To "look down on (someone)" is the correct term in this context. You should only use "look down at (someone)" if you mean that the person is literally looking downward, because they're standing in a higher position. To "look down on" someone is to have a low opinion of them. (It sounds like the book author made a mistake here. Or, if this is a line of dialogue in a story, perhaps the author intended for the character to use the phrase incorrectly.)
(By the way, is there a Mandarin equivalent for this? In Cantonese it's 睇起, but it looks like that's not used in Mandarin.)