The moment he spoke, the surroundings suddenly fell silent, save for the clatter of hooves and the rumbling of cart wheels.
Everyone remained tight-lipped, and the atmosphere grew somewhat oppressive.
Zhou Qianying smiled and said, "Lord Chen is a high-ranking official of the third rank. In Brother Chen's generation, the foundation is still somewhat shallow, but by the next generation, you can barely call yourselves an aristocratic family. Should you have a few more children and branch out, you will become a great clan."
When a king or marquis founded a dynasty and their descendants inherited their titles across generations, they became a noble family.
Yet that was in the Huaxia Divine Continent.
Although the thirteen noble families were not the founding royalty of the Great Ming, they were the great clans that had assisted the True Kings in opening up the Western Ox Continent during the True King Era. The Western Ox Continent stood independent overseas, with the True Kings equivalent to the Son of Heaven and West Capital equivalent to the imperial court. The thirteen noble families also carried the weight of founding royalty, allowing them to stand tall and unshakable.
For families outside the thirteen noble families, the rules were not nearly so strict.
Nowadays, if three generations from grandfather to grandson all entered the court as officials and their official posts were passed down through generations, the shadow of a noble family emerged.
If they branched out with numerous blood descendants to form a sphere of influence, they were a great clan.
If they possessed immense financial resources, vast fields, and retained many retainers over a wide area, they were an aristocratic family.
The titles of noble families, great clans, and aristocratic families originated precisely from this.
Yet the scale of most noble and aristocratic families