu Qianyu, aspired to become someone like her. Now she watched that same Saintess looking at a foreign man with eyes she had never used for any other.
And that man…
Had just lifted her own perspectives to a place she had never dreamed of reaching.
"…If I follow him…" a treacherous little voice inside her whispered, "where will I end up?"
Ren chuckled quietly.
"This is just a sample," he said. "An appetizer."
His eyes gleamed.
"If we work together for a while, I can take your Fire and Ice a lot further. The question is whether your Martial Hearts can keep up."
He wasn't boasting.
He was stating a simple fact.
Mu Yuhuang's shoulders rose and fell with a slow breath.
Her heart, which had been quietly storming for a long time, gradually steadied.
She forced the crack in her composure closed.
"Regardless of what comes later," she said, her voice regaining the calm cadence of an Island Master, "what you've shown today already justifies our decision."
She glanced at Mu Fengxian.
The Matriarch inclined her head a fraction—silent support.
Mu Yuhuang turned back to Ren.
"As for your request," she continued, "we do have an unused courtyard on the inner island. The Fire origin energy there is dense, but the arrays are simple enough that you can alter them as you like without affecting the main formation."
Images flashed through some elders' minds—the inner island, the place reserved for the core of Divine Phoenix Island, where only the most trusted, the most important, were allowed to reside.
Giving him a courtyard there… that was another statement.
"As for the training field you mentioned…" she went on, "we will designate a suitable area after consulting with the elders. Until then, that courtyard should be sufficient for your immediate needs."
Ren's smile softened.
"This hospitality is amazing," he said sincerely. "If I weren't already set on staying, I might fall in love with the place on that alone."
He cupped his fist.
"Thank you, Mu Yuhuang. You won't regret this choice."
Mu Yuhuang's heart gave another small, traitorous thump at the warmth in his gaze.
She ruthlessly shoved it down again.
"Qianyu," she said, deliberately ignoring the faint heat in her cheeks, "you will accompany Young Hero Ren and Miss Qin to the courtyard."
Her tone was crisp, businesslike.
"For the coming days, if he requires anything within the sect, you are responsible for coordination."
The decision was logical.
Mu Qianyu was Divine Phoenix Island's Saintess, the Vermillion Bird Faction's future leader, and the person most suited to interface with a Guest of Fire.
But in the context of everything that had just happened—
Of the way Mu Qianyu's phoenix flame had responded to his Dao.
Of the way she had looked at him when he stepped into Revolving Core.
Of the old connection between them that some elders already suspected—
Everyone in the hall understood.
This wasn't just an assignment.
It was tacit permission.
Mu Qingshu's fingers shook.
He had always carried a faint, unspoken hope—that Mu Qianyu would ultimately be matched to someone within their Divine Phoenix line, or at the very least, that no foreign man would ever be allowed to truly "take" their Saintess.
Now, hearing Mu Yuhuang make that arrangement without hesitation…
He felt something crack quietly inside.
Mu Chihuo's gaze darkened further.
Deep down, a more honest voice whispered:
If he truly wanted to, could you even stop him?
Mu Qianyu dipped her head.
"Yes, Master," she replied.
Her voice was steady.
But the hand hidden in her sleeve was already betraying her. Her fingers pressed into her palm, nails pricking skin in a futile attempt to keep her composure from fraying.
Ren watched her for a heartbeat.
Then his smile turned downright shameless.
"With Qianyu as my guide," he said lightly, "my first steps on Phoenix Island are already off to an excellent start."
The implication behind "first steps" and "guide" was not lost on anyone.
Mu Qianyu's lashes trembled.
"You…" she began, forcing herself to glare at him.
The effect was ruined by the faint flush spreading across her cheeks.
Ren chuckled.
"That's a lot of expectations on you," he added, tone softening for her alone. "I'll try not to cause too much trouble."
Liar, some elders thought in unison.
He turned, letting his gaze sweep once more across the hall.
Mu Yuhuang.
Mu Fengxian.
Mu Bingyun.
Mu Qingyi.
Mu Xiaoqing.
Rows of female disciples, hearts pounding.
He lifted his hand in a small, casual wave.
"Then," he said, voice carrying just enough warmth to brush against each heart it passed by, "I'll see you all later."
His eyes lingered on the proud phoenixes at the front.
"I'm looking forward," he added, "to getting closer to Divine Phoenix's most dazzling flames."
He didn't specify how.
He didn't need to.
Mu Xiaoqing's face flushed bright red.
Mu Qingyi's throat bobbed; she turned her face slightly away, but her ears betrayed her with their color.
Mu Bingyun's composure finally cracked; she bit her lip, eyes turning aside to hide the thin line of a smile.
Mu Yuhuang snorted softly, the sound attempting to convey annoyance.
It failed.
A faint, almost invisible smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
Mu Fengxian harrumphed even more loudly, but the slight upturn in her lips betrayed her.
"Brat," she thought again, exasperated. "You really do intend to turn this old phoenix nest upside down."
Ren only smiled.
Then he turned and strode toward the hall doors, Qin Xingxuan and Mu Qianyu falling into step at his sides.
As he passed through the barrier, the Vermillion Bird arrays parted without resistance, flames bending out of his way as if they had always belonged to his path.
The heavy doors opened on their own.