Complex sentence: According to the "Shan Hai Jing", Xiangliu was a minister of the snake-like water deity Gong Gong, Xiangliu devastated the ecology everywhere he went, leaving nothing but gullies and marshes devoid of animal life.
Split into simpler sentences: According to the "Shan Hai Jing", Xiangliu was a minister of Gong Gong. A minister of the snake-like water deity Gong Gong, Xiangliu devastated the ecology everywhere he went, leaving nothing but gullies and marshes, devoid of animal life.