This paper delves into the transmission, variation, and utilization of the myth of Yu the Great across various media, including written text, iconography, new media, and cultural landscapes. By focusing on mediality, it aims to capture the "nowness" of mythology—the dynamic manner in which myths are stored and transmitted—rather than viewing them as fixed texts. Moving away from a hierarchical perspective that favors a single, authentic archetype of myth and views later forms as mere alterations or deviations, this paper seeks to understand the narrative forms that have emerged through different media as multiplicities, collectively forming a rich cluster of narratives. The primary reasons for focusing on the myth of Yu the Great are manifold. Firstly, there has been a notable surge in the utilization of the Yu myth in China over recent decades, evident in a wide array of media, including publications, large-scale rituals and festivals, parks, monuments, television animations, online fiction, and games. Secondly, esteemed as the “idol of territory establishment,” shrines and monuments dedicated to Yu the Great are widespread throughout China. Lastly, Yu occupies a unique position straddling the realms of myth and history, revered both as the hero of the flood control myth and the founding father of the historical Xia dynasty. Consequently, this paper analyzes three key elements within the myth of Yu’s flood control that best exemplify its heterogeneity and intermediality. The first element explores the respective flood control methods employed by Gun and Yu, a theme that has become a widely held belief: Gun’s failure through the use of xirang, the magical self-renewing soil, which was a treasured property of the Heavenly Ruler, Shangdi, to construct dykes and block the waterway, contrasted with Yu’s success achieved by opening the waterway. The second element examines Yu’s iconic plough used as a tool for flood control. The third element investigates the presence of Yu’s helpers and adversaries in his endeavors to control the flood, which serve to reinforce the mythological essence of the narrative. Through these analyses, it becomes evident that the myth of Yu’s flood control embodies a rhizome-like cluster of interconnected narrative multiplicities. Contrary to conventional wisdom, both Gun and Yu employed the magical soil (xirang) in flood control, as documented in written records dating back to the Western Han Dynasty. Furthermore, Yu’s iconic plough finds its origins not in written media but in the iconography of Han Dynasty stone reliefs, subsequently evolving into a medium for crafting new narratives across various visual representations and new media forms. Additionally, in the process of establishing intermedial references and media combinations by crossing between written text and iconography, Yu’s helpers and adversaries in flood control have evolved into transformative elements, engendering new narratives through their connections. As exemplified in the flood control myth of Yu the Great, the enduring myths have withstood the test of time, undergoing transmission, variation, and utilization to spawn numerous multiplicities of narrative iterations through diverse intermedial forms.