Xiangliu

Nine-Headed Serpent

Nine-headed minister of Gonggong whose passage turned the land to marsh until Yu the Great slew him.

Xiangliu, minister of the water god Gonggong, has nine human-faced heads on a green serpent body, and wherever he passes the land turns to marsh. During his flood labors Yu the Great slew him, but the monster’s blood was so poisonous that no grain would grow on the soaked ground; Yu raised towers of earth to seal the curse. He is the last trace of Gonggong’s rebellion written into the landscape itself.