Jia Yi had calculated it:
A lotus pod (head) was worth half a spirit stones, lotus roots were worth another half. A spirit stone per 100 lotus leaves (a normal lotus has 10-30, averaged at 15 for calculations), 3 spirit stones per ten flowers and a spirit stone per fifty seeds (a normal lotus has 15-30, averaged at 20 for calculations).
This would result in an income of a bit over 1.800 yearly, compared to the income of planting late-stage rice, which is a bit over 2.600, this is a bit less. But then there is the profit of 1.000.000 litres. A thousand litres (the volume of a cubic metre) has the price of 1 spirit stone, adding a thousand spirit stones to the income. In addition, one litre of low-grade clear heart spiritual water can be sold for half a spirit stone, which totals to another five hundred spirit stones.
The total income of growing clear heart lotus will become 3.300 spirit stones per-acre per-year.
Why was it so profitable and why couldn't others do it?
The reason was actually simple. First of all, Jia Yi always knew when a plant was endangered through Verdant Dream. It was common for others to lose 10% of their crops to random pests. Then there was the issue of the plants not growing well for various reasons, eliminating another 20%.
Lastly, the most important, was the basic requirement for plants. Late-stage plants had to enjoy at least three different farming spells to grow normally, else they might require longer, and once they do so, they enter a period of time where every danger is enhanced double.
In addition, the spells also had to be appropriate and strong enough, but not too strong, else they would develop too many impurities and become useless.
The income of 3.300 was the lower/average of what Jia Yi calculated, but for most, it was their goal after farming for twenty to thirty years. Usually, for various reasons, they start out making around a third of the profit (if they've already gained experience before reaching the late stage), then around half, and in their last years, they make around 80-90% of this.
With the Verdant Dream and Jia Yi's own skill growth over the years, he is able to take on this task beforehand, but even he only expects to gain around half of the profit.
This was also why he made it a personal mission. After giving up the required amount, he would barely have 10-20% left, which the big profit he dreamed of.
As for why he didn't instantly go the route of late-stage rice and late-stage lotus?
He was a genius, talented, an extremely gifted, even having a cheat… but he was also young, inexperienced in growing late-stage plants, and restricted in his time. It would be better to just plant mid-stage rice and late-stage lotus than to ignore his cultivation just to make a few spirit stones earlier.
The life of a cultivator didn't revolve around earning money, it was about cultivating immortality.
Jia Yi calculated so much just so he could earn the most in his current situation, not to make a plan to gain the most money.
In that case, he might as well just stop taking the mission altogether and fully focus on cultivating these plants while paying the fee for not doing any missions.
Wouldn't he make a lot more spirit stones then?
But cultivation is sailing against the current.
The reason why foundation building and qi refining are called the way they are, is because Qi refining refines the free spiritual power into personal spirit power and stores it in their dantian, while foundation building strengthens their body and dantian to lock the spiritual power fully.
Only once you reach the Origin Light stage will your lower dantian be fully locked, with no issue of spiritual power leaving you and your cultivation dissipating over time for various reasons.
But by then, there are other issues.
Anyways, in general, Jia Yi can't give up cultivation nor give up taking missions to earn contribution points.
All in all, his ideas are great, but he has to try it out first.
After all, managing rice is rather easy – just irrigate, make a bit of light, loosen the soil, give a few blessings… nothing much.
But cultivating lotus… he didn't know anything at all just yet.
Don't look at him as a mid-stage farmer, he only ever farmed rice, and his experience in other branches were non-existent!
If he didn't need to try water plants to slightly influence the elemental affinity of Verdant Dream, then he wouldn't try this difficult road at all.
After a moment, the waiter came back with a manager behind him, who looked suspicious at Jia Yi.
But once he saw the Jia family symbol on Jia Yi's waist, he sighed a sigh of relief, then becoming excited.
Everyone might fault on their payment or scam them, or even just act like they would buy it and then leave… but the Jia family would definitely not do so!
"Young master, I am Manager An. We can deliver one thousand ten-cubic-metre ponds, made from inferior jade, costing one spirit stone per pond. As for the seeds, one thousand seeds costs twenty spirit stones. The latter can be removed, please see it as a thanks for your large order.
May we know where to deliver these ponds?"
"Thanks, here, these are the spirit stones. Deliver the ponds to the Garden A-17" the garden has the same number as the courtyard, because they are connected.
After saying this, he took out a green jade slip. In the current cultivation world, people have realised that carrying many spiritual stones was too difficult, and the exchange prices between higher and lower stones are at least 10%, so instead, they invented banks all over the world.
Large merchant alliances, big sects and empires all established these jade slips that could be exchanged for by the local bank.
The one Jia Yi just gave out was the one issued by the sect. Green jade slips are worth 1.000, cyan are 10.000, turquoise are 100.000 and azure are 1.000.000. Naturally this refers to low-grade spirit stones, not higher ones.
Spirit stones had two main functions: first, the powered formations. Every force and organisation, even cultivators personally, need formations to protect the path. Formations are like the foundation, walls and ceiling of a house. Without a home, people will feel insecure, endangered and anxious. The same is for cultivators.
The second function was to improve the quality of spirit veins. In the process, spirit veins consume a lot of spiritual power. Obviously they shouldn't consume their own, as that would be counterproductive to improve, so they have to receive this power from outside.
These main functions are for low-grade spirit stones. As for higher ones, they have many wonderful uses because they become purer and even gain elemental attributes, but the energy they contain generally isn't a lot more.
From low to mid grade, it's 100x, mid to high and high to top are the same. In the end, a single top grade stone is theoretically worth 1.000.000 spirit stones, but in practice, it's usually worth around 1.1 million.
Directly investing 1.1 million is easier. Not to mention that getting a million low-grade spirit stones is a lot easier than getting a single top-grade spirit stone.
This is why the common currency among cultivators is low-grade spirit stones.
As for higher cultivators, they usually exchange their needs, only auction houses and such allow the use of spirit stones to bet for higher items, because the bonus you pay in an auction is at least double the theoretical price of an item.