The Daoist cast a glance aside and said, "The wondrous power here is limited as well. It only reveals what is crucial. Unless necessary, it naturally will not bother displaying irrelevant people. As for that first painting, you merely basked in your master's light."
The little boy widened his eyes and said gloomily, "Even wondrous power is so snobbish?"
The Daoist said, "Disciple, do not feel slighted. Such is the way of the world. If you are strong, people will naturally come to praise you and curry favor with you. If you are weak, it may be a good thing if no one pays you any mind. What you should fear is someone coming to stomp on you, wishing nothing more than to keep you from ever rising again for ten thousand ages. So you must make yourself strong and steadfast. Otherwise, if you are knocked down, you cannot blame anyone else."
The little boy answered meekly. Then he asked, "Master said that people of different cultivation see things differently. Once I cultivate a method, will the people and objects I see no longer be what they appear to be now?"
The Daoist said, "Naturally. For instance, when I look at ordinary people, they are full of flaws and leaks, their whole bodies like loose sand—unable to withstand breaking, scattered at the first gust of wind. But when I look at one who has entered the Dao, their body is solid and contained, like an unfired clay form. If they advance another step, they appear like glazed glass or jade pottery, able to endure water, fire, and astral winds.
"This is also why many cultivators no longer regard people as people. No matter how lofty a cultivator's attainment, they too cultivated from ordinary people. Those who only look downward, using