Jiuying

Nine-Headed Fiend

Nine-headed beast that breathed water and fire, slain by the hero Houyi at the River Xiong.

Jiuying appears in the Huainanzi’s roll of the monsters Houyi destroyed: a nine-headed beast that could breathe both water and fire, dwelling by the fierce river of the northern tribes. In the age of Yao it raged beside Zaochi and the wind-bird Dafeng until the great archer shot down the nine suns and then turned his bow on the fiend, ending its reign of fire and flood.