The Legend Returns Update icon (v1.23.2305 of the game)
The Legend Returns Update (v1.23.2305) was released on the 9th of February 2017 for Android and iOS players, the 15th of February for Windows players, the 17th of February for Kindle players and the 21st of February for Mac users.
When the update was released, The Legend Returns Timed Challenge event triggered automatically. If the player had the Winter's Tale Update, The Legend Returns Timed Challenge event triggered at a pre-programmed date and time.
The Legend Returns timed challenges begin when a player reaches game level 7 in the game (or automatically after downloading the update if the player is already above level 7).
The Legend Returns timed event contains 3 challenges. Players have a set number of days to complete the following tasks:
The Legend Returns Update's timed challenges
Collect 500 Paper Lanterns by winning games of Blocks to open the Antique Jewelry Box which contains: energy boosters (Cappuccino, Ice Cream, Donut); talismans (Ancient Scroll, Strong Friendship); and power (Gold Weight).
Complete 30 special quests to win the once-off Sage's Talisman which increases experience gained for investigating locations and puzzles by 100% for 24 hours. Upon completing these quests you will also be able to combine the Dragon's Amulet Artifact which increases coins from investigating locations and puzzles by 200% for 48 hours.
For the duration of The Legend Returns challenge, Jade Crystal special items are required in addition to energy points to play Tea Corner. Jade Crystals are given as rewards for every successful investigation for every picture, and as rewards for banishing anomalies, but not for playing puzzles. Jade Crystals cannot be gifted between friends, however they are given as rewards for combining some of the new The Legend Returns collections, and they can be given as rewards by the Sphere of Miracles and Pyramid of Wonder.
The Blocks Challenge - collecting Paper Lanterns[]
The Antique Jewelry Box Challenge
Players can open the Antique Jewelry Box and win a number of rewards by collecting 500 Paper Lanterns. Paper Lanterns can only be won by successfully completing the Blocks puzzle. For each successful win of Blocks, you can potentially win between 1-5 Paper Lanterns as one of the rewards for completing the puzzle.
When you open the Research Window for Blocks by tapping on the Blocks puzzle icon on your Home Desktop you will see Paper Lanterns listed as the first item in the 'Can be found' list for the puzzle. Paper Lanterns are available to win for every play of the puzzle at every puzzle level.
Paper Lanterns can be won by winning games of Blocks. Between 1 and 5 Paper Lanterns are given for every win of the Blocks Puzzle until you collect 500 in total
You must keep playing (and winning) Blocks until you have collected 500 Paper Lanterns in order to complete the challenge. Once you have collected all 500 Paper Lanterns you will be able to open the Antique Jewelry Box and collect your rewards.
The Antique Jewelry Box is located in the top right of the Home Desktop, between the Pipes and Memory Match Puzzles. You can tap on the Antique Jewelry Box at any time to bring up its information window. While you are collecting Paper Lanterns, your progress towards 500 will be shown in the information window.
You collect Paper Lanterns by winning games of Blocks
Once you have collected all 500 Paper Lanterns, the Antique Jewelry Box will automatically open and the rewards will go directly into your inventory. A notification window will appear to say the box is opened.
The opened Antique Jewelry Box will remain on your Home Desktop in the same position. Tapping on this will still bring up the information window, however the Paper Lanterns counter will be replaced with a congratulations message.
The Antique Jewelry Box contains the following rewards:
Note: Just because an item is on a picture/puzzles 'Can be Found' list, it is not guaranteed you will win that item every time you play that picture/puzzle. There is an element of chance in the game that determines what items you will win when you successfully complete a picture/puzzle. All items are weighted based on their value in the game. Higher value items, like the Paper Lanterns needed to win the Antique Jewelry Box award are weighted in such a way that they are less likely to be won than low value items such as some low level collection items and most combining elements.
Since the mechanism that rewards Paper Lanterns is set up so that they are always included as one of the rewards for winning games of Blocks, it is the number that you win per play that is weighted (with low numbers more likely than high numbers). This means you will not win a high number of Paper Lanterns every single time you win a Blocks Game, often you will only win 2.
However, all of the Timed Challenges are designed to be completed within the given time limit, so it is possible to collect 500 Paper Lanterns well within the time given. The task is designed to be challenging, but it is not impossible!
Hints/Tips for Collecting Paper Lanterns[]
Although it will take many plays of Blocks to win 500 Paper Lanterns, there are things you can do to make the challenge easier:
Read the Blocks article and PDF on this wiki for tips on playing Blocks.
Explorer's Eyes can be used to remove a single block from the game board while playing Blocks
Use tools when playing Blocks. You can use Explorer's Eyes and Time Machines when playing Blocks. Using an Explorer's Eye will remove one block from the game board at random. This can be particularly useful for tricky pieces. Time Machines add 45 seconds to the puzzle timer, which can be a great help for the more difficult board configurations. Use the List of Collections, List of Collection Items and List of Collection Item Locations pages here to find out which collections give out these tools when combined, and where you can find the items needed to combine those collections.
Don't just play Blocks over and over again; try to play a variety of pictures and puzzles as much as possible. The more you play a single picture/puzzle repeatedly, the worse the rewards for each win gets. In order to keep your chances of getting many Paper Lanterns per play high, try mixing other pictures/puzzles into your playing rotation. Perhaps rotate trying to get the Antique Jewelry Box with the other challenges in The Legend Returns event (playing Tea Corner and completing the 30 challenge quests). This will also help avoid feelings of frustration with the game and challenge.
Don't rely on Luck Talismans/Artifacts. Luck Talismans (e.g. Horseshoes) and Artifacts (e.g. Symbol of Success) do not increase your odds of winning a particular item, such as Paper Lanterns, i.e. they do not change the weighting of items. However, they do increase the number of items you will win for each successful play of a picture/puzzle. Because you can win more items for each play, you essentially get more rolls of the dice each time you win. Since Paper Lanterns are rewarded using the same mechanism as Christmas Balls/Pumpkin Lanterns/Tokens, special items etc. during holiday themed timed challenges (i.e. a number of Paper Lanterns are awarded for each play, it is the amount you win that is weighted not whether or not you win them) instead of using the same mechanism as collection items/combining elements (i.e. you may or may not win the item each play, it is whether the item will be won or not that is weighted), Luck Talismans and Artifacts will not affect the number of Paper Lanterns won per win of Blocks. Since the game is coded to give out Paper Lanterns for each play, increasing the number of different items won per play by using Luck Talismans will not change anything. The number of Paper Lanterns given is also based on chance, with higher numbers weighted to appear less often than lower numbers, but Luck Talismans/Artifacts cannot help with this since they do not affect weighting.
Use the Time Talisman artifact. If you are struggling to win Blocks in the time given (particularly at lower puzzle levels, where less time is allotted to each play) then try to use a Time Talisman artifact. Once activated, this artifact adds 1 minute to every picture/puzzle for 24 hours.
The Unique Avatars - Getting Tea Corner to Academician Level[]
The avatars won for reaching Academician level in Tea Corner. Players can win the unique Avatar by playing the new picture Tea Corner until they increase its scene progress level up to Academician Level during The Legend Returns time sensitive challenge.
For the duration of The Legend Returns update, Jade Crystal special items are needed for each play of the Tea Corner picture.
While the Timed Challenges are active (before you complete all three, or the timer expires; whichever happens first), Jade Crystals are given as rewards for every successful investigation for every picture in the game (except Tea Corner itself). At least 1 Jade Crystal is given for every game you win, but winning up to 3 at a time is also possible.
Jade Crystals are required in addition to Energy points for each play of Tea Corner
Jade Crystals are also given as rewards from banishing anomalies, but not for playing puzzles. Jade Crystals cannot be gifted between friends, however they are given as rewards for combining some of the new The Legend Returns collections. Players with the Pyramid of Wonder or Sphere of Miracles also have a 1 in 6 chance of receiving Jade Crystals from these Desktop Awards when collecting their rewards every 12 hours. The number of Jade Crystals needed for each play of Tea Corner increases as you increase the Picture Levels of Tea Corner (+5 Jade Crystals per Level increase), starting at 5 Jade Crystals per play when the picture is opened at Novice Level and increasing to 40 Jade Crystals per play when the picture is at Professor Level.
As a guide, in order to reach Academician Level on Tea Corner and win the new Avatar, you will need to play the picture approximately 150 times, which will require approximately 3,285 Jade Crystals! (or 2,628 Jade Crystals if using the Amulet of Santa/Amulet of Rarities Artifact).
Level
% progress per play of picture at level
No. plays needed for 100% (i.e. to reach next level)
Jade Crystals per play at level
Total Jade Crystals to reach next level
Novice
20%
5
5
25
Trainee
12-13% (+25% every 2 plays)
8
10
80
Detective
8-9% (+25% every 3 plays)
12
15
180
Pro
4%
25
20
500
High Explorer
1%
100
25
2,500
Total to Academician level
3,285
As soon as you return to your Home Desktop after playing Tea Corner for the 150th time, a notification screen will appear to say that the avatar challenge is complete and you have won both of the unique Avatars.
Both Avatars will automatically go into the Avatar section, but will not automatically replace your current Avatar. To use either of the new Avatars, you must tap on your current Avatar to bring up the Avatars window and scroll to the end of the list to find the new Avatar. Tap on the Avatar to select it.
Hints/Tips for Winning the Unique Avatars[]
Try to play a variety of pictures as much as possible when playing, instead of just playing Tea Corner over and over again. The more you play a single picture/puzzle repeatedly, the worse the rewards for each win gets. Additionally, the bigger variety of pictures you play, the bigger variety of collection items you can potentially win. This will greatly increase the number of regular collections you will be able to combine, which will potentially give you more tools, energy items, Talismans and Artifacts that will all help with completing the quests.
If you are low on energy, but close to leveling up (at which point your energy will restore), play Buddha's Square until you level up. At higher picture levels Buddha's Square potentially rewards a Cappuccino for each successful picture investigation. Cappuccinos restore 30 energy points when used, and Buddha's Square only requires 31 energy points at most to play (at Professor level). This means you can play for free or next to free if you have a good success rate of winning Cappuccinos. Using Luck Talismans and Artifacts, like Horseshoes while playing Buddha's Square will increase your odds for winning Cappuccinos. This also means that Buddha's Square is a great picture to play when collecting Jade Crystals, as by winning Cappuccinos and restoring the energy you are using to play, you are basically collecting Jade Crystals for free in terms of energy costs.
The 2014 version of the Amulet of Santa (note it has changed in appearance since the original version, which was a Santa icon)
Use the Amulet of Santa or the Amulet of Rarities Artifact to decrease the number of Jade Crystals needed to play Tea Corner. Both the Amulet of Santa and the Amulet of Rarities Artifacts reduce the number of special items needed to play paid scenes like Tea Corner by 20% for 24 hours once activated. Using either Artifact when playing Tea Corner could potentially reduce the total number of Jade Crystals you need to find to reach Academician level from 3,285 to 2,628.
The Valentine's Amulet Artifact reduces the amount of energy needed to play pictures by 10% for 12 hours
Use the Valentine's Amulet Artifact to decrease the amount of energy needed to play every picture/puzzle when you are ready to play Tea Corner a number of times. The Valentine's Amulet reduces the amount of energy needed to play by 10% for 12 hours, so will enable you to play Tea Corner (and other pictures) more times with your available energy.
Use Luck Talismans and Artifacts such as Horseshoes in conjunction with the Valentine's Amulet, and make sure to play Tree of Dates in rotation when you are playing the pictures. This will increase your chances of finding all the collection items needed to combine another Valentine's Amulet as you play.
As you play through the 30 challenge quests to win the Sage's Talisman, you will be able to combine 5 new collections added as part of the update. These quests will reward Jade Crystals once combined, and the Sage's Talisman itself helps increase experience gained by 100% for 24 hours while playing.
The Challenge Quests, the Sage's Talisman and the Dragon's Amulet Artifact[]
The Sage's Talisman can be won by completing the 30 challenge quests, marked by the special border in the quests list on the left hand side of the Home Desktop
The Sage's Talisman can be won once a player completes all 30 of the special The Legend Returns challenge quests introduced as part of the update. The quests must be completed within the time limit of the Timed Challenge in order to unlock the Talisman.
Once the quests are completed, the Sage's Talisman automatically goes into your Inventory, and a new page of the Diary, "Monkey King" will open.
A notification screen will appear to say that the 30 challenge quests are complete and you have won the Sage's Talisman, but you must go to the Talisman section of the Inventory itself to see and use the new Talisman.
Once activated, the Sage's Talisman will increase experience gained for investigating locations and puzzles by 100% for 24 hours.
In addition to winning the Sage's Talisman, players will also be able to combine the Dragon's Amulet Artifact once they have completed the 30 challenge quests since the collections combined as part of the 30 quests create the 5 items needed to combine this new Artifact.
The Dragon's Amulet Artifact, which players will be able to combine after completing the 30 Challenge Quests
Once the quests are completed, players must manually combine the Dragon's Amulet Artifact. To do this, open the Collections Window and select the Artifacts tab. Locate the Dragon's Amulet Artifact and press the green combine button.
You will need 20 each of the following combining elements to combine the Artifact - Second Hand, Minute Hand, Hour Hand and Clock Face. All Artifact combining elements can be won by combining collections in the game. Every time you combine a collection you will be awarded an Artifact combining element at random. You can also be given these combining elements as free gifts by your friends. Like collection combining elements, Artifact combining elements are free gifts and do not come out of your inventory when you send them as gifts to your friends.
Once combined, the Dragon's Amulet Artifact automatically goes into the Talisman tab of your Inventory, where it can be activated.
Once activated, the Dragon's Amulet Artifact will increase coins from investigating locations and puzzles by 200% for 48 hours.
Winning the Sage's Talisman[]
A special decorative border in the quest list marks the 30 quests needed to win the Sage's Talisman. Other quests added by the update with regular gold borders, do not count towards the 30 when completed.
The decorative border that indicates which quests count towards the 30 needed to win the Sage's Talisman
Note: The very first quest that displays the special decorative border is the quest to find the picture pieces needed to unlock and open the Tea Corner picture. However, this quest does not count towards the 30 quests needed to win the Sage's Talisman. This means there are actually 31 quests that display the decorative border, but only the last 30 of them count towards the challenge. Most importantly, you will need to complete this first quest in order to complete the challenge as the 30 quests that make up the event will not start until this quest is completed (there is only ever one quest with a special decorative border active at any one time) and the other quests require you to play the Tea Corner picture (which this quest opens).
There are 30 special quests that must be completed in order to win the Sage's Talisman. They consist of 5 collection sequences of 6 quests each. The first 5 quests are to find each of the 5 items while the 6th quest is to combine the collection.
The 5 collections players gather as they complete the 30 quests are:
Myths of China (combines to create "Yin and Yang" and rewards 10 Jade Crystals when combined)
Old books (combines to create "Scroll with a picture" and rewards 15 Jade Crystals when combined)
Inventions of China (combines to create "Zhuizi figurine" and rewards 20 Jade Crystals when combined)
Ingredients for recovery (combines to create "Monkey doll" and rewards 25 Jade Crystals when combined)
Monkey King (combines to create "Monkey King statuette" and rewards 30 Jade Crystals when combined)
All the items that make up these collections cannot be gifted between friends (they do not have green plus signs to add them to your wish list and they will not appear in the 'Send a collection item' tab when sending gifts to your friends).
They are all also 'Quest only' items, which means that they cannot be won normally by playing pictures/puzzles. They are only available to win in pictures while the quest for the particular item is activated and will stop being available to win in that picture once the quest is completed. They may also drop as random items when you are visiting your friends and charging their desktops; from the Collectors Desktop award when collecting its rewards; and from opening Pandora's Chests, however whether or not you get any of these items in those ways is completely up to chance.
This means that the only way to complete these quests is to follow the quest instructions as you get the quests. This makes these 30 challenge quests slightly more difficult than the challenge quests in some other Timed Challenges, all of which could be gifted between friends or won in regular play of certain pictures.
The Challenge Quests[]
The 30 quests that are needed to win the Sage's Talisman are:
Investigate "Tea Corner" in Silhouette mode to find an object
Yellow Unicorn
Myths of China
4
The Great Dragon
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Azure Dragon
Myths of China
5
The last animal
Investigate "Tea Corner" in Text mode to find an object
Scarlet Phoenix
Myths of China
6
The great balance
You must gather (combine) the collection to obtain the object
Yin and Yang
Myths of China
7
Friend of a friend
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Bestiary
Old books
8
Time for tales
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Vademecum
Old books
9
Legend of the Monkey King
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Bamboo book
Old books
10
Knowledge is power
Investigate "Tea Corner" in Night mode to find an object
Accordion book
Old books
11
Ancient chronicles
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Chronicles
Old books
12
Who's pictured?
You must gather (combine) the collection to obtain the object
Scroll with a picture
Old books
13
The search continues
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Incense burner
Inventions of China
14
The mystery of "K"
Investigate "Tea Corner" in Silhouette mode to find an object
Incense sticks
Inventions of China
15
The gift from Klarissa
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Gunpowder
Inventions of China
16
Yellow paper
Investigate "Tea Corner" in Pairs mode to find an object
Chinese paper
Inventions of China
17
A game for two
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Mahjong
Inventions of China
18
Preparations for the ritual
You must gather (combine) the collection to obtain the object
Zhuizi figurine
Inventions of China
19
The correct fruit
Investigate "Tea Corner" in Morphs mode to find an object
Dried apricots
Ingredients for recovery
20
The heavenly fruit
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Dried peaches
Ingredients for recovery
21
The wrong fruit
Investigate "Tea Corner" in Night mode to find an object
Prunes
Ingredients for recovery
22
Not a fruit
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Chestnuts
Ingredients for recovery
23
Is this a fruit?
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Jujubes
Ingredients for recovery
24
The fellow's return
You must gather (combine) the collection to obtain the object
Monkey doll
Ingredients for recovery
25
The proper recovery
Investigate "Tea Corner" in Silhouette mode to find an object
Pedestal
Monkey King
26
Warrior's weapon
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Monkey staff
Monkey King
27
Sage's clothes
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Yifu
Monkey King
28
Trickster's belt
Investigate "Tea Corner" in Pairs mode to find an object
Silk belt
Monkey King
29
King's hat
Investigate "Tea Corner" to find an object
Dou li
Monkey King
30
Triumphant return
You must gather (combine) the collection to obtain the object
Monkey King statuette
Monkey King
Hints/Tips for Winning the Sage's Talisman and Dragon's Amulet Artifact[]
Use the strongest Luck Talismans/Artifacts you have available whenever you are playing. This will increase the number of items you win for each play, which will increase your chances of winning the quest item.
Diamond horseshoes increase your chance of winning items by 90% for 2 hours
Diamond horseshoe Talismans (+90% chance of winning items for 120 minutes) and the Symbol of Success Artifact (+50% chance of winning items for 24 hours) are the most powerful Luck Talismans available in the game, so when playing other pictures choose pictures which award items needed for collections that reward these Talismans. You will need to play other pictures during the challenge anyway to collect Jade Crystals to play Tea Corner, so by making sure that Tavern (rewards items for collections that reward Diamond horseshoes), Venice, Buddha's Square, Throne Room, Mayan Temple, Ghost Town, Joy Café, Amusement Park, Bungalow and Misty Shed (rewards items for collections needed to combine Symbol of Success) are in your rotation while you increase your chances of getting more of these powerful Luck Talismans to use for the quests. Note that using powerful Luck Talismans will not guarantee that you win the quest item on your first attempt, as all they do is give a percentage increase to the coded 'chance' of winning the item in the game. If an item normally has only a 10% chance of being won per play of the correct quest requirements, then using Luck Talismans that give you a 100% increase will not give you a 100% chance of winning the item. It will just increase the 10% by 100%, giving you a 20% chance of winning the item. Hard to get items will still be hard to get.
Use your Magic Crystal Talismans during the challenge. The Magic Crystal Talisman works as a Luck Talisman (it increases your odds of finding objects by 12% when activated), and the Social Events Update has fixed the problem where no other Luck Talisman could be activated while using it, so now you can use them together again. This means you can add an additional 12% increase in odds of finding objects to other Luck Talismans that you use during the challenge. You can only use one other Luck Talisman once the Magic Crystal Talisman is activated (as you cannot use more than one Luck Talisman at a time), but you can use one of any other Luck Talisman or the Symbol of Success Artifact at the same time as the Magic Crystal Talisman again. The Magic Crystal Talisman lasts for 10 days.
The Challenge quests usually ask for you to play Tea Corner, so it is best to continue to work on Tea Corner as normal when playing and not to worry too much about the quests themselves, they will be completed as you go. That is, it is better to concentrate your resources just working on the Avatar challenge - getting Tea Corner to Academician level. You will complete the quests naturally as you increase the picture to Academician level. The hints/tips for that challenge will therefore also aid in completing this challenge.
Read the quest instructions carefully. Most quests just ask you to play Tea Corner, but some will specify a mode. The item will only be available to win when the picture is in the correct mode. Most modes cannot be 'forced', which means you cannot make them appear in rotation. However, 'Text' mode can be triggered by banishing (not playing) an anomaly in the picture. If the quest asks for Text mode in Tea Corner, then play other pictures until an anomaly appears in Tea Corner. You can then banish the anomaly, making the next mode Text mode. (Make sure the picture is not in Night mode while waiting for an anomaly, play it to change the mode if it is in Night mode).
The items needed to complete the quests cannot be gifted between friends. However they may drop as random items when you are visiting your friends and charging their desktops; from the Collectors Desktop Award when collecting its rewards; and from opening Pandora's Chests. Whether this happens or not will be completely up to chance, but in order to increase your odds it is a good idea to visit your friends every day when doing the challenge.
Warning: If you combine the collection items you are gathering before the 'Combine' quest (the 6th quest in each sequence), the game may glitch and not recognize that the collection is combined. If this happens you may be stuck unable to combine the collection again in order to complete the 'Combine' quest and move on in the quests, effectively ending this challenge for you barring finding the collection items a second time from random drops.
Collections Added with The Legend Returns Update[]
The Legend Returns Update added 5 challenge collections.
