Nine-Headed Serpent Minister of Gonggong
The Classic of Regions Beyond the Seas: North introduces it in two clauses: Xiangliu, minister to the water god Gonggong, has nine heads that feed on nine mountains at once, and wherever its body presses, the ground caves into marsh and ravine. The nine heads are human-faced; the single body is that of a green serpent. The water it left behind was bitter, and no beast could live near it.
When Yu the Great tamed the flood he killed Xiangliu, and the text dwells on the aftermath rather than the fight. The creature's blood was so rank that the five grains would not grow in soil it had touched. Yu dug the tainted earth out and refilled the pit; three times he filled it and three times it slumped. In the end he gave up, made the spot a pond, and used the spoil to raise terraces for the gods, north of Kunlun. The Classic of the Great Wilderness: North tells the same episode under the name Xiangyao. The detail that the monster's poison outlasted the monster gives Xiangliu a distinct place in the flood-taming cycle, and its nine-headed serpent form is a fixture of modern fantasy and games.
